February 10, 2008
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Featured Question #184: Anything worth having...
Have all the obstacles and problems you been through in life made you stronger? How?
It's the problems in life that you don't surpass that weaken you. Anything else can only make you stronger. An obstacle is only an obstacle until you've passed it. Then it becomes a hurdle you have jumped. The more practice you get, jumping hurdles, the better you will be at jumping them in the future. So long as you are willing and able to face your problems in life and deal with them, they can only make you more competent and confident. Confidence can carry you a long way over a hurdle, but fear holds you back, fear of the unknown, fear of failure. Everytime you let fear stop you from trying to overcome a problem, you become weaker in spirit. Strength of body or strength of spirit, neither one comes from nothing. If you want strength, you have to work for it. Anything worth having is worth working for.
Facing your problems and conquering them also brings experience. With experience, you have some idea of whether or not you will be able to face future challenges. It gives you clues into what to expect and how best to deal with new problems as they arise. Experience is a kind of strength too, a strength you will not have if you choose to walk away from the challenges of life.
If you let fear or ignorance stop you from facing the choices life throws at you, you are crippling yourself. Just like the butterfly whose wings develop more through its struggle to free itself from the cocoon than any time spent in its gestation, we become stronger through our effort to overcome the trials that puncutate our lives.
I haven't always been as strong as I am now, but it was a conscious decision I made almost twenty years ago that has shaped who I am. It was my decision to face my problems, rather than hide away from them, that has made me strong. I don't let anyone make me feel like I am worthless any more. My willingness to make goals and do what needs to be done to reach them and my determination to not to be disuaded by temporary setbacks defines my worth in my own eyes and in the eyes of others.
I just answered this Featured Question, you can answer it too!
February 10th
The New Year in Argunga, Nigeria is celebrated with a festival to start the fishing season. The Kebbawa tribe travel to the Sokoto River carrying large dippers and nets. Everyone jumps into the river at once in the hope that the large splash will scare fish into their nets. The largest fish receives a prize, but the overall size of the catch is also an indication of the will of the gods in the coming season.
Comments (3)
Good post. I wrote something similar to his some time ago but I deleted it. But I agree whole heartedly with you. Perhaps I will make that my post for tomorrow.
Dear Candace,
Very well written and so true.
Re: You asked in an earlier entry about referral serivces. I've heard of some Xangans using stumbleupon. I know just by checking my fishcan tracker that I get lots of traffic from web searches, but of course those visitors might not be Xangans and don't comment.
I didn't write a "Buddy Holly" tribute post this year, but according to my tracker, people searching for Buddy Holly came upon a couple of my earlier posts, so I know the search engines are working for me.
Michael F. Nyiri, poet, philosopher, fool
RYC: (Assuming Xanga developed some understood form of etiquette that they didn't have last time I was around. Took me a moment to make the connection that RYC meant Reply to Your Comment. RYP was for the post.) Aye, I have studied Taoism, I think I have studied a little bit of just about every religion. *Smiles* Taoism and Hinduism are two that I would like to have more then a passing knowledge of though. I really should look into learning more of them. For the most part it is just my meditation on the word, sometimes drawing on past posts for current inspiration. I think it worked out. I was able to get the idea I wanted across.
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