A Helping Hand

It's been a few days loyal minions, but fear not...I am still here.

The thoughts that have been dominating my gray matter recently echoed with many common themes centered around self-reliance. When people go through hard times the phrase "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" often pops up. Truer words have never been spoken, and for quite a while I looked at every horrible situation as a chance to get stronger. With each challenge I overcame, I gained energy and barreled towards the next  obstacle. That worked for months, even years.... but after a certain amount of time I became weary of fighting every battle that life threw at me. For all of us these battles can become empty and meaningless. It doesn't matter how strong one person is, eventually the weight of responsibility and conflict will become too much. By then the motto of "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" becomes "what doesn't kill you makes you tired, lacking motivation and apathetic."

As an example of this think of an avid weight lifter. The first few months that this person trains they make massive improvements quickly, which motivates them to work even harder. This momentum gradually slows as their muscle fibers expand and become used to the workload. Eventually, no matter how determined the athlete is, they hit a plateau. Often this plateau is so enormous that with every effort to improve the only thing that is obtained is frustration and discouragement. Eventually they realize, they need someone else to push them.

This is exactly what happens to those of us who try to handle challenges purely to  "become stronger." You see, what I've come to realize is that no one is strong enough to handle all the challenges this life throws at them alone. No one ever said that "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger...but only if you endure it by yourself." Sometimes we've merely reached the zenith of our growth that can be obtained independently.

Does this mean that we should all wine and cry out for help at the first sign of adversity? Absolutely not. Self-Reliance is great, and indepence is a necessity in today's world. But everyone needs a support system. God gave Adam, Eve. Bonnie needed Clyde and Kane needed Able(maybe that's a bad example...) The point is, no one has to go it alone all the time, so push yourself each and everyday, but don't slap away a helping hand because it might bruise your ego, instead of letting someone pull you up to the next level.