Demonstrate to yourself that you are determined to move forward

The problem with revenge is, it keeps pain and violence in circulation.

And from a purely economical scale, it’s not an intelligent use of resources. There are better ways to spend your time and money and energy.

I’m reminded of a great line from an old western novel. The cowboy says:

All that time you’re spending trying to get back what was taken from you, more is going out the door. And after a while, you just try and get a tourniquet on it.

The question is, how do you stop the bleeding? How do you reconcile the thieves and cheaters and freeloaders who believe they’re entitled to wet their beaks on your every achievement?

Simple. Take action. Make progress. Cut yourself loose from the dead hand of the past. Keep your eyes off the rear view mirror, keep adding energy to the system and keep moving the story forward.

That’s the most economical, least stressful way to live. Whereas sitting around feeling sorry for yourself, proclaiming that everywhere you leak the world hangs a bucket, is a recipe for disappointment and bitterness.

It’s just another distraction to diminish your sense of progress.

I’ve been publishing my writing for nearly twenty years. And I’ve lost count of the number of people who have blatantly pirated and plagiarized my material.

But taking legal action and sending strongly worded letters and calling people onto the carpet wasn’t doing a damn thing.

And so, I let it go. I accepted the leaks in my bucket as the cost of doing business. I stopped looking into the rear view mirror. I started demonstrating to myself that I was determined to move forward.

And over time, I freed my heart from bitterness and came out on the other side with clean heart.

Take your momentum wherever you can find it. Buoy yourself by the prospect of any kind of progress.

Because there’s nothing more infuriating than being left hanging silently over the path on which no steps were taken.

How will you demonstrate to yourself that you are determined to move forward?