A Message to Inspire Anyone Who is Ready to Give Up

You may not remember my name but remember the message

Photo by the blowup on Unsplash

"You won't remember my name.
This is the last time you will see me at the top.
My doubts will destroy my dreams.
The more I seem to learn,
the more I seem to lose.
I want to carry on,
but not today.
This is the point I give up,

but not today.
I want to carry on.
The more I seem to lose,
the more I seem to learn.
My dreams will destroy my doubts.
You will see me at the top.
This is the last time
that you won't remember my name."

This poem is featured in a Honda commercial (2024). The commercial shows a series of car accidents, motorcycle wrecks, and characters who suffer a failure. The words to the poem reverse halfway through the ad, and though the audience sees the same words, the format that the words are presented changes the message. At this time, the images show successful competitions, positive outcomes with smiling faces.

Ironically, this minute long advertisement played as I was writing this post explaining my personal frustrations with writing. I stopped writing and looked at the TV. The message was speaking to me; however, the focus wasn’t about writing but all aspects of life. The commercial title is “Unstoppable Dreams.”

I suddenly flashed back to my youth when I would ride around the neighborhood on my Honda 90. I was too young to have a driver’s license, but it was used to transport me to babysitting jobs, meet up with friends, and sometimes play hide and seek. This bike had value to me, but if I had sold it back then, a buyer wouldn’t have been willing to pay much.

The kickstart lever had to be kicked repeatedly to start the engine, and sometimes I had to get the bike rolling quickly with the help of a push or a hill so I could pop the clutch to engage the engine. It was a relic, needed love, failed for short periods but in the end took me where I needed to go. Maybe this analogy is a bit of a leap, but it is the memory that came into my mind.

Dreams are like my Honda. If we give up on them, we will never get where we want to be.

Just as I was contemplating my future as a writer, I was reminded by a commercial that failures lead to success. I read once that a child falls down 17 times every hour before it learns to walk. Their brains do not translate their falls as failures. Each time they stand back up they apply a new technique, build resilience, develop courage and determination to try again while gaining wisdom to on how to perfect the process so it will lead to success.

If you are experiencing failure today, on any scale, on any endeavor, remember these tips for turning failure into success.

• Evaluate the cause of the failure

• Examine the process

• Develop new processes

• View every venture as a scientific experiment: observe, question, hypothesis, predict, test, analyze

• Remain committed

• Define success and recreate the plan

Very seldom does life serve success on a silver platter; instead, it comes from hard work and sweat. In my personal journey to become a writer, the trek has seemed like two steps forward and one back. I’ve had enough positives to keep me moving in the right direction, but it is a slow climb. Live by the motto, we never reach our goal if we sit waiting for it to come to us.