Beauty in the Struggle

If you could picture yourself having everything you wanted right now, would you be satisfied?

I recently had this notion as I was writing one of my blogs and was having a hard time composing my thoughts, I began thinking, “wouldn’t it be easier if everything I wanted would just come up in the palm of my hands or things just happened the way I imagined it would, like this paper that I was trying to write, but couldn’t formulate”.

At that moment my dad passed by, and I asked him, “Dad, don’t you wish that the things you think about would just happen when you think about it?” He grinned and said to me, “No, that would be boring”. I was taken aback by his answer. “If that happens, where’s the fun in failing and trying your best, to get back up again?”.

His answer honestly made me grin, and I felt like that was a cool Dad moment. (Don’t tell him I said that though, haha.) It got me thinking about all those stories I hear about the people who have everything, but have nothing. Those people are so successful but most are depressed because they are stuck not knowing what to do next. There’s a quote by Benjamin Franklin that goes, “Money has never made man happy, nor will it, there is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more of it one has the more one wants.” This quote made me realize that, if suddenly all the things I wanted happened, what becomes of me?

Imagine, it’s like walking up a really high mountain and you want to get to the top, but instead of walking up the trail with your feet, you get there in a blink of an eye. There you are finally seeing the view and the whole valley, but would reaching the top just like that have made the climb worth it? You’d be wanting more and more but you end up reaching that point where nothing satisfies you anymore. “There’s beauty in the struggle” my Dad said walking away like he just Mic Dropped after our conversation. (Not really, he walked away smiling and thanking me for asking the question, which he felt humbled by after.)

This made me realize how, even though I’m not sitting in my dream job, in the beautiful house I imagined myself living in; the journey, the struggles and the long hours I am awake trying to reach it, will all be worth it! The process will continue to build me up and turn me into a person who I never thought I would become!