Difficulties Have an Expiration Date

In the previous post, I wrote that the things that happen to us in this Life are only temporary and that we can’t get to where we need to go without the struggle.  But why the battle?  Why can’t it be easy?  Stuart Wilde, the philosopher, wrote a great book titled Life Was Never Meant to Be A Struggle.  There are many great quotes from Stuart, but one that I particularly like is, “… you have the right to be satisfied with what you have and with what you are right now.” ― Stuart Wilde, Life Was Never Meant to Be a Struggle. The struggle, as we view it, comes from our view of how things should be going.  We expect things to be easy or to go well.  We hope not to have any problems, which is unrealistic.  My mentor, John C. Maxwell, says, “Everything worthwhile is uphill.” That means, expect to find some issues, some roadblocks, and difficulties; it is part of the journey.  These two opposing views, or John Maxwell’s and Stuart Wilde’s, play essential roles in my Life.  I like to use both of them to find strength when I’m struggling.  One says to me, let go, don’t push so hard, allow things to flow a bit more naturally.  The other means you have to work at something that you want.  It will take a personal effort to get where you wish to go, so be willing to put forward your best.  

Knowing when to let go and when to push ourselves is a matter of timing at the moment.  There will be times when you can make yourself achieve something attached to your desire, your decision, faith, and persistence, so you keep going with perseverance.  There are also times when backing down a bit and letting go of something if only for a while, is a tremendous right attitude.  My advice is to take time to know when each of these is right in your Life and adopt the saying, “Do It Now!” Take inventory of how you feel, how things are going, and what you need to do.  Suspend judgment on the difficulties and let them expire and move on.  I challenge readers today to explore their Life searching for moments when letting go of things felt right, and those other moments when pushing just a little harder would have produced results.  So often, we give up during the fourth quarter of the effort, right when we’re most near victory.

Please leave me a note about your thoughts on this topic.

For another view of Stuart Wilde’s book, see Life was never meant to be a struggle. Stuart Wilde. David Essel – YouTube

To read more on this topic, Part one of this series can be found at Difficulties Have an Expiration Date – Dr. Rich Patterson (pattersonphd.com)

Yours for a Better Life,

Rich