February 2015 has been a really rough time for me. During that time, I was plagued with sleepless nights and my mind continuously raced in circles. You know that feeling when you wake up in the middle of the night with your mind constantly replaying a problem over and over again. That is what I felt.

The fact that it was dark outside and that the clock was slowly ticking towards my time to get out of bed was not helping one little bit.

The company where I worked as a manager had some challenges that have once again awoken within me the ghosts of a bankruptcy from earlier this year. The memories of that time brought with them the fear I felt.

Major customers weren’t paying their bills, and I felt powerless against them since they were holding on to the money. Sales had been poor for the couple of months leading up to that time, so I had to let some people go.

But through this all, I found comfort in the following words of Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.

One of my favorite sporting events to watch is the 10,000 meter speed skating event. What strikes me most in this event is that, when the runners start to feel tired in the middle of the run, and when their thighs start having lactic acid, they tend to shift their focus.

They no longer focus on the entire race round. They don’t even focus on one round.

They actually focus on putting one skate before the other…

That is what I did at that time (and what I am continuing to do today). I took life one hour at a time. I reminded myself that I am safe and that this turmoil would also work out in a fantastic way. I just wasn’t sure how that would come about, yet.