Scenario: 17 years old rising tennis player- wins her first Grand Slam of her career. Surely there were more to come and everyone expected her to become the queen of the world. But then life does not always goes the way it is planned-does it? At the age of 21 injury strikes you and you have to undergo a career threatening shoulder injury. What do you do then?
You either give up or decide that I can do something else. That’s what so many people do when faced with a tough situation: blame their destiny and give up. Then there are very few who know the pain of quitting and decides not to give up. They give their best till they achieve their goal no matter how many hurdles come in their way. Amongst these very few people is one player called Maria Sharapova.
In 2008, in midst of her booming career she suffered a shoulder injury- the kind of injury where there was a possibility that she might not recover at all. In her own words she said:
“As positive as I always try to be, you always question what you’re doing, obviously, because sometimes things work out and sometimes they don’t, I knew some examples of some people that did not quite recover from surgery and that was a little scary, ”
So what does she do, she decided to work hard and return to the former self. “So it was either give it a go or not do anything about it”
But one question which arises is why go under such pressure and do so much of hard work when she had other easier options available. She could have switched to a modeling career. That would have been easy no?
Easy way out is the most dangerous one. As Lance Armstrong put it : “Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.”
And who better than Sharapova to know that? She could have gone for easier ways in life but putting a limit on what she will do could have jeopardized her chances of what she was capable of doing.
And that’s what she did:“Of course it took a long time and it was a process, but it was just something that was in my steps that I had to go through. And I did.”
After her injury she has already completed her career grand slam (10th women player in tennis history to achieve this feat) and is back to World no. 1 after sliding down to 126. With the kind of determination she has, she has shown to us that in hope lies your dreams and in your determination lies the success of your dreams!
Reason being simple, : "When you start from nothing, when you come from nothing, it makes you hungry. I am proud of where I came from and I know what I want. I want to win."-Sharapova.
She knows what she wants to achieve and has risen before earlier - be it defeating Serena Williams at Wimbledon or winning career Grand Slam at French Open or playing competitive tennis once again when many had questioned her return from the surgery.
In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson -"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail".
One thing we all can learn from her no matter what roadblocks you face, get up, face them and give your best to reach your goals! Your destiny awaits you- go get it!
If you have any questions- You can mail me at apekshaha@gmail.com, http://twitter.com/#!/ApekshaHA or http://on.fb.me/pouTOy