I learned more about grit riding my bike to Zephyrhills Elementary than I ever did in school.
It was first grade.
I was six years old.
And I rode that old banana seat bike down Geiger Road every morning.
No helmet. No phone. No GPS.
Just me, two wheels, and a lunchbox swinging from the handlebars.
There were no sidewalks. Just sand, dirt, and the occasional rattlesnake.
And let me tell you — Florida sand is no joke when you’re pedaling through it.
Some mornings it was cold.
Some mornings it rained.
Some mornings I just didn’t feel like going.
But I got on the bike anyway.
Why?
Because there was no backup plan.
Nobody was coming to give me a ride.
If I didn’t pedal, I didn’t get there.
That lesson stayed with me.
Years later, I got into the mortgage business…
And at first, it felt like that same sandy road all over again.
Calls that went nowhere.
Realtors who ghosted.
Deals that fell apart the day before closing.
And just like that little boy in first grade…
I got on the bike anyway.
Because I’d learned something valuable early on:
The people who keep pedaling — even when it’s hard, even when it’s uphill
—
They’re the ones who make it.
So if you’re in a rough stretch right now…
Keep going.
You’re not doing it wrong — you’re just in the sand.
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