Don't Give Up, Even if the Cold Burns and Fear Bites

If there’s one thing we know, it’s that life can turn out to be pretty complicated, and that fighting against high tides is even more so. Stay afloat, be like Jorge Bucay’s frogs, who fell in a bucket of cream of which they couldn’t jump out. After several minutes of kicking around, one decided to give up, stopped kicking its legs, and said to itself that there was no sense in delaying it’s death with useless efforts.

The other frog, however, was of the mentality that it should fight until it’s last dying breath, and kept kicking it’s legs faster and faster. All of a sudden and with great surprise, it started to notice the cream turning to strong, hard butter, allowing it to jump out of the bucket.

We’re talking about resilience. Resilience means not seeing the next step as impossible; it means falling a thousand times, and getting up a thousand and one. Be strong, persist and work for it because the difficulty of something increases the more you put it off, and life is what’s happening today, not tomorrow.

You may wonder if it’s still worth it. You wonder if your smile is really sincere, and whether it’s inertia guiding your steps. And so you see, that smile is your guarantee and your shiny gold star of courage.

The desires to leave or give up are also part of being strong, patient and persistent; because after every “I can’t” should be a “Scratch that; let’s keep going,” like a phoenix rising from the ashes.

Resilience, quality that keeps us from surrendering to adversity, is our best weapon against the exhaustion and the resistance in our lives. Our nature is not to stand still, that’s what stones do; we evolve to protect ourselves from the rain and warm up in the cold.

The truth is that winning the battle is not about leaving a footprint; the biggest influence is the battle itself and the preparation to face it. I suggest that you find a word to remind you of your daily struggle, or a simple letter that can lend you support, like C for courage, P for perseverance, S for self-improvement, and R for resistance. Choose it according to your situation and allow yourself to dream, because dreams are the anchors to our lives.

When the Japanese mend broken objects, they enhance the damaged area by filling the cracks with gold dust. This art is called Kintsukuroi and the result is that not only is the damaged piece repaired, but it becomes even stronger than before.

Instead of hiding its flaws and cracks, they highlight and beautify them; they become the strongest and most beautiful parts of the piece. This is how we should heal our wounds and mend after the falls of life. The wrinkles on our skin are nothing more than etches made by a great life, full of amazing stories to tell.

Breaking down our highest walls leads to reaching new horizons, and to silently keep taking step after step, each as costly as the last, leaving us in an abyss.

Then, when we hear the desperate echo of emptiness, we hear life telling us: “Persist because you’ll be happy, but first I’ll make you strong.”