Hold your horses!

Howdy, great people :)

Imagine this -- you're going to the movies. You enter the theater, sink into your cushioned seat with your bucket of popcorn in one hand and drink in the other, and begin to relax. Ten minutes into the movie, a faint, ebbing, horribly familiar sensation starts to tingle within yourself. This sensation gets stronger, and in twenty minutes you can't help but face the cold, crushing reality --- you need to pee.

 

You force yourself to suppress the urge, because even though god forbid you find yourself sitting in a pool of stale yellow piss in the middle of the cinema, you just don't want to miss any part of the movie. So you hold it thirty minutes...and another thirty minutes... and another thirty minutes... and the movie never seems to end! You almost want to give up and just go to the toilet but really, isn't the show finishing soon already? Why miss the ending?

Such a situation was one i found myself caught in yesterday, and amidst all that, it struck me how uncanny it was that the hardships we face in life are similar to the bladders that torment us while we sit in the cinema.

For example, yesterday
(1) the show seemed like it was never gonna end
(2) it took constant reminding of myself that the show was too good to miss
(3) i, in the end, chose to stay in the theater and finish the show.

On one hand the actors were utterly amazing and the story was fascinating, but on the other hand my insides were threatening to explode all over the audience!

And horrible are the crucial moments after the show where you dash to the toilet to find that you're not the first one there, and your destination is so close yet so far, and again you nearly give up and wet yourself, but really, you can't. So you stand there and entertain the creeping sensation that your brain is about to explode, suffering, before you reach your sanctuary that is the toilet bowl and wunderbar! the most amazing sensation comes over you and you are filled with the gratifying sense of euphoria, because not only did you finish your movie, you also did not wet yourself in the process!

SUCCESS!

Which is how certain challenges and hardships we face are. Sometimes shit happens and you can't see the end of the tunnel, and hopelessness and despair takes over, and you're about to lose focus and tell yourself that really, maybe it isn't that worth it, just so you can get out of here and stop the madness.

But halt!

Here is where you take a pause, and breathe. And smile. And remember that your pot of gold is patiently awaiting you at the end of it all. And realize that your goals are truly worth all the hardships that threaten to bring you down. And know that all of these is making you stronger by the day. And understand that you're the one that chose to be in the situation you are in. And that you can get out of there anytime you like. But you're still there, because you chose to stay.

And what shouldn't you ever forget? :)

And remember, that when you survive through it all, the feeling that overcomes you is going to be as great as when you release the contents of your spilling bladder after holding it for several hours. In fact, it might be even greater, too ;)