Forged in Fire

About a year ago, I put together a short and concise written summary of the many struggles that accompany the winter season here in the state of Iowa. The first of which: it’s cold. Bitterly cold.

Additionally, of course, it’s dark, dreary, and increasingly difficult to drum up any sort of motivation amidst the elements of the world around us.

At face value, it’s daunting, right?

But at its core, isn’t it such an astounding metaphor for life as a greater whole? 

For a moment, I’d like to re-highlight a profound quote:

“We can bring brilliant flowers of victory to bloom in our lives when we weather the hardships of winter and emerge triumphant based on our practice of the mystic law. The key to victory lies in how hard we struggle when we are in winter, how wisely we use this time and how meaningful we live each day – confident that spring will definitely come.”

If I were to say that I don’t experience the strain associated with the season, well, that would require a blatant lie directly from my tongue – something I’m not in the business of doing. 

The truth of the matter is this: the winter season is without question the most taxing and trying of them all. The nights are long, and the freezing cold air is humbling at best. It serves as a period in time that will test the strongest of us across the spectrum of society – something I’ve come to embrace.

Particularly at this moment, a few short weeks removed from my first 100-mile race, I find myself in the midst of working to scratch and claw back into a steady routine. Sleep, fitness, usage of time, it all seems to be far from optimal in times like these. 

It’s tough.

Where’s the silver lining, you might ask? Of course, there must be one, right?

Indeed, there is. It lies within the mantra behind this entire platform: “DO HARD THINGS.” The repetition with which I’ve instilled grueling practices into my daily life over the span of three or four years – that is where I find the reassurance and confidence in my own ability to overcome the short season of difficulty.

These days will pass. The schedules will return to form. The body will find its way back to its proper form. Not because of pure luck or happenstance, but because such hard times are no longer foreign. 

Onward we go. Into the dark. Into the cold. Against the tide. Through to the other side – where we’ll inevitably find an even greater and more well-refined version of the self we once knew.

Forge on.

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