The Struggle

 

On the road to Moyale, Kenya
“Problems call forth our courage and our wisdom; indeed, they create our courage and wisdom.” ~ M. Scott Peck

 One of the podcasts I listened to this week was titled “Struggle is Necessary”. In nature, struggle is all around us as we watch the pupa struggle out of a cocoon, not as the caterpillar that went in, but as a beautiful butterfly. Or a seed recently planted into the ground, as the cotyledon bursts through the seed coat and out to the surface of the ground. Struggle in nature is part of the music of life. Why then do we as humans live in perpetual avoidance of struggle?

In a way, we are made more able to handle future struggles because of the little hard choices we make daily. Waking up at 5 am in the morning or getting a workout done first thing in the morning is not easy or fun. But the payoffs are enormous, or ‘The 5 am Club’ by Robin Sharma would not be such a bestseller. Wim Hof has been able to hack his immune system using practices that deny his body warmth, and breathe for measured periods of time in order to make his body more efficient, as chronicled in his book ‘The Wim Hof Method.’ Proponents of fasting have been able to prove that resting the metabolism by going without food for short periods of time can result in better digestion, less inflammation, deeper detoxification and insulin regulation among other benefits. In ‘The Complete Guide to Fasting’, Dr. Jason Fung gives guidelines on how to use a free life hack to find great benefits for your health.

Indeed, we’ve probably heard the ‘choices have consequences’ quote too often, but have we heard that once we make the choice, we don’t get to choose the consequences? That is why I’m making more conscious choices in my daily life, hoping and praying that the books I read vs. the TV I don’t watch; the healthy food I eat vs. the junk I pass up, the workouts I huff and puff through vs. the relaxing I put off until I’m dead and buried . . . will all lead to consequences that will have massive benefits for me in future.  

“Once we truly know that life is difficult — once we truly understand and accept it — then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.” ~ M. Scott Peck

So what struggles are you avoiding today? What hardships have shown up on your radar to wake you up to something simmering in the background and crying out for your attention? Are you brave enough to face the struggle head on or are you burying your head in the sand of band aids and procrastination? Comfort never resulted in growth. It is in the hardest times of our lives that we rack up the most massive growth; that we get to know who we really are and what we are capable of.

“To proceed very far through the desert, you must be willing to meet existential suffering and work it through. In order to do this, the attitude toward pain has to change. This happens when we accept the fact that everything that happens to us has been designed for our spiritual growth.”
~ M. Scott Peck

 

Book of the week – The Road Less Travelled by M. Scott Peck, M.D.

Podcast suggestion - The Fr. Mike Schmitz Catholic Podcast, on whichever podcast app you use (Google podcasts, Apple podcast, Podbean, Spotify, etc.)

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