Welcome Darkness

There is magic that happens when you welcome the darkness. Choosing to stand tall with locked-in determination in the face of chaos creates the strongest people. Pressure makes diamonds for a reason. Enduring the difficulty of life forces you to evolve.

The journey of life is not easy, it has its ups and downs. If you welcome the downs, the ups become that much sweeter. Everyone has difficulties in their lives, by choosing to endure and welcome the suffering, you can outlast competitors who choose easier options. This perspective meshes well with physical pursuits but can be applied to all walks of life. If you are competing to be the best, you must work to be the best. There are early morning workouts, two-a-days, grueling weeks of preparation, all in the effort to emerge better than you were before. Michael Phelps would train for 5-6 hours in the pool a day year-round. He assuringly welcomed darkness into his life many times. In the darkness, he was still able to see the light at the end of the tunnel as he stared at the line in the pool and flip-turned infinitely. He finally emerged from that tunnel and is now the greatest Olympian of all time.

By welcoming darkness you push your mind to grow tougher. What hurt yesterday won’t hurt today. What made you falter last week is an afterthought next week. What gave you doubt last month is the reason for your success this month.

As you turn off the lights and become one with the shadows of life, nothing can defeat you. Turning the lights back on is the easy way out. By living in the shadows you begin to crave the fickle feeling of suffering. With each success comes more of a desire to see what else is possible. When one goal is achieved you immediately run back to the drawing board to see what else there is.

The darkness gives you purpose, it helps you cherish the light. With no darkness, you simply exist. With only light, you would live peaceful, mundane lives. The darkness is where you grow. The darkness is how you find yourself.

Every day has light and darkness, the Sun and the Moon. Embracing the darkness is a choice. Flip off the lights and see what comes your way.