My mother recently gave me a beautiful gift…a book by M.H. Clark called Fight On. In this Michaelmas time of fighting/taming inner dragons, I have found it to be invaluable! Somehow, it seems to have something to say about nearly everything one might encounter. My favorite at the moment? The very first two pages:
“If you look closely, carefully, past the challenges, the turns in the road, and all the distractions, you’ll notice something: You are doing it. Right now, you are doing it. Despite all the background noise, and the challenges, and the distractions, and the doubts that tell you otherwise, you are doing it. You are creating your beautiful life. You are traveling in the right direction.
Set aside your doubts. Quiet the thoughts that say you aren’t good enough, important enough, capable enough to begin. Tell them you can’t listen because today you trust yourself. Today, you believe in your heart. Today, you tell the small voice inside you’re giving it a chance. Today, be bold. Be Strong. Fight on.”
Somehow these words spoke quite loudly to me. “You are doing it!!!!” Indeed I am, and you are too. I have come to realize that every day, we are doing it. We are traveling this path, and doing what needs to be done, one small step at a time. If you look back at your journey, can you honestly say you’ve gotten nowhere? Do you feel as though life has given you nothing? Or that you have given life nothing? I doubt there are many people who would answer these questions in the affirmative.
Sure, there are days that feel like a “throw away day” in which nothing seems to happen, distractions abound, or we are opposed at every turn. Those days are just another step on the path. Through those days, we come to learn how we can do better, be more discerning, and set clearer boundaries. Even when the day seems like a loss, we are doing it! We are learning, growing, experiencing, creating, developing and evolving.
For me, watching my children grow is reason enough to persevere. My 12 year old son just began playing sports. This past weekend he had his first Basketball games. His team won the first game on Friday evening, and then went to a two day tournament for three more games. They played against far more seasoned/experienced teams than his, and lost significantly in all three games. So why persevere with so much defeat? At dinner Saturday night, my son said to me, “Mom, I really like it when we shake hands with the opposing team at the end of the game.” I asked him why he liked this so much. “Because it’s like I get to see them as nice people with a soul,” was his reply. Wow! Imagine if every human being could take a moment to “shake hands” with each other and truly see one another. Perhaps peace would truly be possible! It’s the little victories that matter, that we must pay attention to every day, that are worth fighting for.
After launching Sophia Rising nearly 6 years ago, I felt for some time that all I had was a business name and a logo. It often felt like I wasn’t “going anywhere” or that not enough was happening fast enough. This year, I’ve launched multiple courses, am expanding coaching outreach, getting clearer on my target audience and purpose, developing new curriculums, and even working to write a book! It’s often a much slower process than I would like, but when I look at what has developed in 6 years, and all of the ideas I am helping to bring to fruition, I can clearly see that all along, I’ve been “doing it.”
The dragons would have us continue to live in the voice of doubt and the thoughts of fear. Let this Michaelmas season be the season that you truly give that small, encouraging, faith-filled voice that says you can do it, a fair chance. Listen to it. Heed the call. Know that every day, one step at a time, you are doing it. Let’s “Fight On” together!!