Brighten Your Day

I recently watched the Arnold Schwarzenegger documentary on Netflix, and I have to tell you how impressed I was with his life story.

I remember back in high school when me and my girl Clara and I were the only two girls in the gym working out and lifting weights. Yes, this was back in the dinosaur days when girls didn't go to the gym. There were all these posters around Arnold. He was the bodybuilder of the day. He won the Mr. Universe title aged 20, and subsequently the Mr. Olympia title seven times. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest bodybuilders of all time and has written many books and articles about it. He was a hero to so many of us gym rats.

But he is so much more than that. He is an Austrian and American actor, a businessman, a filmmaker, a politician, and a retired professional bodybuilder. Most people know him for his action movies, like The Terminator. In case you didn't know, he also served as the 38th governor of California from 2003 to 2011 and was among Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world in 2004 and 2007.

But what got me was his determination to get where he is today. He had a dream, and he went after it. He came from a small town on the other side of the world. They said he couldn't make it in body building, but he went on to be one of the world's most famous bodybuilders. They said he would never be an actor because of his accent, but in spite of that, he became box office gold. They said he had no potential for becoming a governor, but he showed them, winning not one but two terms in office and making some world changes while in there.

He didn't let anything or anyone stop him from what he wanted. No matter how many disappointments, how many failures, or how many people told him he couldn't do it, it just made him more determined to prove them wrong.

I love stories like these. It gives us hope that we can do anything we set our minds to. To never quit, to stand back up after you are knocked down and to keep trying. His story was about a poor immigrant who longed for a better life in America, who worked hard, never stopped believing, and got it.

So today, my friends, the lesson here is to never give up, to hold onto your dream no matter how crazy others may think it is. To work hard and despite how many times you get knocked down or told no, that you keep fighting. Because as you can see here, dreams do come true.

"Be the change you want to see,"

Via @TreadmillTreats / See more on Treadmilltreats.blogspot.com