The Staircase…

During a recent text conversation with my wife about her accomplishing one more task toward her goal of achieving her A.S., she said something to the effect of, “It’s like a staircase that never ends.” Me being the snark master that I am, full of deep wisdom and complicated thoughts, responded back…

It is. If it ends, you tend to fall off at the top.

Ok, maybe not so deep. But still, her comment reminded me of an M.C. Escher picture (several actually), and how we tend to forget that sometimes, the climbing is the best part. It’s like missing the journey because you are too focused on the destination. Same concept, different wording.

Struggle is a thing to be embraced. It sucks… but it should be embraced. As a matter of fact, as a writer, it is the struggle that makes for the best stories. If stories were anything like the ideal life that we wish we had, it would be boring, mundane, and have no life. A life like that would be like eating the grey grizzly gruel they tried to pass off as sustenance in Oliver Twist.

Nobody wants that. Nobody. No matter how ok it might look on the outside, no matter how easy it seems, no matter how perfect it may appear. Could you imagine reading a story about the life of someone who didn’t have struggle?

“They were born on no consequence. They lived an ordinary and dull life. Nothing out-of-place. They died feeling accomplished in accomplishing nothing. The end.” Four pages long. At most. Nothing to drive the reader on. Nothing to connect us to the story. Nothing to.. well.. nothing. And that’s the point. A life without struggle is nothing.

Seriously, we were created to overcome. To conquer. To be more than conquerors. We don’t just strive through conflict, we thrive in it. It shows us what we are truly made of. It tests the mettle of our makeup. It gives us that rush of “HOO YAH!” when we achieve the pinnacle. And then we set out to look for a new mountain to conquer.

So the next time you think that the stairs are just a bit too much…reach down deep inside of you… grab hold of that strength that you are made of… and let go of that mighty battle cry…

Because you are fiercer than you could ever imagine. -Scout

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