One hand doesn’t clap is the phrase I use for discouragement. One hand needs another hand to make an effective sound. Similarly, humans aren’t meant to function alone. We need others to help us accomplish goals, to laugh and grow together, and to keep us from feeling isolated.
When social isolation occurs, it accentuates any problem. If I am grieving alone, it stings for a longer time. If I am deciding alone, it may not be the wisest because I am missing other angles. If I am discouraged alone, it’s hard to talk myself out of it when no one else is listening.
A curtain of doubt falls on me when my optimism over a certain outcome is ripped away. It is a season of hope that is replaced by uncertainty and confusion. When my courage is taken away and replaced with an unknown and less desired feeling. It can cause fear, anxiety, confusion, and sadness. It is the opposite of feeling inspired and encouraged.
In life, disappointments come often. My expectations are sometimes not met, and I am struggling with the reality of a different outcome. I usually can juggle disappointments and move on, but sometimes what I face is too much and I slide into discouragement.
It creeps into my life secretly and tells me life is not worth living. Sometimes when I listen to the hand that doesn’t clap, I wonder if I will ever get out of the mess, I got myself into. Some moments try my old soul so violently and so perplexing that if the truth were told I have had moments when I wanted to throw up my hands and walk away from my disappointments.
I cannot make a permanent decision over a temporary circumstance, and if I don’t like where I am? I can’t worry about it because it’s just a step towards my destination. If I don’t like how I feel right now, I need to stop crying because it’s just a step that I can’t deviate from and all I must do to win the battle in my mind is to stay on track.
I can’t judge my life by where I am at this moment. I must remember that where I am will come to pass. What I’m worried about will come to pass. I must understand that one day I will look back at this event and laugh at the thing that kept me up all night. I must remember that it is not as important as I thought it was.
I measure the value of a person by how hard they press. How hard they press tells me how hard they hit because energy is measured by motion. That’s why my enemy wants me to sit still, sit down, shut up and feel sorry for myself. But I ought to blow the mind of my enemy this morning.
Just when he thinks I am down and out, I ought to shock him and press. I better not start crying, give up or collapse on the steps to success. It doesn’t matter if it’s sunshine or rain, pleasure, or pain, good or bad times, when that alarm goes off in the morning, I must put my pants on and press on.
I found out that it is not what they say about me that limits me the most but it’s that I might believe them and start saying it to myself. There were times when I was younger when I was told that I would never be anything in life but I just chose not to be one of them and if it’s not my mouth that says it, I can overcome their words all day long.
I must not let people describe or label me because if they do, they will incarcerate me and if I let them put a period where I believe life puts a comma then you will limit me down to how you understand me. I have more than one gift, talent and pursuit, and there’s more in me than what I do.
To explore all my possibilities and potential I try to explore all the ideas in my mind. I do everything and do it scared because I get scared every time, I get out of my comfort zone. It is horrifying but it is also filled with possibilities, and inspiring and it is also nerve-wracking. But I am never more alive than when I am outside of my normal.
My glands secrete different types of hormones when I am outside of my normal. My brain starts spinning, my blood starts rushing, and my adrenaline increases. Most of us are dying of boredom, people are reading this piece who will drive home from work and up and down their street two or three times procrastinating about their dreams before going into their house.
We are dying of routine when we were created to be adventurous. We don’t roar like a lion, move like a jackal, slither like a snake or bite like a viper. The only weapon that’s been given to us is our brain, and when our brain gets locked down in discouragement and negative thinking we start living within the confinements of other people’s expectations.
A big, traumatic event may not dishearten me. Often, it’s small leaks, like holes in a bucket, that slowly deplete me over time. So, if you know someone who is currently down in the dumps, consider stepping in. It’s an honour and responsibility to be that second-hand who helps the struggling one to clap.