Life is a constant test that will pull you in directions you never intended to go, that will challenge you beyond anything you ever thought you were capable of enduring, and will break you down and build you up all at the same time. Life is the ultimate test, a test full of irony and enigmas. It is the only test in which you don’t know the answers until after you have taken the test.
The beauty of life though is that it provides a testimony from the test, an experience to draw back upon and recall for posterity. The lessons learned through daily living are irreplaceable and often times, inspiring. The trials we face may seem insurmountable, but as Nelson Mandela is quoted as saying, “Difficulties break some men, but make others.” How we handle life’s difficulties will ultimately determine the path we travel.
Hardships are never pleasant, but they can be building blocks. Take the time to understand that life will happen and not everything can be controlled, but the one thing we all have control over is ourselves. Work toward solutions and not dwelling in sorrow. Mandela also said, “I am the master of my fate and the captain of my destiny,” and while in prison he recited daily William Ernest Henley’s poem, Invictus.
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
Do not let the trials of life stop you from becoming the person you are destined to become or achieving all that has been purposed for your life. Inspiration and motivation abounds around us, as well as the tools necessary to persevere and reach new plateaus. Today is your day to turn your test into a testimony!