Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending.
– Saint Augustine
What is your first reaction when you read this? Can I tell you mine? I thought, no way! The only way to get ahead is to push past everyone else and make sure you get to the top faster than anyone else. Right? Wrong.
I guess the world we live in will tell us how amazing we are, how much we deserve to be successful and we can be or do anything we want to do. I totally agree with that but I think we can see that left to our own devices, these words puff us up to forge ahead at any cost to us or to those around this. So the purpose of my blog is to spin a different way of looking at this…
What if the way up is actually down? What if like some lyrics I recently heard, “we touch the sky when our knees hit the ground.” What I think Saint Augustine was trying to say was where you are going isn’t as important as who is going with you. I believe we need the people around us and if they succeed then so do we. A great teacher once said, “Those of you who want to be great, must become a servant.” So what does going up by going down look like in our everyday lives?
- In a conflict, be the bigger person, and take the high road. Let people know how they have hurt you or upset you but at the end of the day, we can’t change people. We are not responsible for how others act, but only how we act. So when that driver hoots at you and waves all sorts of fingers at you, just smile to yourself and be reminded that you can only control your own actions, so make sure they count to make the world a better place.
- Live your life with confidence and humility. These may seem opposite but they are actually beautifully complimentary. Confidence enables you to do what you need to do and humility helps you to do it well. Be confident, not arrogant. That’s what will draw people into your corner.
- Know you are worth it! You have something to offer that only you can bring to your family, your school or your workplace. You are not on the planet by accident (no matter how you came into this world) and you have a role to play.
Just imagine what the world would be like if we all went up by going down, if we really could touch the sky by our knees hitting the ground.
So when you face challenges this next week remember:
- You are amazing and so are the people who happen to be in your world.
- You deserve to be successful and so do the people you are studying with or working with. What if you helped each other and became successful together?
- You can be and do anything you want so why not be the person you wish others would be and why don’t you do the things you wish others would do to make this life better.
- Let’s rise and be the generation that does things differently. Let’s rise and see who we can take on the journey. Let’s rise and begin with descending.
If you’d like to know more about how it’s possible to go up by going down and living life differently, please click on the pop up banner or the one below. We’d love to tell you more.
Author: Wendy Grages
Twitter: @wendygrages
Instagram: @wendygrages