We typically gravitate away from all types of struggle and pain; however, it is where we grow the most. If we look hard enough, we struggle every day, whether in our comforts, lack of gratitude, or what we dislike in the mirror. So if we are all struggling in some form or way, would it be better for us to "Struggle Forward?"
Viktor E. Frankl states in his book Man’s Search For Meaning, "What man... needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal, a freely chosen task. What he needs is not the discharge of tension at any cost but the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him.”
Tension and struggle are our best allies in the war that we wage every day. All we have to do is link arms with them, and they will show us who we are and what we are capable of accomplishing. During this journey of stretching ourselves, we will experience three primary struggles. These are creating momentum, which stems from getting started, sustaining momentum, keeping things moving forward, and finally advancing momentum or using what we have learned and gained to accomplish more goals.
STRUGGLE #1
Getting started can be the most daunting thing ever. There really is no “pro” in procrastination, so if and when we find ourselves delaying, then we must turn off our brain and jump in feet first. Once we do, we will find a rhythm and pattern to what we are doing and enjoy the process.
STRUGGLE #2
Of course, as we make it through our first few days, we will arrive at the challenge known as the end of the week. It doesn’t have to be the weekend, but any break in scheduling and consistency can completely derail our efforts. Struggling to get started might be the first issue, but the real challenge we face once we are off and running is maintaining the momentum we created. They say it takes 21 days to develop a habit, and the same goes for generating momentum. Our percentage of success rapidly increases when we stay on the path and keep going with absolutely zero breaks.
STRUGGLE #3
As we develop and maintain our direction, we face a new dilemma. We get so busy working on our goal that we fail to look at what is next. This integral part of our newfound love for struggling is in this third phase, which is how to advance our momentum to the next level. Within our goal-setting struggle, this is what we call barrier jumping or leapfrogging from one goal to another. Whether these two goals relate to or not doesn’t matter because we can use what we learned mentally, physically, and spiritually to overcome all obstacles. As we have our “nose to the grindstone,” we must look up and assess where we are at on our path and start to plot our next course.
As the old saying goes, “The Struggle Is Real.” We are all struggling every day. It could be in our relationships, professional careers, or again what we see in the mirror. If we accept this concept, we can choose to embrace a different way and mindset towards struggling. We can choose the way we want to challenge ourselves and control the direction of our struggle to make ourselves better. As Frankl said, if we freely select our method of struggling, it will bring us more fulfillment because we will attach it to who we are and what we want to become.
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