...on holding on!

My dearest readers,

now that my ship came safely into port I finally get to reach out to you all again, with a new-found passion, new vision, and an overdose of determination. I must say that hanging in there was often the urge to succeed, but even more so the need not to drown in doubts and second thoughts, which can even gird the most ambitious and best of us all. And in times like these is nothing more important than staying true to oneself, and even more so: holding on.

When we walk up our steep hill of life we realize that our first steps may come naturally to us and are quite easy. There is no doubt about the very first step being the hardest, but there is no denial about the ones following being easy or, let’s say, easier—and light-footed we float in an instant. But the more we engage, the more incline we face. First we stride along like champions, then there will be times when we tend to break our stride like quitters; not because we lack the will to go on, but because we lose our pace gradually, and simply for that reason. Our hike becomes a hassle, and hassle becomes hell before you realize you’re in it. You can sense that you’re burning, but you refuse to believe it. Why would you burn, you’re excellent, you got this.

Time and again this experience can set us back and knock us down to a point we hoped never to see again and revisit; but here we are, up sh*t creek, without a paddle, and often without vision. And the worst part about it? It is you, the one who should know better, the one who had this situation before and swore an oath to never feel this void ever again. It is you who ran aground between Scylla and Charybdis until doubts, panic, and hurry came. Your constitution, your mind, your everything is shaken to the very foundations of a once so steadfast heart. A storm is underway; and there is but one way out of it: hold on!

The storm will pass, for the sun also rises. “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” Jesus asked his disciples once in the midst of a storm. Where is your faith? How about you dodge the furious squalls and bring your deeds and dreams before you once more and again—like looking up a rock ledge and seeing a rope descending that will help you to climb up. You see that rope? Hold on, and look up the hill, because that’s where you’re headed.

Stay in motion, but also stay on your path, your personal slope up the hill, because “you can’t get away from yourself by moving from one place to another” (Earnest Hemingway). But you can be true to yourself and stay in your lane, no matter what stormy weather may hinder you. Hold on, and hold fast to your dreams (cf. Langston Hughes), because it was that to built the spiritual foundation for the momentum to go. And even if you’re moving along with a slower pace than it once were, hold on, and hold fast—remember that “[i]t is [always] easier to go down a hill than up, but the view is best from the top” (Arnold Bennett); and I reckon there is no better spot to see the sun rise again.