In the movie, “The Edge”, two men are being tracked down by a man-eating bear. As these two desperate men struggle to survive when all odds are against them including lack of shelter, food and harsh environments, they are pushed to the edge and must rely on their grit and guts to pull them through. In one defining scene, both men realize they must kill the bear in order to survive as it continues to hunt them relentlessly. At this moment in the movie, both men shout out loud, in the middle of a gigantic forest, ”I’m going to kill the bear.”

I’ve probably watched this scene a dozen times or so. It was only recently, that I actually turned on the television and by chance this movie was on. The scene means more to me now than ever before. It dawned on me that there was much more to this scene than just about the plot of this movie. The figurative meanings I have since attached to this saying give me a different focus I did not have before.

In the movie, “Cast Away”, Tom Hanks is stranded on an island alone. He is without all the amenities we take for granted. In the movie, something as simple as a lighter or running water are unavailable. Food and shelter become the man’s struggle to achieve.

Now if you were stranded somewhere and had no matches or synthetic way of starting a fire, and you actually made the fire from wood you had to split without the use of a knife, how do you think you’d feel? In one of the great scenes in this movie, the man stranded on the island, manages to make fire and shouts loudly, over and over, “I have made fire!”

Now what does this have to do with success in life? Everything.

Success is measured by how much you fight. Success is measured by how you handle challenges and adversity. When you’re looking around at your surroundings and questioning everything you’ve failed to do, say, “I’m going to kill the bear!” If something needs to be done and you don’t have the resources to get it done, will you make the fire!

People do amazing things every day. Aspen mountaineer Aron Ralston used his pocket knife to cut off his own arm in order to free himself from a 1000 pound boulder that left him without water or food, trapped facing certain death. With the help of 12 disciples (and God), Jesus Christ, whether you believe he is the son of God or not, changed the world.

So why not you? Another line from the movie, The Edge, is “What one man can do, another can do!” The term “man” here is relative to both genders. When you’re thinking of squirming away from what you know you can do, repeat these sayings, over and over again. Do not let your mind, think its way out of “danger”.

Often people will shy away from doing something they’ve never done before, because their mind gives them a dose of “reality”. Meanwhile, that “reality” is fear masked as logic.

Next time you’re in this spot, think of the person who makes fire with their bare hands. Can you think the fire to start? Think of the bear that hunts you down and see yourself in the forest, with only the clothes on your back and the trees around you. Can you think the bear away?

The answer is no.

It’s your move.

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