Tip: Resistance is a valuable teacher!
I enjoy the feeling of success and achievement, as I am sure you do as well. When something has gone the way I expected, it brings me a great sense of satisfaction and relief. It is not just the aspect of getting results that excites me, but the awareness that progress is being made, goals are being met, and worthy accomplishments are coming to pass. The challenge with this, however, is that everything worthwhile comes with a price.
My son-in-law, Jordan, is built like Hercules. He has spent many hours working out, developing into a very strong, muscular individual. I admire his physique and would love to look like he does. However, there is just one challenge – I am not willing to spend the time, effort, and energy required to achieve his results. You see, he felt the resistance by lifting weights for years, and the resistance brought about the desired result. He did not develop his muscular physique by wishing and hoping. He actually endured the resistance required by lifting weights to accomplish the goal he wanted to meet.
In our business endeavors, we will constantly face challenges. The primary way I have learned how to do anything right is by learning from my mistakes. Even when I get wise counsel from other people, it usually comes from the wisdom learned from mistakes they have already made.
The same is true in relationships. Most of us have had a challenging experience in some relationship at one time or another. Whether with a parent, a spouse, or a child, we have gotten to where we felt we simply could not make things work any longer. That is unfortunate, but it is the nature of life. Hopefully, the resistance that we felt made us better and stronger individuals. Learning how to have good relationships is impossible by sitting alone in a room or reading a book. We must actually have a relationship and learn from the resistance we experienced in our prior relationships to do better in the future. In other words, we learn from our mistakes.
The only way a butterfly develops its wings is by struggling to get out of the cocoon, thus becoming strong enough to fly once it has been freed. It is the resistance that causes the butterfly to be successful. I read where the astronauts took bubble bees into space to study how they would respond to weightlessness. The bumblebees loved it at first. They floated around, enjoying the fact their big bodies no longer struggled with their short wings. On the fourth day, they all died.
I once heard the story of two frogs who had fallen into some cream. The sides of the bucket were so slippery that they could not escape no matter what they did. Both frogs paddled as hard as they could but could not hop out. Finally, one frog was defeated and said, “It is no use. We are not going to make it! I have tried as hard as possible and am giving up.” With that, he sank into the cream and was never seen again.
The other frog continued to paddle as hard as he could. He pushed with all of his might back and forth through the cream. After a while, he noticed that the cream was beginning to thicken, and his challenge became even more difficult. But he would not give up!
Soon the frog noticed that because the cream was getting thicker and thicker, he could get on top of it. Just a short while later, the cream turned to butter. Now the little frog could stand on top of it and hop out. The resistance gave him the ability to succeed in his endeavor eventually.
What is giving you the most resistance in life? Whatever it is, I can assure you that it has been sent to you as a gift to develop and help you become the person you could never have become without this specific resistance. I believe you will find it rewarding to start receiving your resistance rather than resisting it! I know it has been that way for me, and I trust it will be that way for you, too!
Tip: Resistance is a valuable teacher!
Have a great week! God bless you!
Dr. Robert A. Rohm
