Ashley Johns

This weekend, I went to see "The Fighter."  What I loved most about this movie was that it was about a kid who had always been backseat in the family.  He never shined growing up, but he had tons of heart.

For most of the movie, he was just an average fighter, winning here and there, but mostly losing until he finally got some amazing training and trained hard until he could train no more each day.  He wanted so bad to earn his right by fighting a good fight.  He finally got his opportunity after training for months.  He had been training his entire life.  He got beat on for most of the fight.  Everyone knew he'd lose.  I can't tell the rest in case anyone is wanting to see it, but I will say that I sat there thinking, you know, usually you want to watch a character who is at the top of his game and winning, but I sat there loving how they showed this "real" character working his way up through the journey of sweat and hard work.  That is real life.  There is always a progression of success.   Usually people work hard and hard until they think that maybe something won't happen, but it is in this moment that true strength is shown when someone sticks with it.  They later get an opportunity that changes the entire course of their life, because they decided in that moment to move forward, even though they may not have everything they thought they should have from working that hard up until that point.   It is not about the destination, but about the journey.  We all have to start somewhere.  You look up to these superstars, whether it's in the fitness industry, a movie star, an athlete or your parents;  these people all have been in the same shoes we have been in, they all started somewhere!  It's what they did with the shoes they were in that got them to where they are now.

Go see this movie.  It is beautiful acting and a true story of personal growth.