Great Opportunities Often Come Disguised as Threats

   

 

 It is strange, the emotions that we experience and the thoughts that run through the mind when it is faced with situations beyond its control; situations that threaten our very existence like COVID19. 

We live in a land premised on the idea that "hard work always pays off" and "sweat and determination are the ingredients to reaching goals." We live in a land that says our circumstances directly reflect our choices. Where we are - how much money we make, how much power we have or how celebrated we are by the world - is a direct result of poor life choices, good life choices or great life choices. We do the work, we succeed. We do not do the work we fail.  Period!

Most of us probably buy into this way of thinking sometimes. Even when we may outwardly reject the "isms" and all of the other categories that we use to place people in "slots," we can still find ourselves questioning why our lives, our journeys don't look a particular way. We question why things are not turning out the way that we thought and hoped that they would. 

But is it possible that we are making a very huge mistake. That we have allowed those with the most power and influence to lead us to believe that those who they present to us as successful, worthy, happy, and powerful, set the standard for what life should be like and how it should be lived?  

Yes, we do have choices. But all of us often make ones that could potentially hold us back. While hard work can increase the odds of reaching any goals that we have, some of us, because of who we are connected to, simply do not have to suffer the consequences of our choices. Some of us have family friends, aunts, and uncles, whose success protects and propels us. 

If ever there was a time to flush these "privileged" ways of thinking down the toilet, it is NOW! If ever there was an opportunity to examine and re-examine who we are, why we were created and what we would seek to change if the choice is merely based on what brings us joy; it is now. 

Our current situation is only a punishment if we chose to see it that way. We can choose to see it as a chance to slow down and examine our lives so that we alone can choose what we believe, what sustains us, what makes us want to work hard, what empowers us, and what is the "one thing" that we were created to do. It is an opportunity to let go of what you can't truly control, and begin to dig as deep as you need to in order to find your unique value to family, friends and even a blind world that possibly can't see it. 

Then we can step out and focus on fertilizing, growing, and offering to the world in confidence; just that.