Just read the following phrase- "...because I am not and never will be powerless..." - does in not make you feel instantly powerful (Holiday, 2014, 19)? As odd as it sounds, I did for sure. I automatically pictured one of those Nike commercials that shows countless athletes putting in the effort, time, and energy into their training with the purpose of getting more powerful. That is exactly how we should see ourselves, except instead of picturing that athlete, picture yourself. Rubin "Hurricane" Carter in some sense did just this. The chapter "Recognize Your Power" details how Mr. Carter refused to be powerless. Let me explain what happened to Mr. Carter. It was during the 1960's when Mr. Carter was living through the peak of his boxing career. When everything was going his way, he was unfairly accused of a crime he did not carry out. Triple homicide. Now you tell me how would you expect Mr. Carter to react...how would you react? Our immediate instinct would be to lash out in fury, frustration, and be completely flabbergasted! How could anyone go from success one day to prison the next, especially for something you did not do?! Well, be prepared to be shocked just as I was with Mr. Carter's perception of his unfortunate situation. The day Mr. Carter stepped into that prison, he came eye to eye with warden. Among the words they exchanged were the ones you read at the very beginning, "...because I am not and never will be powerless..."(Holiday, 2014, 19). He refused to "...surrender the freedoms that were innately his: his attitude, his beliefs, his choices" (Holiday, 2014, 21). This man knew that being angry was not going to get him anywhere or be constructive. Everyday I go to work I try to tell myself that perception is power. If I see things around me as difficult, tiring, or feeling the popular "this sucks" feeling, that is exactly how things will pan out. See, now that I am a licensed professional and have the job that I had dreamt of having once graduating, I realized that it was not what I hoped it would be. There has been more obstacles to overcome than anything. The long hours I work (and by long I mean over 12 hour days), the traveling time, not really having the social life I had with friends and family, the rough start I had at the beginning on the job, the overwhelming sense of loneliness at work, the degree of responsibility that comes with the job, a contract that binds me to the organization for two years, etc. I see more negatives than positives. To be honest the only positive I see was the fact that I have a job and an income. So consequently I thought, what have I done? I have made a hug mistake, not only the job I have taken, but the career choice I have made. I was not feeling fulfilled, I felt I was not living the life I wanted, one without purpose. Struggling with all of this, I told myself this can be no more. If there is nothing that can be done in regards to my current situation to make it what I want, then I must change my attitude and mentality to make what I feel an unbearable situation a more bearable one. So if I indeed considered this job and career a "mistake" then I would use it as "training" as Ryan Holiday puts it. I would learn as much as I could from my situation. Period. I love this quote by Shakespeare "Nothing [is] either good or bad, but thinking makes it so". In other words "we decide what story to tell ourselves", instead of counting every cloud in our lives, lets find the silver lining to each of those clouds (Holiday, 2014, p. 23). To prove that perception is power, let me finish off by saying that Mr. Carter was set free. It took nineteen long years and two trials to finally overturn his unjust verdict. Mr. Carter was in the end a free man once again; all because he declined to surrender, so endure like Mr. Carter. Just know that when you are feeling powerless, simply remember you are not powerless...you have the power to change your attitude, your belief, your choices. Perception is power. "Choose not to be harmed— and you won't be harmed. Don't feel harmed—and you haven't been."
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