There will be times in your life when it feels like you’re slipping backward faster than you’re moving forward:
- You fix the leaky bathroom sink, but then the water heater breaks and the check engine light goes on in your car.
- You get a raise, but inflation and unexpected expenses leave you worse off than you were before.
- You work hard to recover from shoulder surgery, but then you tear your ACL and develop tendonitis in your wrists from being on crutches.
One step forward, two steps back.
Ugh.
Does this mean you should quit trying?
Should you just give up?
No.
Let’s do the math (don’t worry – it’s simple):
- A step forward is a +1, and a step backward is a -1.
- Taking one step forward and two steps back leaves you with a net of -1.
- Giving up would mean just taking two steps back, leaving you with a net of -2.
- -1 is bad, but -2 is worse.
So even when life is serving you a string of bad luck, it’s worthwhile to keep working. Setbacks happen – sometimes too often – but moving forward is still helpful.
Plus, these situations are often temporary.
Your string of bad luck might come to an end, and you’ll be able to make real, forward progress again. When that happens, if you’ve been doing the work, you’ll be in a better position than if you had given up.
Let’s do some more math:
- Let’s say you have a really bad year, with a new setback almost every week.
- Let’s call that -50 for the year.
- But if you took one step forward for every two steps back, you’d only be at -25.
- It’s a hole, to be sure, but it’s half as deep.
No one gets out of this life alive.
Don’t stop fighting the backslide because it seems like a losing battle. As we age, we face more setbacks more frequently, while moving forward gets harder and harder. And, in the end, we all lose the war.
Personally, I’ve found that my body doesn’t heal like it used to, so I accumulate injuries faster than I can recover from them. Does that mean I should stop trying to heal, quit doing my physical therapy homework, and resign myself to being crippled?
Of course not.
If I had done that, I’d already be incapable of skiing, hiking, and playing with my nephews. I’ve got to keep fighting, even if it’s a losing battle, because that’s the best chance I have to live my best life. Not a perfect life because no one gets that. Just doing the best I can, day by day.
Even when it’s one step forward, two steps back.