What Goes Up(hill) Must Come Down

Overcoming fear and bringing yourself out of the comfort zone has been a major theme of many of my blogs. I find that facing fear and taking on near impossible challenges has not only strengthened me– it has been a major motivational factor too.

Unless you are from a unusually spoiled background – life will to some extend be an uphill battle. It simply is not easy to follow your purpose and remain a morally good and strong person.  A great many of my friends and colleagues wonder why I have remained standing in the face of the challenges I have overcome – especially at work. I am asked why I insist on fighting every battle – instead of picking the “right battles to fight”.

I have never been one to give up – or run away from a battle. But lately, life is beginning to teach me a lesson – about what it means to have a history of overcoming challenges. If you insist on developing yourself like I have – you risk gradually changing your outlook on life into the perspective of: “Me against the world”. Inevitable, I know the world will win – but I intend to go down fighting – claiming every little inch of success in spite, not because, of the world.

As with most outlooks of the world – there is a fine line that must be walked to remain balanced. Recently, I have found myself slipping into defensiveness as my default stance on the world. I behave as if people are fundamentally good and want to do the right thing – something I truly believe. But, I go into every interaction expecting to fight for that goodness.

A good friend of mine, who has lived a rich life, could not understand why I expected everything to be so hard. To her, things come easy: beauty, intelligence, wit, manners and even love. All of this, I have had to fight for. Of course, her upbringing has an effect on her view – but I think there are more things at work here.

People around you can feel the “fighting spirit”. To some, it is seen a a challenge – and those people end up as yet another obstacle for me on the long, bumpy road that is life. But there are people who do not WANT to fight you – and what do you do with them? They either end up fearing or respecting you. I sincerely hope respect is what I trigger the most. But what about love? Would you dare to let love grow if you met someone that sees everything as hard?… The fighting spirit does not lend itself well to being loved. While love is (sometimes) hard – it should not be expected to be.