November 6, 2012 – Los Angeles, CA

My oldest daughter left for boot camp one month ago today. I have been unusually emotional since then. Just saying…

I got an email from a friend yesterday and it had a link to the video below in it. I usually don’t pay attention to those kinds of emails, but for some reason I clicked on it and started watching.

I didn’t really know what it was going to be about, but something in the title must have made me curious.

Before it was over I was crying. In fact, the moment I started crying was… well, you’ll see.

The day before I had gotten a letter from my daughter. She was struggling with being home sick, missing her friends, and feeling physically drained. She is in a colder climate than she is used to and was feeling down. I read the letter a couple of times and was feeling extremely helpless. I just wanted to be there for her.

Of course, the whole purpose of boot camp training is for her to experience what she is experiencing and learn and grow from it. In retrospect, I totally get it. But it was still challenging emotionally to deal with.

With nothing else to do but write back to her, I included the following poem to her from the book “Think and Grow Rich”…

“If you think you are beaten, you are;
If you think you dare not, you don’t.
If you’d like to win, but think you can’t
It is almost a cinch you won’t.

If you think you’ll lose, you’ve lost,
For out in the world we find
Success being with a gal’s will;
It’s all in the state of mind.

If you think you’re outclassed, you are:
You’ve got to think high to rise.
You’ve got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.

Life’s battles don’t always go
To the stronger or faster wo-man,
But soon or late the woman who wins
Is the one who thinks she can.”

FILE UNDER: Motivate Your Child