Warriors…

Welcome to the new year!  I hope it’s your best year yet.  Not sure how it will go?  Worried about a recession; global warming; road rage; and all of the frights we deal with every day - real or imagined?  Me too. 

The good new is we reached 2023 because we overcame those daily frights, real or imagined, in 2022 and years before.  Let’s tune into that great, inner strength again this year.  Let’s be warriors! 

Fate whispers to the warrior, "You cannot withstand the storm." The warrior whispers back, "I am the storm." 

Unknown Sage

Odds are we will experience adversity in 2023.  Facing adversity makes us better; helps us win.  It dates back to ancient times: 

ADVERSITY: 

Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, which, in prosperous circumstances, would have lain dormant. 

Horace 

Of course, how they persevered in Roman times may not transfer to who we need to be today.  What inner strength should we summon to succeed in 2023?  Dare we claim to be a “warrior”?  The Daily Bible Verse suggests this alternative: 

Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city. 

Proverbs 16:32 

Both ancient references associate the term “warrior” with it’s origin from the word “war”.  Let’s not literally go to war in 2023, OK?  I prefer the broader definition found in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary ©: 

Warrior (noun): a person engaged in some struggle or conflict 

Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!

To be fair, there are those who struggle to win and then there are those who “struggle”!  Regardless, winning by overcoming our struggles is best accomplished by keeping our patience and perhaps our perspective, too.  As you know, I profess there is both peace and power in maintaining a positive perspective. 

David S. Pottruck provides this positive perspective of a winning struggle in the face of competition; emphasizing what truly matters in life: 

Let your imagination put you in a grandstand at the Seattle version of the Special Olympics.  There are nine contestants, all physically or mentally disabled, assembled at the starting line for the 100-yard dash.  At the gun, they all start out, not exactly in a dash, but with relish to run the race to the finish and win.  All, that is, except one boy who stumbles on the asphalt, tumbles over a couple of times, and begins to cry.  The other eight hear the boy cry.  They slow down and look back.  They all turn around and go back… every one of them.  As you watch, one girl with Down’s Syndrome bends down and kisses him.  You hear her say, “This will make it better.”  All nine link arms and walk across the finish line together.  Everyone in the stadium, including you, stands up, and the cheering goes on for several minutes.  People who were actually there are still telling the story, four years later.  Why?  Because deep down we know this one thing:  What matters in this life is helping others win, even if it means changing our own course.                   

I love stories of people who face their struggles and overcome conflicts.  I love people who are tenacious; relentless; and unwavering in the face of adversity.  I love winners.  And I love those who help others win! 

It’s easy to say; might be hard for us to do in 2023.  But 

Do           we           will 

because we know what matters.  Afterall, we are warriors! 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.