June 28, 2013

ISIQ-0180

“If it weren’t for the rocks in its bed, the stream would have no song.” – Carl Perkins

I was speaking with Mama Chia earlier today, about our plans to travel Australia in a bus. Mama Chia travelled Australia with her husband, and knew what we were getting ourselves into:

“I don’t mean to put a dampener on it,” she said, “but will be Challenges.”

(Yes, it totally sounded like the word “Challenges” had a capital ‘C’ when she said it.)

I don’t want to disrespect Mama Chia, nor hijack her intentions. She simply intended to forewarn us – a trip of this nature won’t be all rainbows and unicorns.

But here’s the thing: I hope there are Challenges, and I fully expect that there will be Challenges. We are planning to take ourselves and two children around Australia in a bus for a period of twelve to eighteen months. Working as we go. Aiming to get Kickstarter-funded for the bus and the entire trip before we leave. Holding seminars and workshops along the way, and starting a Family, Love and Wellness Revolution while we’re at it.

If this kind of thing comes easily, it will hardly be worth it. We would do better to simply phone it in, and then move on to another project that tests us and helps us learn and grow. Besides, if was easy, everyone would be doing it, and it would be the mainstream. (And hence, far, far less appealing. I am an Honorary Misfit, after all.)

Here, I must use a quote from dear friend AJ Leon (Chief Misfit), from one of his recent “Pursuit of Everything” posts:

Remember, Odysseus doesn’t breeze by the Sirens on a Carnival Cruise ship. Frodo doesn’t prance into Mordor with butterflies whisping around and gently toss the ring into Mount Doom. Luke doesn’t blow up the f*cking Death Star in the first 5 minutes of the film. And if they did, no one would give a shit.

The whole point is that there will be Challenges.

Confronting and overcoming those challenges? Now THAT is the stuff that great stories are made of. THAT is what my life is worth. THAT is what teaches us, helps us grow, makes us stronger.

I, right now, cannot imagine a more boring life, than one where everything was easy and straight-forward all the time. I’d go quietly insane. Or loudly. I’d go Insane, nonetheless. (With a capital ‘I’.)

So, here’s my advice.

Re-frame the challenges in your life as gifts. They are the rocks that give you your unique and beautiful song. They are the splotches of colour and texture that make your life the masterpiece that it is.

Embrace the Challenges – capital ‘C’ and all.

Learn. Grow. Discover the inner resilience you never knew you had.

I found my inner resilience when I was training to run a marathon three years ago, and then again when I had to recover from Depression two years ago, and then again earlier this year when my business faltered, and my family needed me to dig deep and make it work. Those challenges are my gifts, my blessings. If I hadn’t overcome them, I’d be a tiny, cowering, husk of a man, rocking back and forth in a dark corner.

Instead, having confronted those challenges, I feel confident and proud of my journey; willing and able to share the story of my demons with others, so they find the courage to confront their own demons.

So here’s to Challenges. Here’s to Gifts. Here’s to the big, sharp, heavy, slippery rocks that fall into the streams of our lives.

May our streams all sing more beautifully because of their presence.

With love,
Israel. xo

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