The easy path leads downhill. Jocko Willink
Being strong does not mean that you never fall down, but that whenever you fall, you get up again. ~ Confucius
Worthy goals are consistently achieved by enduring forces of adversity and opposition until they subside. ~ Wes Fesler
Donald Marquis
CLOTHED on with thunder and with steel
And black against the dawn
The whirling armies clash and reel. . . .
A wind, and they are gone
Like mists withdrawn,
Like mists withdrawn!
Like clouds withdrawn, like driven sands,
Earth’s body vanisheth:
One solid thing unconquered stands,
The ghost that humbles death.
All else is breath,
All else is breath!
Man rose from out the stinging slime,
Half brute, and sought a soul,
And up the starrier ways of time,
Half god, unto his goal,
He still must climb,
He still must climb!
What though worlds stagger, and the suns
Seem shaken in their place,
Trust thou the leaping love that runs
Creative over space:
Take heart of grace,
Take heart of grace!
What though great kingdoms fall on death
Before the stabbing blade,
Their brazen might was only breath,
Their substance but a shade —
Be not dismayed,
Be not dismayed!
Man’s dream which conquered brute and clod
Shall fail not, but endure,
Shall rise, though beaten to the sod,
Shall hold its vantage sure —
As sure as God,
As sure as God!
Stress can blindside us. We’re coasting along, bopping our head to our favorite tunes when, out of the blue, it happens. An event stresses us out. We forget about the music we were listening to. We forget about the good mood we were in. All we think about is the stressor event. It may not even be a big event. A co-worker passes by and makes a snide remark. Your mom calls and wants to know why you haven’t called. Or, it could be one of the biggys. It’s easy for a friend to say, “let it go” when you know you can’t. It easy to hear advice that tells you to deep breath and you know you don’t have time for that stuff. The way I see it, you’re being human. Being human means we have to buckle up and ride out the bumpy parts of the ride. I’ve learned I can’t avoid stressors. I’ve also learned I don’t have to go looking for them. I’ll let them find me.
Today’s Thinking Out Loud reflection is on Cervantes work, Don Quixote.
“Senor,” said Sancho on hearing this, “It is the part of brave hearts to be patient in adversity just as much as to be glad in prosperity. . . . Fortune is a drunken whimsical jade, and, what is more, blind, and therefore neither sees what she does, nor knows whom she casts down or whom she sets up.” Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote
Note: We all have streaks of things going well and things falling apart. The wise learn to take to the good with the bad. They know that every storm will end. If they don’t quit and persevere they know life will once again turn around and the sun will shine on them. They are humble when it is going good and learners when it is going bad. Persevere during tough times, enjoy the good times.
