Aut Inveniam Viam Aut Faciam

"Aut inveniam viam aut faciam." That's an old Latin phrase that pertains to perseverance. Supposedly it was spoken by Hannibal of Carthage, in response to his generals who told him that it would be impossible to cross the Alps with war elephants.

There will always be people in our lives who try to hold us back from achieving our goals and dreams. Like anchors, they want to embed themselves at the bottom of the sea to success and prevent our ship from sailing. You make the mistake of sharing your aspirations with them, and they immediately set about sabotaging your efforts. In their minds, they are just helping you out. You know, bringing you back to reality.

For example, they may tell you that you can't lose weight, stick with an exercise plan, or (insert goal here)...because you have no willpower or because a previous attempt did not work out. I don't know what makes people do that. Maybe sometime in their past they themselves lacked the perseverance or self confidence to dedicate themselves to achieve one of their goals. Now, in an attempt at self validation, they want to stymie your efforts.

Personally, I try to avoid negative people who try to hold me back. But sometimes it's a friend or family member that you can't avoid. In those cases, I just give them Hannibal's response to his generals. “Aut inveniam viam aut faciam."

"I will either find a way, or make one." You CAN ACHIEVE your goals. By the way, Hannibal made it through the Alps with his elephants. Just ask the Romans.

------------------
This post was adapted from a post I saw on the Q by SlipKnot Slim today.