\u201cThough much is taken, much abides; and though
\nWe are not now that strength which in old days
\nMoved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
\nOne equal temper of heroic hearts,
\nMade weak by time and fate, but strong in will
\nTo strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.\u201d
\n-Alfred Lord Tennyson<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not much into TV shows, but I am getting desperate here at home. Flicking through Amazon Prime choices, the audio starts in on Sylvie\u2019s Love:<\/p>\n
\u201cLife is too short to do anything but what you absolutely love.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sure, Sylvie. I\u2019ve heard that before. This is not the right time for that particular motto.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m still home. Still doing things I don\u2019t *absolutely love. * You and all the touring inspirational speakers can go out to lunch and pump each other up about that one.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve got a list of things I have done that I absolutely love. What I did to get those things, or to get them done, was a lot of stuff I didn\u2019t even like.<\/p>\n
What it took was a lot of tedious repetition. That\u2019s what life is made of.<\/p>\n
More importantly, that is what great things are made of. There is a famous scene with Rocky running up the steps in Philadelphia\u2014the scene with the swelling music.<\/p>\n
The fictional Rocky ran those steps every day. In a boring do-i-have-to kind of way. That\u2019s how the greatness happens. I hope that in his mind, he had the swelling music, but I know there were plenty time when I have done something tedious and necessary that I did not want to do that there was no swelling hero music.<\/p>\n
There was more of a caterwaul of self-pity and whining. And I would give in to it sometimes. But if I stacked up enough instances\u2014enough repetitions\u2014of doing it anyway I could get to the finish line.<\/p>\n
I did the thing. It got done. It felt really good.<\/p>\n
It still feels good. And there are the times when I feel so small and the world so big. Those times when I wonder what use I am to anybody and whether I am worth the oxygen I take up. Then I have a little pile of stuff I did that I\u2019m proud of. I take one off the pile and wrap it around myself to remember I did something once, brought a bright thing of value into the world.<\/p>\n
And that caterwaul is quieter. I find a scrap of will to do it again:<\/p>\n
\u201cMade weak by time and fate, but strong in will
\nTo strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than anything, I am encouraged by the feeling of satisfaction when I do the small hard things along the way. Right now, with a nasty virus making the world week, I need whatever satisfaction I can get.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cThough much is taken, much abides; and though We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, … Continue reading