I love a good challenge.
There is nothing like trying to master something with a high degree of difficulty to feel a sense of accomplishment.
Do I need to be challenged on order to feel accomplished?
No, I am happy with my progress in life thus far. Yes, it has been challenging and there are some parts of it I wish had been less so.
So do I need to feel accomplished for my self-worth or to have self confidence? Again, no. I don’t need or want it. It just is. But then who’s to say I haven’t gained or developed that confidence from meeting my challenges with success over these past years.
In fact, I think its pretty safe to say that we all have developed who we are right now through our various successes and failures. For me, especially the failures. My alleged failures have spurred me forward into my greatest successes. You see, I don’t believe in failure, I believe in challenges. My self worth isn’t based on whether I am successful or not at a particular challenge. In fact I see it the other way around, you need self worth and self confidence to take on a good challenge. If the confidence is lacking, you probably will not experience success at any tough challenge. I believe that success is born out the power of thought. If you think successfully , you will be successful. When life throws me a curve ball I will likely hit a homerun.
So if you lack confidence I recommend a lighter duty challenge. Something just challenging enough that success is a given. I would call this an Inspiration. I find challenges to be inspirational. But Inspirations are things you find, not necessarily work for.
Like Inspirational speakers will help you feel better. They will light the fire in your soul and you can feel better about yourself by just realizing how awesome you are. They find that quality in you that connects you with your motivation. It inspires you.
Everyone can find that inspiration for themselves. Inspiration is all around us. It is in every element of life just waiting for you to connect with it.
I find inspiration in a good challenge but I don’t base my selfworth on the outcome of that task. I am willing to immerse my self into a challenge and not let the outcome be a judge of who I am. What do I mean by that? It means that you are who you are, not what you do. And you are a beautiful inspiring individual. A God send.
So one should engage with life without concern about being judged. One can take on a challenge and not letting it determine who you are. Who you are is not depending on the outcome.
Lets take the game of Soduku. I love the challenge of playing games. The end goal of course is to win. but in soduku the only way to win is to complete the number sequences perfectly. The different puzzles come with varing degress of difficulty. Completing an easy one gives a nice sense of accomplishment. But completing a medium or a hard rated one is really a challenge and the difficulty involved increases the sense of accomplishment. And if that challenge isn’t enough, I really enjoy timing myself to see how long it takes or with a more inspired perspective, how quickly I can do it.
However the success level at this game can have varied results. Some days it best to just walk away from a buggered up mess rather than try to fix it. Does this put me in despair as to never to try again? No, in fact it gives me the understanding that this game is tough and a darn good challenge. So I will try each time with galliant effort with hopes of having success not as an evaluation of my self worth, but for a bit of fun in knowing the difficulty of actual success.
I see challenges as a fun way to test myself. I learn by trying different methods or approaches to see what works best, what works better or what is a complete flop. This to me is the spice of life, an exciting adventure.
When I try something and fail, it is opportunity to try again. I can read the fail as a sign that this isn’t right for me. But it can also help me learn my resolve. If this really truly is something I want to do I will not let a little failure hold me back. I define failure as inspiration and opportunity to tackle the problem again. I embrace the challenge of it. And the inverse is true as well, if the fail gives me enough pause and the energy to reengage isn’t there. It probably wasn’t meant to be.
A question remains, however, in if it is right or correct for us to challenges others?
My answer, Well heck yeah! What would we we be here for if not to inspire others!! As I have suggested earlier that inspiration is a different form of challenge. One that leans toward discovery, more as a passive form of understanding. Where as a challege is asking for engagement with yourself and others as an action. Challenges are more of a doing thing than just allowing. It is a call to action. It is a stimulus for intentional interaction.
So when I challenge anyone, as I would challenge myself, it is to offer an opportunity to experience success. Even if it fails it is successful by the mere attempt. Should one meet with a less than optimal outcome, they would have earned the honorable accolade, Well, at least you tried. When inviting someone to a challenge it puts you together in a co -creation moment. Your success will be my successs, if you will, because we are in this together.
Not everybody appreciates being challenged. Its true not everyone has the same perspective about challenges and may view it with negative conditioning. Kinda with a “You dare challenge me attitude”. I can only say Yes to that. I do dare, but i will withdraw it kindly if you don’t want to play.
As I said at the beginning I love a good challenge. Challenges to me are fun, inspiring, exciting and bring me joy. I love sharing that feeling with others. There are many who also seek the reward of mastering a good challenge. There are a couple quotes that come to mind in this practice.
the first being: If it were easy, everyone would do it. *
and the second one which I keep on my refridgerator : All things excellant are as difficult as they are rare. **
With that I leave you with this thought. I challenge you to get out there. Engage with life . Play and have fun with each moment and whatever challenges it may bring you. Troubles and problems are nothing more than opportunities for success when you set your mind on a positive outcome. Find the inspiration within yourself. You are worthy just in being. The rest is just play.
Digger2021
*Quoting myself
**Unknown 17th century
Gaia's Gardens 