The Gateway To Success

I am more and more convinced that EVERY adversity can serve as a gateway in our decision to who we want to be on the other side of it. The challenge, of course , is making sure that we have that particular tool in our belt so that when adversity does show up, we have already decided why it is here. Has it come to do something TO us, or FOR us?

If we choose to believe that it (adversity) comes to do something TO us.. we are victims to, and have little control over, what it does. But, if  we are prepared, and willing to tell ourselves it comes FOR us… it opens us up to all the possibilities that come with it. Then, we are in control of the outcome. Of how we spend the time. And, more importantly, who we are on the other side of it.

The older I get, the more I choose to be around those who, when faced with challenges, can just yell PLOT TWIST… and get a new plan. My kiddos will tell you, I have always been that mom who said, “Get a plan, work the plan until the plan doesn’t work, then get a new plan.”

Plans are great. They are a valuable tool in anyone’s arsenal for success… but so is the ability to shift on a dime. No one I know is living life in plan A.. I do not care what their facebook shows… they are not.

During this Covid 19 episode, we have learned so much about one another. Some of it not so good. Hopefully, we have learned alot about ourselves too. Perhaps not all of it good, too. And with the knowledge of both, we will need to be willing to apply ample grace.

This I know.. no matter what has happened up to today…. In this very moment we have the power to claim that all this is happening FOR us.. and we get to choose who we are going to be on the other side of it. Better? Bitter? Bigger? Smaller? Weaker? Stronger? Trusting? Doubting?

If we choose to be a victim… that choice will rob EVERYTHING from us. If we choose to be victors, we will find a million small adjustments that we can make to turn the tides.. adjusting our choices with the goal being that when this is over we will be better, stronger, willing to trust that whatever comes we have the character to weather it.

There have been aspects of this shutdown that takes me back to an old conversation with an old friend. A topic I have written about a lot.. and honestly one that I thought we (the collective we) had gotten past… but in light of things like snitch lists and secret phone calls and….. Perhaps we have not. The spirit of competitiveness and jealousy is an evil one. I am always astounded by the amount of people who believe that if one of their friends’ is successful, that somehow their success robs others of the chance to find success.  In truth, when one of our friends finds success, it truly is, or can be, a gateway to success for all. It all depends on what we tell ourselves about THEIR success. And the stories we tell ourselves about them, also tell us about ourselves.

It is there we should start if we want to change the direction we find ourselves in. ( may I just add here, “Finding success” is a lie… Success comes from hard work and dedication… part of the deceit is believing that it is simply the luck of the draw.)

I am already regretting that I haven’t spent all of this time that has been given me, through this stay at home stay healthy order, to my advantage. I could have been more purposeful with it. That changes today.

As I look down at my boots, contemplating my  next steps, I feel blessed that I have surrounded myself with amazing people whose success lends light to me “finding” my own.

I hope you too are asking of yourself, “Who am I going to be on the other side of this?” It is only by being willing to ask ourselves the hard questions, and then our willingness to sit with the honest answers, that will move us forward.

It is there,  in those answers, where we will find what is needed, to be able to walk through our own gateway of success.