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I carry a ball of aluminum foil around with me, a mental reminder that if my attitude gets too rotten, I have to chew on that until I feel better. Thankfully, of course, that has never happened. :)
This is something I wrote a long time ago, but I hope it is helpful to someone:
All The Motivation I Need
Once upon a time there was a boy named David. When he was born, one of his eyes had to be removed because of cancer. But then he lived fourteen years without much drama. He did fine seeing out of one eye and wearing one "fake." He went through years of growing up, loving his family, going to church, being a good student, liking art and computers. Fourteen years.
Then one day, he got a nosebleed that wouldn't stop. The cancer was back. It was in his brain. And it was bad.
For two years, David endured. He endured pain, the loss of his "good" eye, radical surgeries that left his face and head disfigured, different kinds of treatments that made him very sick. He endured living under a death sentence and having to say goodbye to his friends and family and everything, except God, that he knew and loved.
The summer before he died, David went to camp. Not a camp for sick kids, or blind kids, or dying kids. He went to wilderness camp and went rock climbing and white water rafting. And so I have this "picture" of David: frail and weak, blind and dying, sitting in the front of a raft, grinning widely, feeling the spray of rapids on his face, hearing his counselor yell at him, "Hang on, David; hang on!"
And I look at that picture when I get tired and feel like giving up, or slowing down, or just taking it easy. I see David, and I try a little harder. I remember that it's always worth it to do the very best you can, even when time is running out. It's always worth it to try to win, even when you know you're losing.
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