When you feel like you’re messing up, keep going. When you feel like you’re remaining stagnant, keep going. When you feel like you are still so far from the person you want to be, keep going. When you feel like you’re in a rut, keep going.

For, it’s when we encounter setbacks or experience a sense of not moving forward that we want to just give up. We convince ourselves that we might as well stop trying because we just can’t seem to get this life thing figured out.

But let me tell you, friend, that it’s during these times that you must push forward with even more conviction, determination, and energy than before.

It’s easy to feel guided and filled with passion when everything is aligning for us – when we are surrounding ourselves with relationships that bring out our very best, eating healthy, working out, focused and motivated at work, saying “no” to bad habits and “yes” to all that is healing for our soul.

But what about when life throws us curve balls and suddenly everything seems completely unaligned? What happens when we convince ourselves to stay in toxic relationships, push our physical health to the side, prioritize partying over our genuine passions and callings, and slip into our old, damaging thought patterns?

That is when you look inwards and remind yourself that you are stronger than this difficulty you are facing right now. You can and will fight to get your life to where you know it can be. Every single day take even just the babiest of steps to move towards who you want to be. Don’t give up, even when you slip up.

And wow, will you be astonished at how all these little actions gradually build up to the point where you wake up one morning and look at your life with gratitude and joy. When you are able to see that your past, present, and future are imperfect and yet you carry yourself with confidence and love knowing that you have and will continue to allow your setbacks and hardships to nourish you rather than break you down.

Keep fighting. Keep going.