Bad Weather, Winston Churchill and the Code

The NFL playoffs have featured bitter cold, torrential rain, and wind.  The Australian Open (tennis) has had several days with the temperature well over 100 degrees, conditions called “inhumane.”  The question this week is: how do we deal with adversity?  There is nothing more true than the fact that we all will face adversity – in sports and in life – and how we face it, and deal with it, will determine the outcome of our lives.  The Code says, “I will give my best effort…”  How easy it is to say that!  Determination and the will to persevere are only the result of habits that we must cultivate day in and day out.  We must look for small obstacles to overcome so that we can build up that “mental toughness” that is easy to talk about, but only comes as the result of daily challenges met.  Remember the words of Winston Churchill in the darkest days of World War II, when he described what lay ahead, and the daily challenges he assumed they would face and would have to overcome:  “…we will fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight…in the air, …we shall defend our island whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, ..on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender…”    What does adversity look like to you today?  What are the daily small steps you can take to overcome it?