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Get Up!

It doesn’t matter how many times you get knocked down — as long as you get back up.

Everyone reading this has been down. Some of you are down right now. I’ve been there too. Today’s message is simple: get back up.

Adversity isn’t the exception; it’s the experience of being human. Bad things happen beyond our control. Bad things happen because of our own choices. We lose things, we lose people, we lose our footing — and we go down.

But you can always get back up.

Today I want to walk you through a process that has helped me and countless others: Talk it up, Listen up, Toughen up, Lighten up, Light it up, Follow up, and Look up.

Talk it up

Your self-talk matters more than you think. You believe your own voice more than anyone else’s. So make it tell the truth — the encouraging kind.

Even when you don’t believe it yet, say it anyway:

• “When I look in the mirror, I see the reason for my failures — and the source of my comeback.”

• “This is hard, but hard is how I grow.”

• “This story isn’t finished.”

• Dulcius ex asperis — sweeter after difficulty.

Say it often enough, and one day you’ll realize you believe it.

Listen up

Seek wise counsel. Distance and perspective are powerful teachers.

Learn from others who’ve fallen and gotten up again.

Accept feedback without self-defense — it’s one of the fastest ways to grow stronger.

Toughen up

Emotional calluses come from getting hit and healing, not from hiding.

Words only hurt if you give them permission. People who attack out of malice often do so because they can’t win with reason. Don’t give them the satisfaction.

The more you get up, the less falling hurts.

Lighten up

Life’s hard enough without taking every bump personally. Laugh — at the absurd, at the little things, even at yourself.

Most of what stresses us out won’t matter a month from now. Choose humor. Choose joy.

And remember: words can be both powerful and harmless — it’s all in how you hold them.

Light it up

Once you’ve steadied yourself, it’s time to shine again. Pick up that project. Reconnect with that person. Do the next thing that reminds you what you’re capable of.

Energy creates momentum. Action reignites hope.

Follow up

Don’t stop once you’re standing again. Follow up on people, projects, and possibilities. Growth multiplies when you reconnect what you dropped while you were down.

Look up

Faith isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about trusting even when you don’t. God gives us enough evidence to believe, but leaves enough mystery to require faith.

Trust — not certainty — is the foundation of relationship, whether with God or anyone else.

And when faith gets hard — when prayers seem unanswered or injustice seems to rule — that’s when faith is actually doing its work.

So hang on. Get back up. Talk it up. Listen up. Toughen up. Lighten up. Light it up. Follow up. Look up.

Your story only ends tragically if you ever stop getting up.

Please — don’t.

Get up. One more time.

And then one more after that.

Personal Note:

When I first wrote this message, business was hard — harder than I let on. Within a year, the bottom dropped out completely. We lost more than income; we lost the sense of stability we’d built over decades.

But even in that season, these same words came back to me. Talk it up. Toughen up. Look up. Get up. They weren’t advice anymore — they were survival.

If you’re reading this in your own season of loss or uncertainty, I’m not offering clichés. I’m offering proof. You can get back up — again and again — until you find your footing.

Wishing you all the best, Keep Asking, Wisdom Pays

Roger