They told me to jump and I did.
But it wasn't enough.
They told me to reach and I did.
But it wasn't enough.
They told me to try and I did.
But it wasn't enough.
It was never enough.
The bar at which they measured me kept moving farther and farther out of reach.
My muscles groaned in agony, my anger grew, for how could they tell me to do and then make it impossible to succeed?
Like a rite of passage, like an initiation, 'they' tell me what must be done. The good and the kind-hearted and the pure of heart, they have such good intentions, they say.
For when someone is above and beyond you, they can tell you about their own journey, and give you advice. But advice is useless.
“Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.”
-Lance Armstrong
What is success? To keep going when it hurts so much? If you ask an Olympian how it felt to continue in a competition with an injury, I'm sure they would say it is the greatest feeling in the world. To go on when the pain is so bad, and to finish knowing that you never gave up.
But what is giving up? How can we measure failure and success?
Like a little kid throwing a temper tantrum, pounding their fists into the ground for all their worth, I implore at heaven's door. But eventually the kid will tire out, grow silent and still. The energy seeps, the desire to fight drains out, and a limp form remains.
How long can one fight, until they forget what they are fighting for? How long can one try, until the desire to succeed is gone?
How long does it take to get beaten down and not get up again?
:-(
ReplyDeleteBut sometimes, when we're injured, we need to stop and rest to let it heal in order to avoid a permanent injury. Like a broken arm, we have to let it mend first before we can use it again. They say that once a broken bone is healed, it is a lot stronger than it was before.
I once saw a great representation of what people think success is versus true success:
1) People think success is about always winning, always moving forward, always being on top of the game. This was depicted by a graph with a straight line going up vertically from the bottom left corner to the top right.
2)True success is when, no matter what happens, you eventually pick yourself up again and just keep going forward. This was depicted by a graph with a line starting from the bottom left corner, but it zigged and zagged, criss crossed and tangled and eventually ended up in the top right corner.
I hope this helps! :-)
Thanks. It's definitely food for thought. And while it's not easy to 'stop and rest' and not know when you will start again, you are right. Also sometimes it's better to step back, take stock, see things from a new angle. Thanks for your comment.
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