In our journey through this life, in both our personal and professional life, we will experience joy and sorrow, victory and defeat, triumph and trial, opportunities and obstacles along with success and failure. In short, we will experience peaks and valleys.
Although not very optimistic, some have said, “If you’re not headed out of a valley, you’re headed into one.” Remember, optimism does not deny reality, it’s an attitude in which one deals with it.
Many of our greatest life lessons and growth opportunities come from living life in valleys, not on mountain tops. As G.K. Chesterton said, “One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak.”
When enduring life in a valley, here a few things that might be helpful to remember.
Valleys are Unavoidable
If there was a road sign that defined life, it might read, “Caution, Valley Ahead.” They’re unavoidable. Sometimes the choices we make bring us into a valley, other times, it’s simply part of life that we experience times of sorrow, suffering, defeat, loss, challenges and despair.
Valleys are Unpredictable
As much as we plan and prepare, which is an important component in life, we don’t know what the future holds. In our planning and preparing, we need to understand “valleys” happen. It’s simply not possible to go from peak to peak without traveling through a valley.
Valleys are Unprejudiced
It’s easy to look at successful people in life and assume they had an easy path. Learn the story of those who achieved that success and learn the set-backs, challenges and delays they experienced along the way. Valleys are not assigned to a certain few in life but to everyone who lives and breathes.
Valleys Build Patience
A valley experience can helps us gain insight, develop understanding and teach us patience. We can choose to resist going through the valley, however, such resistance does not alter the course, change our direction or clear the path to a better life. It’s best not to make major life decisions while experiencing the crisis of a valley. Patiently taking inventory and making minor adjustments can sometimes be helpful.
As author Brian Adams wrote, “Learn the art of patience. Apply discipline to your thoughts when they become anxious over the outcome of a goal. Impatience breeds anxiety, fear, discouragement and failure. Patience creates confidence, decisiveness, and a rational outlook, which eventually leads to success.”
Valleys Build Character
A young girl went to her grandmother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed that, as one problem was solved, a new one arose.
Her grandmother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to a boil. In the first, she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans.
She let them sit and boil, without saying a word. In about twenty minutes, she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl.
Turning to her granddaughter, she asked, “Tell me, what do you see?” “Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” the young girl replied. The grandmother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. She then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, she asked her to sip the coffee. The granddaughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma.
The granddaughter then asked, “What does it mean, grandmother?” Her grandmother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity – boiling water – but each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior. But, after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened! The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.
“Which are you?” the grandmother asked her granddaughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?”
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