Going the distance

When I was pushing myself to battle through extreme anxiety to make sales calls, I would psych myself up by playing the theme from Rocky over and over in my car. (I actually had three cassettes of the music at all times because I wore them out so fast.)

Rocky was a poor, no-count guy, trying to make it as an amateur boxer and mafia thug. Sylvester Stallone, who wrote the script and played Rocky in the movie, wasn’t too different. At the time, he was living in his van, too poor to buy food, and when he finally got an offer for $100,000 for his screenplay, he turned it down because they wouldn’t let him play the lead role. He stayed true to himself and worked until he could succeed on his terms.

Inspiring stuff for anyone, and it really spoke to me.

Rocky, 1976

Rocky was a long shot, and in the movie (spoiler alert!) he realizes there’s no way he can beat the heavyweight champion, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers). The best he can hope to do is to go the distance, all 15 rounds, which no fighter has ever done before.

I resonated to Rocky because of shared heritage, because it’s a story of a blue-collar guy giving his all to be a success, because of Stallone’s unwillingness to compromise his values–and because I’ve always known I will never beat anxiety, it will never go away, it will never be cured. But if I’m smart enough and tough enough and strong enough, I can go the distance.