Nothing is more maddening than feeling you like need to accomplish something, but feeling like there’s no way for you to do it. You have to do it, but you can’t. Or you don’t know how. Or you’ve been trying and failing for quite some time and you don’t know what to do. Discouragement doesn’t begin to describe the frustration you are feeling.

I was there once. I needed to figure out how to support a family. I had left engineering and was trying to build a business. I NEEDED to earn money. And I worked my tail off. I was awkward at first, but I kept learning. I kept going back failure after failure. I was in sales, and I needed to make some sales. Over a three year period I went on literally over a hundred sales appointments in three years and closed only 2 small pieces of business. I found a way to sabotage every sale in some way. And I had heard that if I kept getting up off the ground and kept going after I was failing, that I would soon find a way to be successful.

But three years? Thousands of hours spent? Hundreds of appointments? Thousands of dollars? No money? In three years? I felt insane. How was I ever going to be successful? Those were my darkest days. Those were the days I had no hope. It was in those days I began writing encouragement poems -- mostly to myself. Motivational phrases and sayings hardly motivated me. I would hear love words from people and receive their support. It helped me maintain my sanity while I moved through that time.

Words of encouragement will always remind you of the truth, no matter how much feelings of despair swirl around you. No matter how much impossibility looms. No matter how hopeless you feel or how empty you soul remains. Encouragement reminds you that there is always hope. Encouragement is the spirit of God whispering to your heart to hold on just a bit longer. Encouragement reminds you that everything is already OK and will be OK. Encouragement helps you to pull through when you don’t think you can. Encouragement doesn’t leave you hanging. Encouragement doesn’t leave you without at least the first step you can take to pull yourself out of the hole. Encouragement reminds you to open your heart and be willing one more time because your willingness is the key.

Even if you can’t believe, all you need is a desire to believe, only as big as a mustard seed. That desires is all you need because it will take root inside you and begin to grow bit by bit. And with that desire you will make your way out. It may not happen over night. It didn’t for me, but I found my way out. And it didn’t even involve earning that much more money for a while.

Here is a poem I wrote mostly for myself during my darkest times. I wrote it to inspire others who were feeling similarly discouraged.

Drowning

I was enjoying a glorious bright sunny day

Strolling along a nice tropical beach

I was taking in nature’s beauty and relaxing my mind

When, WHAM! A wave hit me and knocked me right down

I felt a tugging sensation as I slowly came to

While the undertow was dragging me straight out to sea

Irritated and determined, I quickly got up

Right as another wave came and knocked me back down

So I decided to fight even harder than before

Only to be beaten and battered quite a bit more

I realized the ocean was winning an unfair fight

A fight I didn’t want, a fight I didn’t start

I pleaded and begged with my unrelenting foe

What did I ever do to deserve such a chore?

Can I please just return to where I was before

Back on that beautiful faraway shore?

The ocean, not caring, went in for the kill

And I slowly, but surely, lost all my will

I began to tread water, hoping not to drown

And I noticed people relaxing on that faraway shore

I flailed my arms, I hoped they would notice

But my faith soon left me as time quickly passed by

Why can’t they see me? Why don’t they help?

Do I not matter? Is my predicament unreal?

I continued to struggle in quiet desperation

Knowing I had no way back to the beach

Why had I been given such unbeatable problems?

So hard and unfair, so difficult to bear

When I could not possibly take any more

Something brushed my leg and wrapped around tight

Slimy seaweed was enjoying its prey

Clamped on like handcuffs, latched on like a noose

The seawater trickled into my unwilling nose

Invading my lungs as I slowly sank down

I tasted the salt, and I angrily thought

Who could design such a cruel series of events?

My body went limp, and my mind went numb

I closed my eyes and gave up in defeat

I sent out one last plea before I would die

Lord, please save me, you’re the only One left

Something then brushed my leg once again

I said, "Thanks a lot, more kelp like before"

But this time I felt a lifting sensation

I was bewildered and shocked, and I shot a glance down

A gliding dolphin had come to save me from death

And it carried me all the way back to the shore

Holding on for dear life was all I could do

But He asked no more, and it was enough

Even though my life can seem overwhelming at times

And I might not be ready for those giant pounding waves

I may not even see any possible way out

Yet a divine hand is still there, steady and sure

Always pulling me through when I’m at my wit’s end

He finds the way when it seems I do nothing

And all that He fairly asks in return

Is for all that I can do, and He’ll do the rest