Get Up

"Getting knocked down by Herbie Hide was the best thing that ever happened to me. It was painful, but if I hadn't got knocked out by Herbie Hide, I would still be playing the role of the boxer guy wearing that mask."

Michael Bentt was a former boxing heavyweight champion but he was a reluctant fighter. He only fought because his father pushed him into it. As an amateur, Bentt was a phenomenal champion. As a pro boxer, he also wore a championship belt, only to lose it by knockout to Herbie Hide in 1994. 

Bentt was not only knocked out in the ring in that bout - he was also unconscious for a few days. When he woke up, he was told he could no longer fight. Now, remember: Bentt never wanted to become a boxer, so this was his way out. To make the story short, Bentt turned his life around after that and discovered his passion with a career in Hollywood.

In a 2015 interview with Forbes.com, Bentt said, "Some of us lose when we win and some win when we lose. Life is like that."

"Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn," as John Maxwell might put it.

Bentt's story also reminds me of this Bible verse:

"For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief." 

(Proverbs 24:16, KJV)

Do you feel you've been knocked down hard? Get up. You deserve another chance.

Are you feeling lower than low? Take a deep breath, exhale, then get up.

Nobody lives this life without getting punched, and sometimes you get knocked down. But getting knocked down doesn't mean you have to stay down.

Stop moping.

Get up. Get moving.

 

(Bentt's story was featured on the first episode of Netflix's Losers. Images in this article are from https://michaelbentt.com/.)