In my life the difficult times are definitively the ones that built my strength and resilience. They have come in many ways, but it is their lessons that I have found the most valuable. On a few occasion I had no map for what was ahead of me, I just kept taking baby steps. Then over time, I realised that struggles was over and the difficulties had overcome were now a new layer of protection on my life’s journey.
From my experience, it doesn’t matter if the wrong choices are mine or someone else’s. I have learnt to just go along for the ride and see where the current unexpected journey takes me.
Life is a personal journey. Others can help and support along the way however, they cannot do the work for us. When they rescue us, we never learn the skills required to save ourself when things get tough. Sometimes life has an odd way of putting the challenges we require in our path. But, it is important to notice what we learn from each experience — the good as well as the bad. The following true story of unknown origins explains the importance of struggles very well.
A man finds a butterfly cocoon, which develops a small hole. Over several hours, he notices the butterfly struggling to force its body through the small hole.
After a period, the man noticed that the butterfly appeared stop progressing. In trying to be helpful, the man decides to cut the cocoon open. The butterfly emerged easily however its body was swollen and it had small-shriveled wings.
The man continued to watch the butterfly expecting at any moment the wings to enlarge and expand enough to support the body.
Neither happened!
In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around the ground. It was never able to fly.
What the man in his kindness and haste did not realise was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle by the butterfly to break free was nature’s way of forcing the fluid out of the butterfly’s body and into its wings so that it is ready for flight when the butterfly emerged.
Like the butterfly’s journey out of the cocoon, the struggles, we overcome help to develop our strengths needed for later life. They allow us to overcome obstacles that would otherwise cripple us. Without them we are unable to fly.
All our journeys are unique experiences and remember, there are no maps.
On Mother’s Day 2014, I started Inspiring Max. I had researched and considered my options for 5 years before I finally plucked up the courage to put myself out there. Up to this point, I had lived me life in secret but knew to achieve my dreams something had to change. You see after completing several writing courses I knew that to improve my very remote chance of my book being published by a publishing house, I needed to start a blog. Although my blog was never going to be related to my book’s subject—eating disorder recovery—it has helped me develop my voice.
Over the past 2 years, today is Mother’s Day 2016, Inspiring Max and I have developed in ways I never thought possible. I am so pleased that finishing my book and needing to think about publication pushed me out of my comfort zone and into the blogosphere. Because of blogging I have grown not only as a writer but also as an editor. Another great blessing I have received through Inspiring Max’s blogging community is great feedback, which ensures that I write in a way my audience understands my meaning. This gives me confidence in my writing style and helps me to minimise confusion, which hopefully I have transferred to my book – I’M SO OVER THIS!….. A Skill-Based Guide To Eating Disorder Recovery. At present, I think I am still on track to self-publish it in the second half of 2016.
Whatever your reason for blogging, if you are still in the contemplative stage give it a try, you’ll be pleased you did. There literally is an audience out there for everyone.
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/discover-challenges/raison-detre/
What’s the biggest chance you ever took? Did it work out? Do tell!
I think for me the scariest chance I have taken was last year when I started Inspiring Max. I had considered it for many years before finally plucking up the courage to find my online voice. It is a decision I don’t regret taking and I write about the lessons I have learnt from the experience in my first blogiversary post, which can be found at https://www.inspiringmax.com/first-blogiversary/
When it comes to chances I agree with my childhood hero, Mary Tyler Moore that we grow from our mistakes. I love this quote and find it powerful when I need extra motivation to do something like the first time I pressed publish on a blog post. The next scary chance for me to take when I am ready is to send my book to the editor, hopefully sometime in the next few months. Thanks for joining me as I continue to change my life, take more chances and see where they take me.
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/take-a-chance-on-me/