The Oxford English Dictionary defines ‘overcoming’ as succeeding in dealing with a problem or difficulty, or to defeat an opponent.
Helen Keller said, “Be of good cheer. Do not think of today’s failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow. You have set yourself a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles.”
It is not always easy to overcome our problems, but it is possible. To overcome we need to have the willpower and the drive to move on from the past, embrace the present and hope for the future. We cannot change what has already happened, so we need to try not to let it hold us back. In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (written by JK Rowling), Harry discovers the Mirror of Erised which shows the viewer their deepest desires. In the mirror, he saw his parents who had died. The headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, told Harry he would be moving the mirror because Harry had spent so much time looking at it to see his parents. He told Harry, “It does not do well to dwell on dreams and forget to live”.
You cannot hold on to the past and let it stop you from doing things today, and making changes today. Thinking about what happened in the past or about what could happen in the future distracts us from doing what we need to do now.
If we can learn from our mistakes and from our past experiences, we become better and stronger people. We know how to deal with things and learn how to cope more and deal with more; we keep moving forward. In the 2006 film Rocky Balboa, Sylvester Stallone reiterates this by saying, “It’s not about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward.”
