It’s late and I’d like to go to bed. It’s been a very long day. But I need to do this post. I’d much rather relax and do something else but having struggled with the writing habit, I know that this hard-won development is not something I want to discard lightly in favour of immediate gratification.
And that got me thinking how we all have the same 24 hours in a day. Yet, some of us seem to get more accomplished in this timeframe than others. They’re finishing chapters of their latest book, they’ve made guest appearances on tv shows, they’ve spoken at interesting conferences and presented thought-provoking papers.
And then there are those for whom there are no enough hours in the day, where the workload seems to mount, where there doesn’s seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel. Those who feel that the harder you run, the faster you get, but the wheels just keep turning and turning, with no end in sight. Those who feel others are out to get them, that they don’t understand where they are coming from and their personal dilemma. Those who know that their work will never get done, but the time has got to be put in. And so they do.
Those who realise that they need to do something differently, that there’s a little tweaking that needs to happen…if only they knew what it is that had to be tweaked.
Those who know exactly what it is that they need to do but somehow that road is long, full of bumps and frankly, the gains are not something tangible enough to sacrifice a change in their current thinking or philosophy.
Then, there are those who know what they ought to do and know that they will get on to it. Someday. When this project is over. When that person leaves.
And so here’s what I’ve come to realise.
You win when you lose. If you are willing to do the work, you will reap the reward. And especially when you lose, you’ve lost a battle – but not the war. There’s so much more gained from the process of losing – the psychological upheaval, the emotional toll, the reliance on gut and insight – if we can truly see what is before us and are willing to dissect the situation and draw the truths out.
Not all things can be rushed. Think of it as a process of ripening because that is probably the best way of looking at your growth and development. You are ripening and that needs to happen in its own time.
You never really get rid of problems if you choose not to deal with it – you’ve just put it in storage. I think a good strategy in life is to choose to view your problems are opportunities for growth and learning. Realising though that this is not the typical response in most situations, it takes real effort and mindfulness to reach that state of mind but it’s a journey that’s worth it.
All you need to ask yourself is this : If you are faced with a tough challenge right now, think about what the problem is really about. Dissect it from all angles.
In my experience, I find that, frequently, problems come disguised in various shapes/shades and present themselves in different ways. What may occur however, is that a number of problems may appear quite distinct from each other. However, over time, you may come to see that these various problems are merely just one problem, manifesting itself to the end user, and therefore, subject to the inner workings of the mind of the person perceiving it.
So long as we make excuses for why certain challenges are not worth our present energy, we never really ‘see’ the problem for what it truly is – which, in turn means, we miss out on the opportunity for some real growth.
Rowena Morais 