BUS 110 Week 8

 This week we studied the idea of overcoming challenges, something I know all too well. But that doesn't mean I'm an expert nor unafraid of future challenges. There have been many times in my life when I looked at the road ahead and knew it would be difficult yet forged on anyway. With roadblock after roadblock preventing me from making progress as a pilot I struggled onward anyway. In listening to and re-reading the words of Elder Holland when as the President of BYU he gave a talk to the student body about challenges, I found so many parallels to my own life. At one point he says "And when some of those challenges come, you will have the temptation common to us all to say, “This task is too hard. The burden is too heavy. The path is too long.” And so you decide to quit, simply to give up. Now to terminate certain kinds of tasks is not only acceptable but often very wise." (Holland, 1983). What about the times where I thought what I was doing was so very important and I was on the path meant for me, but the challenges were too much for me? Looking back there were lots of times I should have quit those other pursuits earlier than I did. Was I stubborn or was I practicing perseverance? This is so difficult to tell.

And of course what truly frightens me now is the realization that the more I try to grow and become a success, the more likely I am to face a dragon. In the book A Field Guide for the Hero's Journey by Jeff Sandefer and Reverend Robert Sirico, chapter 8 discusses fighting the dragon. This is described as a life-changing challenge. I've been through this before and while I did come out victorious, me and everyone involved, are now seriously scarred in some fashion. I don't ever want to face anything so difficult as that again. I have always considered myself brave and lived by the same creed announced by Winston Churchill "...victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be." But now having faced such hardship, I don't want to face it again. Will I have to in order to move forward? It seems likely. Hopefully I can attend all I learn in my furthering education to make overcoming my challenges an easier task. Adding knowledge, experience, friends and mentors (network) will hopefully make my challenges smaller as well.

I remember something from fighting that dragon though, something that made it all worthwhile. The words of an innocent child that both broke me and made my day. Those words may well have been the stone I sharpened my sword on in order to slay that dragon. The next time I face a challenge that formidable I will look for something similar that gives me the strength I will need to be victorious once more.


https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/jeffrey-r-and-patricia-t-holland/however-long-hard-road/

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