TrueLife - 10 Metaphors to Think about when Life is Heavy

Episode Date: December 20, 2023

Darkness struck, a gut-punched theft, Sun ripped away, her health bereft. I roar at the void. This ain't just fate, a cosmic scam I spit my hate. The games rigged tight, shadows deal, blood on their hands, I'll never kneel. Yet in the rage, a crack ignites, occulted sparks cut through the nights. The scars my key, hermetic and stark. To see, to rise, I hunt in the dark, fumbling, fear. Fearers through ruins maze lights my war cry born from the blaze.

The poem is Angels with Rifles. The track, I Am Sorrow, I Am Lust by Codex Seraphini. Check out the entire song at the end of the cast. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the True Life podcast for another version of 10, 10, 10, 10. Today we have 10 metaphors that you can think about or say to yourself or mow over when the world is falling down around you. Number one, life's storms may shake us, but remember, you are the resilient tree standing tall in the hurricane. How's that for an image? A lot of people think of Katrina or some people think of maybe the tsunami that hit the eastern sheep.

Sheeboard, the eastern seaboard, the far east seaboard? You know what I'm talking about. How about that lone tree that stands, the test of the turbulent winds? That's us. You can be that tree. All around you, the world may be falling down. It could be a storm of incredible magnitude, or perhaps it could be relationships crumbling around you. But be the tall tree that withstands the winds. Bend, don't break. Number two, in the darkness, find solace, in knowing that stars only shine when the night is deepest.

Sometimes it seems that we all have to go through that dark night of the soul. Sometimes it seems to us that we need to be surrounded by darkness so that we can see the light. sometimes we need to take a moment and really think about what we have to be grateful in our lives whether it's our daughters our partners our wives our husbands our family maybe it's an idea that you have that you're working on but in the darkness look for the light and move towards it life's challenges number three life's challenges are stepping stones even if you stumble each one brings you closer to the light.

It's an interesting concept, right? Sometimes it seems as though we're moving backwards or we're not making any progress, but every baby step forwards, every leaning into that one more inch towards the gold line, one more step gets us that much closer. A lot of the times you will look back and be amazed at where you started at. I'll never forget when I was teaching my daughter to ride a bike and we were out by the fire hydrant. I had my hands on the steering wheel and one hand on the seat and she took off by herself and I let go. She paddled and peddled and balanced until she fell off about 50 feet.

She threw her bike down and she was so upset and she said, Dad, I can't do it anymore. But as we calmed down, I touched her shoulder and I asked her to look back where we started. And she looked back at the fire hydrant from where we started and her eyes, a beautiful brown grew to the size of sauces and she realized that she did do it. She got back on her bike and she kept going. Life's challenges are stepping stones. Number four, adversity is a sculptor, shaping you into a stronger, more refined version of yourself. A lot of the times we find ourselves wanting to give up. Sometimes the weight of the world is too much on us. We just start thinking that negative feedback loop of what the hell is it all for anyway. It's pointless. I'm not even making progress.

But it's important to understand that it is these challenging times that shape you. Maybe what's happening is that you are finding a new depth of which you can go to to fight the good fight. Maybe you're finding a way to model reality in a way that's been different. Maybe it's these difficult times that allow you to be thankful for the things that you have. Adversity is a sculptor. Number five, when the path is rocky, consider it a mosaic, each hardship of peace adding depth to the masterpiece of your life. Sometimes it is the jagged edges of relationships, the broken promises of the people that loved you

can all be sharp and jagged. But in some ways, it's the brilliant peaks. It is those sharp edges that made us feel the most. We'll always look back on those times with memories. Some of them fond, some of them hurtful, but very vivid regardless of them. Without pain, there can't be any pleasure.

Without the valleys, there can't be any peaks. Life's trials are like the molten lava of a volcano, forging strength and resilience within your core. The trials that were given on a day-to-day basis, on a month-to-month basis, on a year-to-year basis, on a life basis. Why shouldn't life be a test? The same way that the molten lava can create a pathway

down the face of a rocky cliff, so too can you traverse new avenues, create new ideas, and forge new relationships if you're willing to have the passion behind your idea to make them possible. Embrace the caterpillar's struggle. It transforms into a butterfly, not despite, but because of its challenges. A lot of the times we may ask ourselves, what's it all for?

But if you think about the transformation from the caterpillar to the butterfly, the caterpillar spends a large portion of its life just consuming, consuming, consuming, hanging around and gorging itself, the same way modern society seems to have an affinity for consumption. so too does the caterpillar consume the majority of its life until one day something inside changes it hears a calling perhaps it listens to the voice in its heart and it finds a place to form a chrysalis

and it spins a web perhaps it's the same web that we spin a web of lies a web of communication a web of relationships a web of all of it and inside that web it begins to transform it liquefies and soon after a new form emerges. A butterfly finds a way to push through the weak spots of the chrysalis. Maybe that's what's happening in your world.

Maybe that's what's happening in our world is that we're beginning to emerge as a new form and these things that are cracking around us are going to be the spots where the new form emerges. Amidst the chaos, remember that a phoenix rises from its own ashes, reborn and renewed. Have you ever had that experience? or a part of you died, maybe you were in a relationship. Maybe that relationship died, but because it died, a new you was born. Maybe you got to go away and live in another country. Maybe you had a dream.

Maybe a myriad of things could have happened to you, but you can choose that you can arise from the ashes. You lost a job. Maybe lost a relationship. Maybe you lost a loved one. But might that be an opportunity for you to arise anew? Amidst the chaos, remember that a phoenix rises from its own ashes, reborn and renewed. Life's hardships are chapters in a book. Don't judge the story by one difficult page.

Maybe that's what's going on today. Maybe that's what happened yesterday. Maybe it's been a bad week, a bad day, a bad month. But this too shall pass. And just like all epic novels, just like all epic movies, just like all epic movies, just like all incredible stories that you've read, there was a period where the main character, you were going through a difficult time.

And it may be hard to read. It may have been hard for you to see. It may be hard for you to live right now. But the truth is, it's always dark for the light. And every masterpiece, every wonderful episode or anything worth having is worth fighting for. And the deeper the canyons,

the more resilient, the view will be when you get to the peak. Number 10. Just as a puzzle pieces may seem chaotic, they come together to reveal a beautiful picture in the end. You ever done that? Think back on a time right now when time was chaotic, whether it was a relationship, a loved one,

something unfair that happened to you, the time when you were really hurt. If you look back on it now, I'll bet you can see a pattern. I'll bet you can see something good that may have come of it. whether you were reborn as an individual, whether you were reborn into a new relationship, or whether you were given a new insight.

Just like the puzzle pieces seem scattered, just like your life may seem chaotic at times. Understand that a bigger picture is coming together. And if you can look back on the past, perhaps you can put this new picture into view. You can understand the chaos that happened in the past and how it became part of a beautiful mosaic, then just that might be enough to get you through another day, another week,

or through this next page of the incredible story that you're writing, that is your life. That's all we got for today, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you enjoyed this version of 10, 10, 10, 10.