Finding Ourselves in The Struggle (while looking for “the thing” that works)

“Look at a stone cutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred-and-first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before.” Jacob Riis

You likely have friends like mine who jump on the latest, greatest, and fastest quick fix whether it’s a vitamin, book on tape, nutritious juice, blog to read, advice about drinking 13 gallons of water, Bible study, get-rich-quick scheme, revivaled church, diet plan, exercise plan, or life plan, and they talk about it ad nauseam.

Yeah, they drive me nuts too, but I get ‘em because I’m one of them.

It’s like I’m on a trampoline and bouncing from thing to thing to thing. Each time I land, I’m sure this is the fix for getting my own life. I’ve struggled through all that’s gone before, but I’m convinced I’ve now arrived, right in the middle of highlighting a book that arrived yesterday from Amazon.

I’ve finally happened upon the thing.

That is, until the next latest, greatest, and fastest quick fix comes along.

For a couple of years now, my search has been for the thing that spurs enough inspiration to complete my manuscript. I enthusiastically promoted Michael Hyatt’s Influence and Impact Summit, convinced that was it. I posted daily about the high profile speakers and their motivational presentations. In hindsight, the summit was “all that had gone before” (from the quote above), but it wasn’t the hundred-and-first blow.

Even though the hundred-and-first blow (the thing we’re searching for) comes about because of the search, I easily tire and become exasperated with searching for and anticipating it. Maybe you do too.

And maybe figuring this out last week will help. Here it is. I figured out that it’s in hindsight I recognize I’ve found what I’m looking for.

Soren Kierkegaard said, “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”

When a friend posted a story about the importance of taking ourselves seriously, as well as the impact of that attitude on finalizing projects, I thought, This is the attitude change I need to move my manuscript toward completion.

In other words, this is the hundred-and-first blow. It is the thing.

My next thought was, Hear I go again.

I resisted talking about the article like I’d done with Michael Hyatt’s summit. Well, except my one mention in my last blog post. I decided to wait and see. Otherwise, I’m caught up in the information instead of initiating it. If I complete my manuscript in light of the author’s insight, I’ll give credit and tell all about it. If not, I’ll keep searching. That’s pretty much how it works. #GettingYourOwnLife.

Even though we can’t bring about the hundred-and-first blow and we have no idea when it will happen, the quote offers hope that it will. It also says “all that had gone before” matters.

In light of this, I’d like for us to …

Let go of the struggle.

Simply do the next thing without expecting it to be the thing, and know it matters.

Trust the thing will happen.

I can breathe a little easier. How about you?

In This Together,
Kim