Bridges to be crossed

By Robert Gebbie

Most people dream of a life filled with happiness and success, but the reality is few truly end up having the life they want to lead. Even when someone finds fulfillment in one aspect of their world, they will often find disappointment in many others. The journey from birth to death is often a struggle, the path ahead of us seems to always be filled with obstacles and impasses, and that is how it should be.

As much as even I hate to admit, if we began life with a contract and guarantee, few of us would ever make it beyond our living room couch. The things we struggle with most are usually the same things which lead us, as individuals, to our finest accomplishments and understandings. The greatest achievements of our species often come from learning to overcome that which causes us the deepest pain or dissatisfaction.

Little is ever gained without a purpose or reason for pursuing it. If our journey through life was absolute satisfaction, there would be little, if any, inspiration to carry ourselves forward, and the human race would have long ago become extinct. It is in our desire to have or become greater which give us, as individuals and a race, the purpose to move forward in all that we aspire to be. They say “a rolling stone gathers no moss”, yet by the same token a person who never moves becomes stagnant and dies. There are always bridges to be crossed. There will always be new adventures just up the road or around the next bend of life. Humans are creatures of great imagination and creativity, and our desire to achieve greater and greater heights in our existence give us the purpose we need to continue reaching forward from one day to the next.

If you did not have a goal to reach in your life or career, what purpose would you have for waking up each day? What need would you have for carrying forward? Who and where would you be if not for the lessons learned from overcoming the obstacles you have already faced?

Take a moment to pause and account for all the things you have already achieved, look back and acknowledge the progress and struggles you have overcome to get where you are today. There is a lot to learn from examining our personal failures, if we can look past our disappointment and see the true lesson. For all that we wish and desire to become there will always be a price to pay in getting there. Look to the future, remember that tomorrow presents endless opportunities to learn and grow. Have faith in yourself, find strength of will in the mountains behind you and carry forward to greater days ahead.