What If?
Words of wisdom from the previous century.
Lately I’ve been easily caught up in the stress and chaos of a lot of things going on in life, between work and wedding planning and training in the gym. Yet, in all the chaos of life, there is such goodness. There are infinite opportunities to learn, to grow, to thrive, even in the smallest of moments. What if we acted like it?
This poem has been speaking to me lately. One of my dear friends referred to it in a deeply moving speech (you can watch it here) and I ran across it again in a book of classic poetry at family Christmas. When I let the words soak in, it hit me how powerful these lessons are. Do you let successes or failures define you? Are you too hard on others, or yourself? Are you willing to take risks, for a good reason? Will you approach the world around you with the right balance of humility and confidence? Read on for some reminders I think we all need, no matter where we’re at in our next steps.
If—
by Rudyard Kiping
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
Journal Prompt of the Week
Which “if” spoke to you the most? Why?