There is no problem without a gift in its hand.
A woman standing in a long check-out line at a Dollar Store was watching a mom and her two kids in the aisle next to her. The oldest child, a daughter, seemed to be around six years old, and the son was a toddler. The daughter was holding a pack of glow sticks while the toddler was screaming for them. The mom opened the package and gave him one of the sticks, which stopped his tears immediately. He walked around with it smiling, but then the daughter took it back, and the toddler started screaming again.
Just as the mom was about to fuss, the older child bent the glow stick and handed it back to the toddler. As they walked out of the store, the toddler noticed that the stick was now glowing, and his sister said, “I had to break it so that you could get the full effect from it.”
When we go through hardship and devastation, we often feel broken, but amazingly, we seem to find strength within ourselves that we never knew was there once we are on the other side.
The precious child was happy just swinging the “unbroken” glow stick around in the air because he didn’t understand what it was created to do – which was to glow.
I know so many of our hearts go out to the people of Ukraine as their homeland is being devastated. In moments of desperation and fear, we watch them find strength as they seek refuge and safety among strangers. They don’t know what their future holds or where their home will be – yet they display grace, determination and resilience to continue to move on.
We all go through tough times, and we have no idea what life will be like at the other end, although what will happen is a newfound perspective on our life’s journey.
There are some people who will be content with just ‘being,’ yet, when you see us smiling and full of radiance, know that we might have been broken in order for us to glow.
Make kindness a habit.
To Your Success,
Peak Performance Coach