Full Circle: the bigger picture
"Life ain't all sunshine and rainbows, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently If You Let It (...)It ain't about how hard you hit, it's about how hard you can Get Hit and keep moving forward." I really hope you know what movie that quote is from.
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| this one is for a friend who is inspired by sunsets |
Today I remembered that awesome movie and thought back to when I told you guys how my mom made analyze the movies I went to see to apply them into my life or my way of thinking about things. We all have challenges, and even though they are all completely different, you would be surprised if they could tell you how well off you are compared to others around you. People have such strange understanding about facing obstacles and fear in life so I will give you the best one I have had. Obstacles will ALWAYS arise in your life, after all that's what life is all about, you cannot do anything about the obstacles you face but FACE them, what you can do is change the way you look at them. How you deal with the fear that may arise from the obstacles ahead.
Once I was on a trip back to Costa Rica from Germany, I got bumped up to business class because the flight was oversold and had the amazing honor to sit besides an incredible 95 year old man with whom I spoke for at least half of the transatlantic flight. It got real serious really fast, he started to tell me about his family whom he was going to go visit in the USA and his youth growing up in New York. His parents wanted him to be a lawyer and he wanted to become a musician, he dreamed of one day becoming a director for an orchestra. His parents would NEVER let him study something that "did not pay the bills". He got married young and told his wife that he wasn't going to let his parents stop his dream. He went to law school, got his degree and on his graduation day got a job, nothing big, but good enough to save up to enroll in a music school near where he lived.
By the time he was in his 30s he had gotten a degree in music composing and directing and decided it was time to quit his job and try to focus on his dream: directing an orchestra. His wife became pregnant with his first child, a boy. "I was so happy" -he told me- "all I could think was the great example I was going to give my son. A dad that was true to himself, that went on with his dreams in life". His wife died during labour, he was running out of money, ended up with a kid and no job. He wouldn't get hired as a lawyer because of being "too old and there were better qualified people out there".
He got 2 jobs and paid a babysitter for the days his sister could not take care of his son. He finished his studies and became a very successful director and teacher at the New England Conservatory of Music. His son, ironically grew up to become a lawyer by his own choice.
Of course his story has a lot more to it but the the end is where we come full circle... He got married again and had 3 more children and told me before getting off the plane:
"You should watch a movie called Rocky. I think it shows you that in life obstacles are real, fear is not... Life is not about waiting for the storm to end, it's about learning to dance in the rain".
