Overcoming Life's Obstacles.

[Caeli]

In a previous blog, I asked the rhetorical question of,

"What does it mean to be strong?"

Is it all too ironic that the other day, I found myself thinking, I can become stronger - I just need to overcome this obstacle?


Of course, living life necessitates experiencing hardship. There is no such life as that without some hardship - and I wouldn't necessarily discount the fact that an "easy" life by one's standards may not be so easy by the standards of another.

You see, I don't think it's entirely possible to quantify hardship. Obstacles are, for the most part, seen through different eyes, felt through different pasts, and acted and reacted upon by individuals who have varying levels of maturity, years of existence, rationale, and different experiences.

Who is to say what is and is not an obstacle, what is and is not a hardship?



Still, the worst thing you could do when you're faced with a problem is give up. If you try, you have a minimum of a 1% chance of succeeding (or a 0.1% chance, or a 0.01% chance - how pessimistic are you feeling today?), and a maximum of a 100% chance of succeeding. If you give up, you have a 0% chance of success.

People do a lot of things when confronted with some kind of huge problem, some obstacle that seems impossible to handle or so big that it just seems like even if you try, you won't be able to make things even remotely close to right.

Some will run. Some will go hysterical and cry. Some will brush it off as "not their problem". Some will be shell-shocked. Some will rant and rave and complain, but won't actually do anything. Some will try to be rational. Some will charge straight at the problem. But

Ultimately, I think strength is about picking yourself up after you've fallen down, dusting off your knees, and continuing to walk towards your goal, whatever it might be. Being strong... it means being unafraid of getting a few ouches here and there, to get back on the right track.

It might well hurt, and it might well be excruciating. At times, your life might seem so miserable, that it just doesn't seem worth it to continue on. After all, you're trying hard - but for what? For what purpose?

Consider this: How much is your victory worth, if you have never experienced a setback or a failure? It's cliché, but you would hardly know what light was, if you had never seen shadows.



Me, I'm waiting for the day when I can look back and think, "It was hard, but I adapted, I overcame, and I conquered."