Cage Matches with Uncertainty

I know I’ve shared this insight from Theodore Roosevelt before, but I just love it so much that I’m sharing it twice, plus I want to talk about the arena (where I’m currently getting my trash kicked):

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." 
 
Why do I love this quote so much?

Because every day I end up in an illegal, underground cage match with uncertainty.
And every day, I get pummeled.



What advantages does uncertainty have in our very unfair fight?
-surprise attacks
-always changing techniques
-my own false sense of security before the knockout blow
-aggressive onslaughts towards every aspect of my life (knowing all my targets)
-nowhere for me to strike and thus training for each fight is futile
-all the blacks and whites seem to bleed into varying shades of gray

Which explains why I lose every time. But at least I look semi-tough with blood, sweat, and tears as I fight an invisible, metaphorical enemy.

On second though, I probably look like an idiot thrashing about with no opponent in sight. I should probably rethink my tactics.

I read a really great talk this week though (“On Dealing with Uncertainty”) and the author, Bruce C. Hafen, suggested that ambiguity and the shades of gray in life are not all bad, but that there is a productive response to the unknown, “where we not only view things with our eyes wide open, but with our hearts wide open as well.”

Doesn’t that sound like wholehearted living? Seeing and feeling things as they come?

Anyways, it gave me good techniques for my intense combats with uncertainty, as did some advise from a friend at work this week: that uncertainty allows us to live with open eyes. a.k.a. recognizing a multiplicity of good roads coming our way.

I’m still figuring out how to apply those strategies, but I am also thankful I do have a few certain things on my side: the love of my family, the love and reality of my God, and literacy skills that won’t fade with age.

Maybe I’ll never win any of my cage matches with uncertainty. Maybe that means I should find another way of dealing with it than the uncivilized method I’m using now.

Like a staring contest.
Where I can open my eyes and see possibility instead of dead ends.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Things I like about Indiana

So actually my brother Taylor started this list. But I liked it and decided to write it on my blog so that the whole world can have a taste of Hoosier Terre Haute and my family here. Some are about Indiana, but most are about the Woodward side of my family. My grandparents just celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary so a bunch of my aunts and uncles and cousins and cousin-in-laws were here. The way my grandpa always tells too many details and it bugs the daylights out of my grandma. Today she told me that he skipped the days of school where they taught kids how to write short sentences. The way that my grandpa always walks hunched over. Kinda like my brothers. They'll be lucky if they turn out like him though:) The way my aunt April says "hey listen to this" when she wants people to hear a funny story. It's like a loud speaker announcing an anecdote. The way that you can escape the billions of people at family gatherings when you need some alone time. How y...
Read more

Let Walls Fall.

Image
Today is November 9th. 27 years ago, the Berlin Wall came down.  Today is November 9th. 78 years ago, the violence of Kristallnacht brought destruction to Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues, killing around 100 Jews. Today is November 9th. What kind of November 9th are we living in? I hope we live in a world where we try to break down walls instead of build them, where we focus on our shared humanity while also valuing our diversity. I hope we are trying to create a world where love overpowers hate. Regardless of political ideologies. I woke up on today, November 9th , with an aching heart. Wondering if my dream about trying to protect the gold and black peacocks in BYU's library was as real as watching the election unfold. An election that few had enjoyed. An election where many felt like they would lose either way. The peacocks weren't real.  The election was. And I couldn't help feeling America had lost. We elected a man whose big...
Read more

"And what do you want to do with that?"

Image
It’s a terrible question. And a terribly common one too. An attempt at a get-to-you-know question that sounds more like an interrogation to me. Plaguing its victim with self-consciousness and uncertainty . You take it as a personal attack on your aspirations and plans and even your humanity and feel the need to validate and defend yourself, even if you’re not completely sure of your answer. The dreaded “And what do you want to do with that?” I live on a college campus where future schemes and dreams are constantly under construction , where the finished product is anything but certain. Yet we love predicting our hypothetical futures . Until we try to merge those with reality. But when we first meet people, we usually ask questions about reality (we being unwilling to share our highly-imaginative-life-in-ten-years-vision). Like where we’re from. And what we like to do. And what we’re studying. When I respond to that last question with H istory and Ger...
Read more