The Scars the Opportunities Leave Behind

The Scars the Opportunities Leave Behind: I am an adherent of stoic philosophy. That means I believe inside every obstacle, lies an opportunity that serves as a reward for the one who persists through that obstacle. That is, for the one who permits him or herself as a vessel, the obstacle creates within that person virtues that couldn’t have been created otherwise. Virtues that are necessary to prepare that person for the life he or she has asked for.

Picture a king who wants to test the resolve of his subjects, and also to teach them a lesson in the process. To do this, this king places a huge boulder at the gate of his city so as to block the main entrance to the city. Underneath this boulder, the king places a large sum of money to reward a deserving subject. Now picture four different subjects who approach the city. The first one sees the huge boulder that blocks the city, feels intimidated by its size, and then walks away. The second one sees the boulder, becomes angry at the king, curses the king for being unfair to him and then walks away. The third one sees the boulder, makes multiple attempts to push the boulder out of his way, but then gives up when his attempts are unsuccessful. The fourth one, a poor man, thinking that he has no other option (probably nowhere else to go), but to enter the city, makes every attempt to push the boulder out of his way. After multiple unsuccessful attempts, he finally comes up with a creative way to push the boulder out of his way. He then discovers the large sum of money underneath the boulder.

To this poor man, the obstacle that stood between himself and the city was his way out of his poverty.

More often than not, this is the way opportunities are presented to us in our lives. The situations that seem beyond our control, the obstacles, the never-ending challenges, have embedded within them, an opportunity to co-create the life we have asked for.

However, such opportunities do not come without leaving scars from the wounds that the obstacles create within us. The poor man in the scenario above may have successfully moved the boulder out of his way, but in the process of doing so, he may have sustained physical wounds and injury to his lower back, palms and different part of his body. He may have sustained emotional injury from the sheer frustration and pain from moving that boulder out of his way. Where before, this poor man walked through life completely oblivious of the fact that he could encounter such a situation, now he may walk through life in fear of possibly encountering a similar situation. His naïveté may be replaced by the ghosts of his scares, which if aren't properly managed, could dictate course of the rest of his life.

Similarly, overcoming the obstacles in our lives reaps us very-deserving rewards, but the presence of the obstacle alone, and laboring through such obstacles may create some wounds within us. When the obstacle is overcome, we are more often left with the rewards, as well as the scares from the wounds created by the obstacle.

For More discussions on recognizing, and managing such scares so they do not negatively impact the rest of your life, Listen Here: The Scares the Opportunities Leave Behind