Seven falls, eight getting up!

Fall down seven times,
get up eight 七転び八起き

This Japanese proverb reflects an important and shared ideal:

“Nana korobi ya oki” (literally: seven falls, eight getting up) means fall down seven times and get up eight. This speaks to the Japanese concept of resilience. No matter how many times you get knocked down, you get up again. Even if you should fall one thousand times, you just keep getting up and trying again. You can see this ethic reinforced in all facets of Japanese culture including education, business, sports, the martial arts the Zen arts, etc. It is especially important to remember the sentiment expressed in this proverb when times are dark. There are no quick fixes in life and anything of real worth will necessarily take much struggle and perseverance. Success does not have to be fast—what’s more important is that one simply does their absolute best and remains persistent.

 

This is for all my readers, who struggle so much to give up smoking. I wish I could offer you a magic wand or a miracle cure. I wish there would be a “one size fits all solution”, but there isn’t. We are all different and we all react differently. One of my quit-buddies at the online support group was an alcoholic, sober for more than 20 years. I asked here why I could just walk away from cigarettes and why others struggle so hard. She said” some of us drink every night for years and then just stop, others have to go to meetings and struggle for years”. So, if you struggle and if you relapsed, just get up again…don’t give up!

Success is not always a straight line!

 

“Seven falls, eight getting up”! You relapsed 7 times..you quit 8 times