Dig Deep. Stand Tall.
“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Stand a little taller.”
– Stronger, Kelly Clarkson
It was midsummer when I noticed a petunia pushing through the dark magenta foliage. By late July, the coleus begins to resemble a small bush bursting out of its container. Nonetheless, somewhere in the turned earth that filled the pot were dormant remnants of last season’s floral celebration, and they were making themselves known.
There is something optimistic about volunteer plants. These petunias are underdogs. Against the odds, they sprang forth. Unexpected. All but forgotten until they fought their way to the fore unwilling to be denied.
Overcoming odds is a theme that resonates with anyone who ever did anything that forced them outside their comfort zone. Like a butterfly from a chrysalis, it’s the adversity that enables the triumph. Consequently, it is precisely when it feels like the universe is conspiring against us that we are afforded the real opportunities.
In short, situations that test us change us.
Often, the various facets of our hardships aren’t evident to others. In the last two days, I’ve spoken with someone battling a cancer that just won’t quit (fortunately, neither is she), consoled a co-worker whose family was in a near-fatal car accident, and talked to a young person wrestling with alcohol and substance abuse. The emotional strain of personal crises becomes another layer of soil we must push through. Paradoxically, as we dig deep within ourselves, we grow ever closer to the person we were intended to be.
There is an old saying that nothing grows on mountain top. All the real growth happens in the valley. So regardless of whether what we face is uncomfortable, regardless of whether we skip or trudge through it, it is the inherent resistance in everything that we do that builds our resilience and helps us stand a little taller.
