Tip #48: Learn to Ride the Waves

Every wave, regardless of how high and forceful it crests, must eventually collapse within itself.”
-Stefan Zweig

It is appropriate to describe life’s problems and challenges as waves crashing over our heads and burying us under their weight. When we are drowning under misfortune, we often ask “why me?” or “why now?” While it may be instinct to fight against these waves in an attempt to overpower them, this is not the only option. In order to survive life’s churning ocean, we must be at peace with the inevitability of the waves.

Instead of expending physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual energy raging against the obstacles you face, it is far better to roll with the changes. By doing so, you can channel your energy toward adjusting your outlook, reworking your plans, and changing your perception. It may be that the waves carry you in a different, better direction. Perhaps the waves will cause you to reaffirm your dedication to your goals. Waves, as life’s challenges, are going to continue to crest and break. Do we exhaustively fight against what cannot be controlled, or do we float on the currents?

Now, think about how you can stop questioning and resisting life’s changes. Decide to accept what has happened and focus on making peace with your new reality. If you have been moved off course, map a new plan to still reach your goal. If you have been exhausted by your efforts, take the time to heal then look ahead. It is necessary in life to navigate some rough waters. There is no reason to sink underneath the pressure. You can swim and float today!

Take Home Message:

While you cannot control the waves, you can control how you ride them!

“Every person in crisis will encounter the waves of ‘why’ in his/her lifetime. Why did this happen to me? Why am I hurting?….The stubborn will continue to push against the waves, determined to be the same person on land and at sea…. However, some will enter these waves with stronger resolve, not to fight against them, but to ride them out. They will come to listen to the waves, to learn their cadence and how to ride them softly, always with their heads above the water. Those who listen will learn to sometimes pick up their feet and lift their chins, and often times take a breath and dive deep below the water. Those who listen may push through and find their way out to sea with a new world before them or may turn around and be safely back on shore not too far from where they began.”
-Pamela Ledbetter (featured in Perseverance)