A Poem on Overcoming Challenges
For the past 3 years Kelly & I have attended the No BS Agencies retreat in Brooklyn, New York, and for the past three years I’ve journaled on the bank of the East River with Manhattan skyline views, which is a pretty great part of a pretty freaking great conference of badass 1-2 person agency owners like us committed to getting better (and also Seth Godin, who literally invented email marketing and is a brilliant thinker and probably inspired the poem at the end of this blog through his inquisitive nature).
We journal because the things that block business growth are often deeply personal, so we have to get real. Like, let’s say its time for you to raise your prices but that’s scary to you because someone in your life made you feel like you aren’t worth all that much. Or, maybe you have a great big idea but you’re worried it will fail because something else failed so you never start. You can see how the journaling really helps, as does learning from all of the inspiring genius and earned wisdom of everyone in the room.
Last year I recounted the experience of writing down 50 cool things about myself in 10 minutes. (I recommend you try it).
This year, I wanted to tell you about another prompt, and if you’re able right now to follow along and write out your own answers somewhere, I recommend you do that too, so go ahead and get set if you need to …
First, you write down all of the visions that you have brought to life. No rules, don’t overthink it, just write as many as you can for as long as you can …
Second, you write down all of the challenges you’ve overcome in your life. Same deal, don’t judge yourself, just write as many as you can for as long as you can …
Then, we share in groups to see what we can learn about ourselves to take into the future.
(If you just did the exercise and want to talk to me about your lists, you can rent my brain here.)
Now, I’d done this before, so this time I added to the lists from the past year, then I wrote a question about the word “overcome,” then all of a sudden I was ignoring the assignment and writing a poem, and I’d like to share it with you.
If you didn’t do the exercise above yet but kinda want to, now is a good time. I promise, it’s a great catalyst.
Challenge, Accepted
Have I come over?
Or through.
Can my challenges ever be bigger than me?
The world presents many,
And life unfolds untold more.
But if I did not bristle,
and shake,
and quake,
and turn myself into knots on the inside,
Are they but a wave against the bulwark?
But if I do not bristle, and shake, and quake,
And sometimes turn myself into knots on the inside,
Am I a man, or a bag of sand?
I look out at the East River and see the waves,
The water that has overwhelmed all obstacles in its path.
Water that flows freely into an expansive ocean somewhere,
But here is contained and corralled by its current challenges on both sides.
And yet it flows! And ebbs,
And flows again.
Here it crashes on the rocks,
There it harbors shorebirds,
Now it bears a ferry that cuts through, leaving a gash in its wake.
And yet, it flows.
Someday, many years from now, these waters will rise and overcome even the challenge of New York City itself.
And how will this river reach its inevitable victory over the constraints that seek to keep it small,
to keep it in line,
to keep it from rocking the boat?
It will do what it always does,
The only thing it knows how to do.
It will be what it is,
An inevitable, perpetual, flexible flow.
Ebbing here, growing there.
Always changing, ever forceful, in conversation with each new obstacle it encounters,
Learning the shape, adapting to its form,
Temporarily discovering new ways of being,
New ways to move.
Until someday, there is nothing left to overcome,
No ripples on the surface,
No evidence of the grand journey,
Just the sounds of the shorebirds, singing hymns to the glory of all they’ve witnessed.
What visions have you brought to life? What challenges have you overcome? jed@kindandfunny.com.