#CARRYON

So, I wanted to start out by saying that I’m sorry for the delay in getting this issue out. It seems that life kind of got in the way of accomplishing some of the things that I wanted to this summer.

I’ll do better in the future.

The various ‘life’ events that occurred got me thinking though about resiliency and getting through the challenges we face.

There are two basic ways that I think you can address them. You can choose to be a victim, or you can choose to be an overcomer. One is easy, one is not.

Being a victim of life is the easy path, and for a while might gain you at least a little sympathy, but eventually the curtain will be pulled back and people will figure out what that’s all about and move on.

The other option is to be an overcomer. If this is the path you go down, you must realize that it’s a path fraught with the gray, challenges and struggle. It will take work, hard work, perseverance, and pain in order to navigate this course.

You will be full of self-doubt; you’ll think
that you made the wrong choice, because success on this path is impossible. You may not have the support of others, and some may walk away from you all together.

Yet, this is the only path that can take you to a better place, to a more balanced life, and to the comforts of a life built on real value, hard work, and integrity.

When you go down this path, you will find that you may have to shed your exoskeleton and emerge as something completely different than you were before.

That will take work, it will be painful, and you will have to realize that you may have more to do with your challenges than you’d like to

think.

Sometimes you are dealt challenges out of your control, sometimes you create your own, and sometimes you look for them and take them on yourself, knowing full well what will come at you.

However they come about, you have to take them on, head on. You have to put your head down, do the work and carry on.

The Gray

Rarely is life black or white, Yin or Yang. While it is made up of both components, most of life occurs in the gray. It occurs in the area where they meet, and it is fueled by the friction that builds on that line where they come together.

The gray comes with no manual and offers no help. But success here results in growth, in inspiration to continue and in the acquisition of what gets us beyond it, experience.

You have to learn to consume the gray, or it

will consume you and prevent you from ever moving beyond it.

The Challenges

Anything that takes us from our focus, hinders us on our journey or prevents us from easily following our values is a challenge. Somethings just happen, some things happen to us and some things we bring on ourselves.

Identifying the challenge, realizing that they are temporary and setting a course to overcome them is the only way to carry on.

The Struggle

The struggle is real, it hurts, it can feel like the weight of the world upon you. But this is where you grow. This is where you put in the work to become better. To not let life consume you, but where you consume it.

This is the spot where you take the darkness and turn it into fuel to generate your light. A light to shine on your path and on the paths of others helping them on their own journey through the gray, challenges and struggle.

Not everyone will get this. Some will laugh, some will talk and some will think I’m a bit off kilter.

But some of you will understand. Some of you will feel my hand on your back, and with it me saying, its ok to feel overwhelmed, to feel hurt or to feel like there will be no light tomorrow.

It’s ok to feel as though it is all for nothing, or that your work has no meaning to anyone.

We all feel that way. Every one of us.

Anyone who says they don’t. Well, they are a liar. They are afraid. They worry more about perceived image than real connection. They have work to do.

Some of you though, get it. You know that the path, though challenging, is not infinite. You know it can be navigated, and that there is support
to be had along the way. You know that the only thing you can do is carry on.

You know that sometimes you have to put your hand up and grab another and allow them to pull you up. And that you always have to put your hand down for someone else to grab ahold of.

It is your willingness to continue to navigate and your honesty about your journey through the gray and the challenges you face will become
the inspiration and fuel for others to carry on or simply to reach for that hand. That may be all they need. It may be all you need.

Take the challenges head on, immerse yourself in the gray and thrive in the struggle.

I’ll see you on the path.
Be smart, be as safe as you can and do your job.

Be smart, be as safe as you can, & DO YOUR JOB.

BB