– By Sajjad Fazel
“The consequences of today are determined by the actions of the past. To change your future, alter your decisions today.”
– Anonymous
Hey guys. Today’s post is a bit different. Today, I won’t be sharing any experience of mine(don’t worry, I will keep doing that in the future), but today, I shall post something motivational, something which might make people look at their own lives again.
Why am I doing this? You know, I’ve come across soo many people, even in blogs, posting about how bad their life is, how sad they are with it, unhappy, want more, don’t think they have enough, who think all the bad things happen to them. Well buddy, that’s just not true. And we have to come out of this rut of cursing our luck and saying we don’t have any good one. Here’s a story I want to share with you all, a true story, of a man you all know very well(or have heard of him).
Abraham Lincoln never quits.
Born into poverty, Lincoln was faced with defeat throughout his life. He lost eight elections, twice failed in business and suffered a nervous breakdown.
He could have quit many times – but he didn’t and because he didn’t quit, he became one of the greatest presidents in the United States history.
Here is a sketch of Lincoln’s road to the White House:
- 1816 His family was forced out of their home. He had to work to support them.
- 1818 His mother died.
- 1831 Failed in business.
- 1832 Ran for state legislature – lost.
- 1832 Also lost his job – wanted to go to law school but couldn’t get in.
- 1833 Borrowed some money from a friend to begin a business and by the end of the year he was bankrupt. He spent the next 17 years of his life paying off this debt.
- 1834 Ran for state legislature again – won.
- 1835 Was engaged to be married, sweetheart died and his heart was broken.
- 1836 Had a total nervous breakdown and was in bed for six months.
- 1838 Sought to become speaker of the state legislature – defeated.
- 1840 Sought to become elector – defeated.
- 1843 Ran for Congress – lost.
- 1846 Ran for Congress again – this time he won – went to Washington and did a good job.
- 1848 Ran for re-election to Congress – lost.
- 1849 Sought the job of land officer in his home state – rejected.
- 1854 Ran for Senate of the United States – lost.
- 1856 Sought the Vice-Presidential nomination at his party’s national convention – get less than 100 votes.
- 1858 Ran for U.S. Senate again – again he lost.
- 1860 Elected president of the United States.
It soo has many times in my life, but I guess after reading this, I’m a little wiser than I was a few minutes ago.
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most inspirational. Thanks for sharing
truly.. thanks
somebody told me “yesterday is no more important,tomorrow can wait but today is the most important time that determine our success”…
yes, exactly
there is a hindi language equivalent of this same saying too
YES I did, this is so timely I am working on my post about fitness and health changes in our life. I used to get negative, I used to think negative about people in the gym – I really feel I have changed so much. I love this, and thank you for sharing!
I’m glad it helped you Ostrander
WHich reminds me, I’ve to get gymming
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There’s always something to appreciate. Sometimes we may just have to look a little harder. Thanks for sharing!
it’s the little things that we miss out
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Often people are so afraid of failure that they fail to act at all. Thanks, that was inspiring. 🙂
how very true.. when all it takes is the 1st step, which incidentally, is the hardest one too
No success is without failure. Thanks for sharing, always admired Lincoln’s courage to continue.
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Remember this…Abraham never quit…Thanks for sharing 😉
and neither should we
good day Jenny
You too 😉
I tell my brother this all the time when he complains about something not going his way. I’m like, it’s all going to work out. You have to fail a lot, but then you’ll finally achieve your dreams and it will be worth all the strife you went through.
My father used to say this to me in my childhood, and now I’m sharing it with others… indeed, the failures eventually lead to success, as no human commits the same mistake twice
What looked like failure to some, was inspiration to others. You gotta love a guy who doesn’t just lie down and give up but keeps trying again and again.
indeed, some people will wonder why he’s trying again and again, other people will admire..
it’s the perspective from which we look at it
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Lincoln suffered from clinical depression, which for me, makes his story even more inspirational.
indeed he did
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I have nominated your blog, “Manipal’s Photo Blog”, for The Reader Appreciation Award. You deserve this believe me you do. To read about your nomination, just click on the link….http://theobamacrat.com/2012/04/14/the-reader-appreciation-award/. Enjoy and congratulations.
Hey. Thank you Jueseppi for this nomination. This is the first Reader Appreciation Award I have received. Much much appreciated.
I enjoy your work, you deserve this award, congratulations and enjoy.
This post was so wonderful I had to share it.
thanks for sharing Genie!
I think Abraham’s perservernce was one of the things that made him so great. He sure is a source of inspiration for some of us. 🙂
I think soo too. He just kept on going throughout the years, despite all odds
Thank you for sharing this inspirational post on Abraham Lincoln – it is somewhat encouraging and comforting to see most people with great destiny have had to undergo periods of trial and sorrow before they came to where they are.
everyone has their tests in life. those were his. he faced them, and he conquered(as we saw)
Very well done. Thank you.
thank you Glenn
Thank you, I needed this today.
I’m happy it helped
I love your optimism. I, too, am an optimist, sometimes I get off the train of optimism, sit in the station and sulk for a couple of hours and then I get back on the train and onward with the journey.
haha, i’ve done that many a times too, but as you said, back on the train(more like HOPped back on the train :P)
Thanks for sharing
I have never met anyone who only had life ‘good’. We have ups and downs, but when we’re down, that seems to be the only thing we can think of.
Thanks for reminding us how Abraham persevered. (I bet if we did our own lifeline we would find similar patterns…)
Blessings
ann
Very cool post. Inspiring, and an important reminder to persevere.
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I don’t know whether it’s just me or if perhaps everybody else encountering problems with your site.
It seems like some of the written text on your content are running off the screen. Can someone else please provide
feedback and let me know if this is happening to them
as well? This may be a issue with my internet browser because
I’ve had this happen before. Thank you