“Embrace the suck”.
Character comes from suffering, so I hope everyone has a good dose of suffering in their lives. The business failed? The job is pure drudgery? Your spouse is going nuts? Your children are spinning out of control? Great! This is where your really learn to live.
There’s a quaint old analogy about steering a ship. If the ship is tied to the dock, you can turn the wheel all you want, it’s not going to have any effect on the direction of the ship. Because it’s sitting still, tied to the dock! In order to steer the ship, it has to be moving. And what propels it forward? Wind, heat, or combustion. In short, pain.
It’s funny how when we’re young all of our hopes and dreams seem to be just around the corner, within easy reach and almost tangible. We have lots of enthusiasm and energy so we go after them with all we’ve got. Sometimes we even achieve them. Sometimes we fail. Sometimes we achieve them and then they die. Then the agony of defeat envelopes us and despondency moves into our hearts. “What did we do wrong? If only I’d done this or that. That jerk of a partner screwed me. I guess I’m just a loser.” And other such thoughts that pollute our minds and hearts.
The reality is that unless we try and fail, we’ll never know what true success is!
Has a dark cloud surrounded you and you feel lost? Fantastic! That’s where you grow. I speak from a lot of experience here. Depression can be crippling to the point of wanting to die. You can’t even bring yourself to talk to anyone about it because you think it might hurt the listener. Been there, done that. There is a solution though.
His Name is Jesus…
