In Others’ Words: Challenges

“If you aren’t in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?”

T.S. Eliot (188-1965), poet

My son Josh isn’t afraid of a challenge.

On Sunday, May 6, Josh ran the Spartan Race, a 5 mile race, complete with some crazy obstacles. Imagine climbing wooden walls slicked with mud and soap. Yeah, that’s ironic, isn’t it? And throwing javelins. And flipping huge tires. Doing a low-crawl barbed-wire obstacle course through water. Oh, yeah. And jumping over a line of fire before running past some guys with pugil sticks.

Fun, eh? Crazy fun.

Five miles of challenging himself. To conquer obstacles. To finish the race. To do what he set out to do: be victorious.

Before my son even began the course, I was proud of him. He’d already stepped up and won just by choosing to take on the challenge. He’d looked at something he’d never done before and, instead of backing down, he said, “I’m all in.”

All of my kiddos are like that. They don’t back down from challenges. I love their “Bring it on” attitudes. And when one of their siblings takes on a solo challenge, they stand on the sidelines (literally or figuratively) and cheer each other on.

 

 

In Your Words: Life: Are you in over your head or are you playing it safe? When you’re facing a challenge, who stands on the sidelines and cheers for you?