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The story of superior spider-man is one of the most interesting tales I’ve ever heard. I doubt anyone hasn’t heard of spider-man, but in case you haven’t he is a fictional comic book hero. In the story his enemy switches minds with him and the enemy’s body dies, killing spider-man’s mind. At the moment of transfer spider-man was able to give his memories to his attacker before being kicked out of his own head. The memories caused the criminal to realize how wrong his ways were and made him vow to become a better hero than spider-man ever was- a superior spider-man!

The interesting thing about this story is that he did things the original never thought of doing, and with nearly the same resources the previous body owner had! It really made me think. Some of us (me included) feel as though we can’t do some tasks or achieve some goals because of some obstacle. But imagine if it was someone else in the same situation as us, someone who doesn’t give up as easily. This type of person would see that you already have all the resources you need to achieve your goals and will carry on with ease.

I realized that all of us are in this kind of situation. We have obstacles that are obstacles because we labelled them as such. There are two messages from God that resonate to this. The gist of what I can remember is that in the Quran, God says, “God does not place a burden on someone greater than that person can carry.” This meaning that anything that we think is too hard for us, may be hard for some people, but in our case is within our limits as God would not give us this trial if we couldn’t handle it. And the other message was, “With every hardship, there is ease.” This is mentioned twice one after another. Thus once one starts some work, God makes it easy for that person or probably gives them ease once it’s over.

When I can remember these things it can really pump me up to tackle anything! And when I forget I am usually at my most depressed state. “Truly one finds peace only in the remembrance of God”, another message from the Quran, and still paraphrasing since I can’t remember the exact translation. (By the way, anyone reading these posts will find me writing about something related to God one way or the other. It is not that I am purposefully trying to spread the belief in God, even though I should. It’s just that He does factor in to most of the things I think about. And my life really does revolve around how I behave with respect to what God has taught mankind. Some of you might say, “Then why don’t you follow everything you’re supposed to do in your religion already?!” Well it’s not that easy. If it was then we wouldn’t exist. What do you think is the point of the human race? We were sent here with a trial to obey God’s command while having the permission to disobey if we so will and the urges to do it too. Why do you think punishment is justifiable after death? We made a promise to God before being sent to this world and we must keep that promise. Whether we forgot or not isn’t a viable excuse either. We were sent messengers to remind us. We were told our purpose. It’s just sad that even after knowing all this that we still don’t properly obey. Like when people trying to stay on a diet for their health’s sake still break habits because they can’t control their desires. Those who can control them live a healthy and fulfilling life. So the same with me. I need to write out like this so I can process my thoughts. I may come back later to skim down some of the negative stuff I’ve written so I can forget about that. No need for negativity flowing back in if I reread these. So please excuse my rant. Thank you!)

In short, we shouldn’t be afraid of what’s coming at us. Like the case of superior spider-man, not giving up and working with patience is key to overcoming challenges. I’ve seen it work for other people (and for myself on occasions where I could do it). Mind you, sometimes you will have no idea how far your patience needs to be stretched before things can fall into place. So remember. Never give in!

It has to come from somewhere, right? I often struggle with this. It makes it hard for me to do anything since I usually lack motivation for anything. I’ve been using everything I could think of for the last few years. The truth is, nothing lasts.

One may find reasons, but they only work for so long. I hate that I grow immune to motivational reasons. Still, so far I find that my family is my strongest motivating factor. I found that I really don’t care too much about myself. I may be a selfish person, but from studying my habits it seems like I don’t consider my well being too much. However when it comes to other people I find that I can push myself. I feel a little contradicted.

Recently one of the things that have motivated me was my little brother. Seeing him looking well in the prime of his teenage years stirred something in me. I am supposed to be his older brother. What kind of path am I laying down for him. What kind of example am I setting? Do I want him to end up where I am? Don’t I want for him something better? What the heck does he really like anyway?!

I wasn’t the best of brothers growing up. Over the years I have become increasingly aware of my flaws and bad decisions growing up. I wish I could fix them. Getting a little depressed from these things might be one of the reasons I keep losing my motivation. I haven’t done much that’s actually impressive. All I have is what God shows the public.

God is indeed the most merciful for keeping public knowledge of me at such a state that I have some level of respect. I just find that day by day I am losing it. (This post is not turning out to be what I had in mind. I guess these posts are all going to be from some strong emotion; in this case depression).

They say centering ourselves around following God is the best way to live life. As God is eternal, so would be our reason to strive. But it isn’t so easy. I feel ashamed sometimes of calling myself a Muslim. Even with my bad memory I remember countless times that God had made me feel like I was on top of the world and other times when He saved me from what was a disaster in my eyes. Yet I can still be so ungrateful. If anyone reads this please pray for me. I know what my duty is, and I believe it with every unit of life I have, but I can’t seem to live it.

I am always tired and almost always failing my goals. I see the strong people around me and wonder how they get that way. I know there’s something I always think of the wrong way. I just don’t know it yet. There’s something wrong in my mindset, the way I do things, maybe the way I also look at things. Indeed, I wonder where does this motivation come – the motivation to fight one’s mind and body day-in and day-out. I am told, and I know for it to be true, that only God grants this, but I just wonder what it is that I do, that I cannot attain it.