What's Your Mantra?

Times are tough. No one has to say it out loud, we all know it. These are times when we all need mantras. Mantras are words that you live by. Words that help you see over whatever it is you're battling. We need to repeat them to ourselves over and over so that we don't lose sight of what is really important. But there is something to having a mantra for everyday.

I have several mantras for everyday use. One I use most is, "One day at a time." I used to always worry about what I was going to do in the future. Or where I was going to be in five years. I suddenly realized that while I was worrying about the future the present was becoming the past and I had missed it. "One day at a time" helps me through the rough patches. Helps me see that if I live the best way possible for that one day then I can do the same thing the next day. I don't let the small battles pile up, I work through them and once they are over for the day I move onto the next day's battles. One person tackling a huge problem never works.

Another is, "Just take the first step." This one helps me realize that it only takes one step to get a job started. If I'm struggling with something this is an oft repeated phrase to myself. It also helps me realize that I don't need to see the whole trail at the start of the journey. Sometimes you stumble upon better paths than the one you started on. In the end I always wind up where I want to be.

So, what's your mantra? Do you have one?

Here are some famous mantras and quotes to help inspire you:

“We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face... we must do that which we think we cannot.”—Eleanor Roosevelt

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”—Oliver Wendell Holmes

"Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win." ~Jonathan Kozel

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." ~Theodore Roosevelt

"Don't look where you fall, but where you slipped." ~African Proverb

"The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials." Chinese Proverb