Old Time Strength (Playing Life on Hard More and Developing Survival Skills)

Posted by admin at December 18, 2016

3:15AM CPT. Lying awake on my bed in a dark room, on an oddly cold morning. I have been seating in a floating tube for days. Jet-lagged. I don’t know what to do with myself. My body seems not to belong to me, my mind seems to be over-looking something important it has to do – like hold on to my tired body or sleep for God’s sakes. Instead I am thinking of the next thing I have to achieve, the next stage of my life, should I stay (at my old job) or should I go (get a new one)? Scale up or scale down? Finish my projects or Start a new one? Time is indifferent. Grandeur thoughts, lazy bones.

A sliver of light seeps into the dark room. Someone else is up. I can hear scratching sounds. He has been working since 9PM the previous night and he is back from the office. He hasn’t had a complete 3 hours sleep since I met him the day before. I pull everything in me to get up and leave room. There is my dad, scrubbing and cleaning the kitchen. He is doing this now because he will be going on a short trip in a few hours. On the floor, by the washing machine, were his and my laundry.

‘Are you hungry?’ he said
‘Do you sleep?’ my mind replied
‘You have to eat to keep up energy levels’ he says as he pulls the oatmeal pack from the cupboard to start making breakfast
‘There is no amount of eating that can revive me right now’ again, I say to myself, right before I wanted to ask for a body loan from my sixty-something year old dad. Where does he get all that energy from?

Now this is just an example of the kind of dedication to routine and resolve that seems to be embedded in my parents. That Old-Time Strength. Here is a guy that does laundry, cleans the house and cooks… and still meets his work schedule. I don’t do these things even though like him, I live alone. I just work, go to the office and back. I cant remember the last time I did my laundry or cleaned the house myself, never cooked.

My mum is the same, if not more amazing. A ball of thermonuclear energy packed into a 5″4′ woman. I call her The Battery. This lady juggles high social positions in her Work (an accountant in charge of the pay-roll department for a Local Government), her Church (Women’s Leader for the local church and Cashier for the entire county/state) and her Family (we are a handful – a handful of tired young people who are thinking all the time).

I have always been trying to resolve where these people get their tenacity to complete tasks and see things through no matter how difficult they may seem. And I have come to a conclusion. Upbringing and imbibed habits. These are people raised by poor farmers, tilled grounds and cleared bushes for a living, started earning as teenagers, supporting entire families, doing odd jobs and selling farm produce after commuting miles on foot. And speaking of commuting on foot, forget social amenities like hospitals, electricity, pure water or good roads. If they needed any of these, they had to perform unimaginable feats for it. Feats that require a level of resolve that is backed by the reality that surrounds them.

‘If I don’t do this now, someone is going die!’.

That Old-Time Strength. Accepting the cards you are dealt, moving forward, never looking back, never backing down and giving it your all to make sure all you care about is alright. To survive. And to build a better version of yourself that is built to succeed.

Hardship, I think, creates in us, the much needed characteristics required for survival. Tools that propel us to achieve maximum efficiency in our lives, such as Discipline and Work Ethics. It is simple. If I want more, I should be prepared to go hardcore. For the gamers, play the game of life on ‘Hard’. Train and work hard (do your research, take that overtime, get 2 or 3 jobs, and don’t miss classes). Live in the right city with possible high rent and high cost of living. Meet the right people (overcome the nightmare of the introvert). Setup and run a successful business (be free from your fears). Tying yourself up in this hardship will nudge you to think of new ways of doing things, activating not only your survival skills but your creativity as well. Go Big or Go Home. Win or Die.

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