Flip the Switch

When you find yourself amidst a bad experience, drowning in a sea of despair, sinking in helpless solitude and it seems as if all hope is lost, flip the switch.

I’m not suggesting a lackluster or empty parroting of, “look at the bright side,” that would be disrespectful. I do not disrespect your pain, I honor it. And so should you. It is in these moments that we are transformed into a higher version of ourselves. Not to sound cliché, we grow and expand through the pain, where we meet an enlightened, newer version of our self on the other side of tragedy.

A Tale of Two Vics

Vic is a forty-year-old Cancer patient, who lost his wife. She died last year of advanced liver disease which was undiagnosed until in its final stages. He confronts his son who is also reeling from the loss of his mother and encourages the reluctant youth to find joy in life and go to the prom. The proud father finances his son’s tuxedo and is happy seeing his son embracing life as he and his date go to the prom. That was the last time Vic saw his son alive, as they were killed in an auto accident. After laying to rest both his wife and his son, Vic all but left his life, as he hid inside his home, until his lifeless body was found.

Another Cancer patient also named Vic, whose wife committed suicide following his diagnosis, following his son’s death, killed by a drunk driver, found a renewed sense of purpose, answered the call and started a local crisis line, created a parent-founded limousine service for local high school students, and travels the country giving hope to those whose lives have lost any sense of reason… and his Cancer is in remission.

One Vic is the victim, the other is the victor. You choose which Vic you will be, even if you cannot find a way to resonate with such a thought when embroiled in the passion of the moment.

When you are in the eye of the storm, it is unlikely that you can see a way out, and it appears there is little hope of the storm passing.

If you are faced with life circumstances that appear to be insurmountable, this is the calling forth of the hero who lies dormant within you. This is that critical moment in time, will you fall victim to the circumstance or rise and find a way through the challenge to emerge passionately victorious, a light to others who would otherwise be lost in the darkness of the deepest moments of life’s night.

All of us face these moments. What will you do? Will you collapse in sorrow, a victim of allowing the victim’s mentality to overwhelm and engulf you until there is nothing left, or will you answer the call and emerge victorious?

All you need is a few precious moments to gain enough perspective and composure to attain enough balance to launch your process of dealing with and overcoming the challenges. You can do this. You were born to face this moment and you were given all the tools necessary to deal with every obstacle you encounter in this life.

All you need you have and it is available to you now in this moment. Do not disrespect the bad things, instead flip the switch and find that small ember and nurse it into your barn-burning celebration.

If we embrace the bad things that we encounter throughout our life’s journey, and move on through the transformative movement, we can be the lighthouse to others lost in the storms of life.

You are the lighthouse.