Your goal is not to conquer a life-long yetzer hora in one day! Simply putting up a fight is a tremendous accomplishment, and skipping this time, or even delaying it a little bit, is still worthwhile. Even if you ultimately do it, there is still value and tremendous sechar for every second you are able to be omeid b’nisayon.
This response can be explained with the following mashal:
There was once a king who placed his daughter at the summit of a
large mountain and proposed the following challenge to the
inhabitants of his land: I will offer my daughter’s hand in marriage
to whomever is able to climb the mountain and reach the top.”
Many professional hikers attempted the climb, but they were all
unsuccessful. Then along came an old man who could barely see, but
decided nonetheless to try. He slowly made his way up, and after
many weeks of arduous travel, he eventually made it to the summit,
where he received the grand prize-- the princess!
When the old man was asked how he was able to reach the summit
after so many other hikers had failed, he answered simply, “What do
you mean? It wasn’t such a tall mountain! All I saw was a few feet in
front of me, so I walked those few feet-- and then another few feet,
until I reached the top.”
The nimshal is obvious: Take one day at a time! Your goal right now is not to stop for life; it’s to push it off as much as you can...
