A few months ago I was out at the local soccer fields watching my youngest daughter during soccer practice. It was super windy that day so I was watching from inside my car which was parked near a sidewalk that separated the field from the parking lot. Focusing on the practice was difficult because there was the cutest little girl running up and down the sidewalk right in front of my car. She was maybe three, blonde, and had her hair up in pigtails. Her mom was watching her when suddenly the girl tripped and fell, landing on both of her hands and knees. It was a hard fall and the tears came instantly. When her mom picked her up I could see both of her little knees were scraped with blood running down one of her legs.
A few others who also saw it happen collected around the mom and wailing kid. Baby wipes were shared for the bleeding and the girl started to calm down. While holding her the mom asked, “Does anyone have a Band-Aid?” Everyone scattered, including me, in search of a Band-Aid. I looked in the console of my car; nothing. Glove box, nothing. My work bag; zero. By the time I looked back up, another parent was approaching with a handful of Band-Aids. The day was saved. I made a mental note that I needed to order a first aid kit to keep in my car. Since it was not a physical note I never ordered one, but something really fascinating happened a few weeks later.
Getting home after my kids’ Taekwondo practice I opened the back hatch of my car to grab their gear bags. My car is an SUV and the back hatch swings out to the right instead of opening up. When I opened the door I noticed a little compartment in it. It had two fasteners at the top of it. Curious about what was inside I opened it up. As soon as I took the cover off, what falls out? A first aid kit. This was not any old first aid kit. This thing was equipped to the gills with everything one would need for minor wound care. Now here is the embarrassing part. I have had the same car for nearly three years and never knew that first aid kit was there. I had it the whole time but never knew it. Had I continued looking through my whole car I would have found that first aid kit for the little girl.
Standing there staring at the first aid kit something occurred to me. This is how strength works. We have it, do not know it, but it is there if we keep looking. Most of us quit the search one drawer too early and never realize the strength we needed was already inside the car we have been driving our whole lives. A series of questions formed in my mind. How do we find the strength we have in the moments we need it most? How do we access the well of strength that is abundant to all of us in the moments we are hurting most?
Finding that kit reminded me that meaning works the same way as strength, hidden in plain sight until something painful forces us to open the right compartment.
I am sure there is more than one answer to this question and yet I have found the answer to live inside one word; perspective. The perspective we engineer around our pain is the hidden first aid kit of strength we all possess. One of the superpowers we as human beings possess is the ability to engineer meaning from our pain, thus converting it to strength.
“In some way, suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning.” Viktor Frankl.
One of the key differences I have observed in the champions of life is their ability to engineer meanings that consistently bring out their best. It is a hack for summoning the strength that is sometimes hidden and yet always available. In My Freed Life, I use a very simple practical tool that does just the trick and it is found in my all time favorite number 24.
Twenty four is my favorite number for two reasons. One, my favorite person on earth is Rochelle Freed and she was born on June twenty fourth. Second is for today’s purpose which is a constant reminder that life is never happening “to” me but always happening “for” me. That subtle but powerful shift in perspective gives instant access to the hidden first aid kit of your head and heart. Life is uncontrollable and unpredictable. Bad things happen. It will rain on your parade. Your job as a champion of life is to access your strength using the power of meaning and perspective.
I know this might seem overly simplistic but just like all matters of the heart, most things are simpler than we make them. To really drive this home I am going to leave you with one of my all time favorite quotes that illustrates the power of perspective perfectly. I want it to serve as a reminder for you to always keep searching for the meaning that will give you the strength you need in the moment.
I asked for strength and God gave me difficulties to make me strong.
I asked for wisdom and God gave me problems to solve.
I asked for courage and God gave me dangers to overcome.
I asked for love and God gave me troubled people to help.
My prayers were answered.
live freed,
Jordan
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