24 to Life

     When I was writing 24 to Life, I had to come up with a good name for a gym that hadn't been used and the name 24 to Life popped into my head. It's meaning, at that time, was that the gym was open twenty-four hours for you to pursue a better life. I thought it was a pretty good name for a gym.
     As the story went on though, the name took on a different meaning and that is why it became the title of the book.
     We all will have days where we think life couldn't get any better and days where we think life can't get any worse. And the funny thing about life is, it can happen all within twenty-four hours. One day, you are hired for the job of your dreams and then next you wreck your car and have no way to get to that perfect job.
     But again, that's life and it's like the Oklahoma weather, if you don't like it, give it a minute or a day and it will change.
     Too many of us these days though, don't remember that. We get stuck in the muck and mire of the bad situations and we just give up. We don't remember the day we were hired for that perfect job or we found that perfect car or we met that perfect someone, we just look around at the right now and say, "It's never going to get better," and with that attitude, chances are it might not.
     The greatest victories in life are the ones where you grabbed hold of your bootstraps and pulled yourself out of the hole you were in. Whether you dug it yourself or just by circumstances out of your control, got thrown in, doesn't matter.
     What matters is, being a survivor not a victim. Regardless of what hand you are dealt in life, or how many times you get thrown down that hole, if you keep climbing out, you will see better days.
     Sometimes it takes a little longer than a day, but if you set your sights on getting up and not giving up, you will be rewarded.