National Get Up Day
Today is National Get Up Day. On the “days” calendar, it’s a new kid on the block first added in 2017. According to National Day Calendar, “February 1 is an opportunity to share inspiring stories of perseverance; it’s a reminder to pick ourselves up when we’ve fallen and
“February 1 marks the official end of National Skating Month (January) when rinks across the country bring communities together to experience the joys and benefits of skating. One of the first lessons every figure skater learns is how to fall and to get back up. This day isn’t just about skating, though. It’s about celebrating that Get Up spirit that applies to every aspect of life and inspiring others through stories, pictures, videos, and social media.”
“More importantly, February 1 reminds all of us to Get Up when we stumble. We never know when our efforts to seek a goal or overcome an obstacle will encourage another to do the same. Whether inspiration is found on or off the ice, in a classroom, through a co-worker or your own neighborhood, share your Get Up story on National Get Up Day!”
Teach Your Kids to “Get Up”
Learning to try and try again until you get it right is something we can teach our children from a very young age forward. Learning about life is not an easy task. We get frustrated by things as an adult where we can read, write, call someone for help and more. They don’t have the language skills, the motor skills, the coping skills, the ability to call someone or even know who to call if they did know how to call, nor do they have the knowledge to even express what they need or are trying to accomplish. That’s where good parenting comes in.
Good parenting calms the child and asks, what are you trying to do? How may I help you? May I help (or show) you? It says it’s okay, let’s try again. It reassures them that they aren’t bad or inadequate, they are just learning something new and everyone, EVERYONE, learns new things and sometimes, no, often, has to practice before getting it right.
The Wrong Way to Train
I belong to a number of homemaking groups. I see moms post pictures of the little children’s rooms and complain that they aren’t keeping it up no matter how much they yell, scream or threaten. I remember one that posted this picture:
Read what the mom says and look at the picture. She doesn’t tell us the age. I comment that it looks like she is only about 5 and that’s WAY too young to be responsible for that much stuff. Cull it down, clean it up, THEN work on her skills to keep it clean NOT BY ARGUING but by cheerful and loving training, and more training, and more training, until it becomes a regular habit. The mother admitted the child was only just 5 years old. We need to train age appropriately. This mother set this child up for failure and emotionally was damaging the child.
A Resource
There are many books and movies that teach us to get up and try again. Many that teach us to encourage ourselves. A book that comes highly praised for both parents and educators is, Fall Down 7 Times, Get Up 8: Teaching Kids to Succeed by Debbie Silver. I wonder if she heard Jerry Savelle’s sermon. I can STILL hear him say, “I don’t care if you’ve fallen seven times. GET UP EIGHT!”
Adults
As adults, we need to have the attitude that when we fall, we must get up, too. There are things that knock us down, we all have failures, but we need to have the attitude of Albert Einstein. As an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, “How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?” Edison replied, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.” Other times he’d answer that he didn’t fail, he just found 1,000 ways it didn’t work.
Though I fall, I shall arise!
Malachi 7:8
If you want to be surprised by others who “failed,” many who were told to get another career, they’d never make it, then made it big, go visit this site from the University of Kentucky called, “But They Did Not Give Up.”
In My Life…
I have had many big things that have happened in my life. People have said to me that they don’t know how I’ve made it through, how I could even get out of bed in the morning many times. There are some things that have helped me, encouraged me. First my faith in God. I could have never made it through without that. And I truly mean that.
And although this series has been renamed, I literally wore out this series when I had it on cassette. Then I bought it on CD. Now my brother has it. It’s from a Christian perspective and filled with Scripture. It’s called, “Quitting is Not an Option” by Jerry Savelle.
I have watched SO many films that have encouraged me over the years. Here are a few titles:
- Facing the Giants
- When the Game Stands Tall
- Fireproof (not giving up on marriage)
- Soul Surfer
- Rocky (this one is for the guys!! I’ve never seen it, but know a few of the quotes)
- The Pursuit of Happiness
I Encourage You
I encourage you to surround yourself with people who have the “Get Up” attitude. People who look for silver linings. People who build you up, not tear you down. Watch movies of people who have defeated the odds. Listen to tapes. Read books. Right now I’m reading a brand new book called, “God Where Are You? Finding Strength and Purpose in Your Wilderness” by John Bevere. What a great book! I actually just finished listening to the audio version and am excited to go through the workbook. I will probably do it as a group study when the weather gets a bit warmer.
What About You?
Do you have any stories of times that you fell and got up, maybe repeatedly? Are you willing to share? I’ll tell you one of
I remember a time that I was singing a solo and playing the piano in church for a special service. If you read yesterday’s post, you know that I’m a self-taught pianist. I play a type of piano shorthand because I never learned to play the left hand. I couldn’t make my fingers do all those notes. I didn’t have a teacher to show me what I was doing wrong, so I came up with my own “shorthand.” It was weird because I am more left-handed than right. But that’s just the way it is. Anyway, we had an evangelist in town. I got so lost in the song I closed my eyes. I CAN’T play if I can’t see the music. Not one bar ahead, not one note ahead. So, I just stopped. I had fallen just like the skater in the opening story.
I said I was sorry, then picked it up again and kept going. The song SO moved the evangelist he asked me to play it again and while I played it, he totally redid the sermon based on the song I sang. He said the Spirit moved him to go another direction, where I took the service that night. I don’t want to take credit. I just chose a song I felt led to sing and play. It was night 3 of 6, so I knew his theme and gathered a group of songs based on that theme, then chose this one. I guess it’s where God wanted it to go.
Had I ran from the room and not finished the song, he would not have changed the direction of the service that night. He would not have gone where God wanted him to go. But I “got up” and we went down the path we were supposed to go down.
Your Stories Have Value
I’m sure you have times of “getting up,” dusting yourself off and going on. Don’t say, no, no, not me. We all have them. They may be small or they may be huge, but we all have many of them over our lifetime. Encourage yourself with the times you “got up.” Encourage your children by telling them age-appropriate stories of you falling down and getting up. They need to hear it. It will inspire and encourage them.
Have a great day and an even better weekend.
I want to thank National Day Calendar for their website and information to help me get started on these posts.
#GetUpDay #NationalGetUpDay #FailingForward #Strengththroughtrials #encouragement #perseverance