How To Survive The Storm(s) of Life
You are out in the open sea in your tiny boat.
You entered a storm.
A storm that stretches as far as you can see in any direction.
You know there is no use in crying out to the heavens, asking why they sent the storm to you.
You need to survive this storm. You need to get out of it.
How do you do that?
How you get out of the storm depends on the storm you find yourself in. It depends on its size and intensity. It also depends on how skilled and experienced you are as a sailor at the time the storm catches you.
Everyone can survive the storm. But there is no one set of steps to follow in order to survive it.
Sometimes, all you can do is brace yourself, endure the storm, and wait for it to pass.
Sometimes, you can navigate your boat through the storm and, with your courage and experience, manage to get out of it.
Everyone can survive the storm. It’s just that how you survive depends on the type of sailor you are and the type of storm you find yourself in.
However, there is one thing that all types of sailors have in common, no matter the size or intensity of the storm. There is one thing that makes it almost certain that you won’t manage to get out of the storm: not having a destination in mind.
The storm itself is enough of a reason for you to want to get out, you might think. And you are right. No one likes the storm, and no one wants to stay inside.
But it’s not enough to just not like being in the storm. It’s not enough to just want to get out.
When the storm is raging and it’s at its most terrifying, how much resolve will you have to survive if you have no idea where you want to go once you get out of the storm?
Can you really survive the storm if you have no destination in mind?
At your most exhausted and most hopeless moment, you will either find the hidden strength within you by thinking of your destination, or you will succumb to exhaustion and let the storm crush you, thinking, "Who cares, I don’t even know where I would go if I got out of the storm."
And whether you have a destination or not is entirely up to you.
Your destination could be something that you are coming back to or something that you are going towards for the first time.
What awaits you at your destination depends on you. All that matters is that you have a destination that gives you the resolve to get out of even the biggest and most terrifying storm.
For some people, the destination that gives them the resolve to survive the storm is a sunny place where they will finally have their well-deserved rest.
For others, what gets them out of the storm is knowing that there is a destination where duty or responsibility awaits them. And no storm is strong enough to stop them from fulfilling their duty.
Whether your destination is a place you are returning to or a place you are going to see for the first time, as well as whether well-deserved rest or duty awaits you at your destination, is all individual.
Maybe your destination was obvious this whole time, and you knew what it was even before the storm caught you.
Maybe it was only in the storm that you realized what your destination was. It was there all along, but the power of the storm opened your eyes to it.
And maybe the storm forces you to create your destination. Perhaps the struggle to survive the storm awakens that beautiful human inventiveness and creativity in you.
Please don’t doubt your capacity to recognize or create your destination, even when it seems like there is nowhere for you to go if you survive the storm.
We are all sailors, and there is a place for every one of us once we get out of the storm.
You can survive the storm.
Thank you for reading.
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