adversity

What makes a desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

What an interesting thought. In the midst of adversity, when one feels the challenge of overcoming an obstacle, it is the tug from the feeling of hope that helps us put one foot in front of the other. If we can just keep pushing, keep pulling, keep at it......we will find the well. Adversity is like an expansive desert which can seem endlessly parched. And yet, if one looked at it with different eyes, one can visualize a place to find the sips needed to tackle adversity.

What if the mountain of adversity is just too high to climb? What if one finds themselves at the bottom of the mountain without the necessary tools in their life toolbox to ascend? What if it's just so overwhelming to overcome that one succumbs into the sea of surrender? Sometimes the obstacles are just too big.

and yet......................

I find it fascinating that some have the capacity to drill into a well of hope more deeply than others. Two people both suffering from the same illness........one determined to fight it to the end, and the other languishes in a ghost of despair. Why is that? Does it derive from a predetermined personality, where one has the ability to be more optimistic and consequently hopeful and the other can't help but see the glass almost empty?


Adversity can be a motivator but only if there are a few ingredients to accompany it. Hope, confidence and emotional support all play key roles, as does balance.........where perhaps one's whole world isn't falling apart at the same time........where perhaps one is dealing with adversity in one part of their life, but strength and focus in another. Vision.......seeing yourself conquering the challenge......AND seeing how to conquer it is also needed. But I think the most important ingredient, is faith.

Our personal beliefs are derived from many avenues........our own faith may include different smatterings of ingredients.......It may be grounded in religion--a belief in a Higher Power......or it may be suurounded by the laws of nature... or in fellow human beings....or in science.........or art...........music.......creativity.... in the knowledge of the journey of the monarch butterfly......it could be a little bit of all....wherever one's faith comes from, the very idea that one has a strong belief system allows for the confidence and the unmoving foundation to help one find the other ingredients needed to face adversity head on.

We may not win every challenge.....we may live through years of unending adversity....... but if we know there is a well out in the middle of the desert........or a cabin waiting for us in the wilderness? I believe we will keep on trying, one step at a time. Faith makes us feel like we are never alone.

We are never alone.

A comforting thought isn't it?