STRETCH THE RUBBER BAND YOU ARE

Rubber bands come in different sizes, shape and colours. Red, blue or green, you name it and you will surely have one. However no matter the brand, colour or size rubber bands operate under the same principle. They all have to be stretched to be effective.

Like rubber bands, our talents, gifts and personality are different. One thing is common in us all though; just like rubber bands we have to be stretched to be effective in life.

Every person who has ever achieved something has stretched for it. There is no such thing as a person who comes into the world fully equipped for success. Every person who has made it to the top has learned to stretch at one point in their lives.

Just like a rubber band it has to stretch to be enough for the occasion. The most effective way for us to overcome our problems is to change the person. The human spirit is capable of great resiliency and resourcefulness in the face of hardship. It is not problems that mess us up. It is the fear to stretch that does. It is therefore upon us to change from “I can’t believers” to “I can do it if I work harder believers”.

Someone once said, “Cripple a man and you will have Sir Walter Scott. Lock him in prison for 27 years and you will have Nelson Mandela. Raise him in poverty and you have Abraham Lincoln. Deafen him and you will have Ludwing Van Beethhoven. Call him a slow learner, retarded, and write him off as uneducatable and you have Albert Eistein.” All of these people had to change from being common to extraordinary. How did they do that exactly? There you are, you guessed it right, they had to stretch their ability to achieve what they did. They did not let people’s opinion take their valid dreams down the drain. Your dream is valid too, so stop dillydallying and start stretching.

One of the most common mistakes and one of the costliest is thinking that success is due to some genius, some magic or some other thing that we do not posses. Success is due to our stretching to the challenges of life. Failure comes when we shrink from them. We shouldn’t be intimidated with what we do not have but be bold enough to use what we have to get what we do not have.

Those who stretch will also find themselves vulnerable to criticism. Unfortunately the road to success is paved with critics. They are ready and waiting to point out how imperfectly other people do what they themselves are unable to do. No need to worry about them for it is all a win-win situation for you.  

When a rubber band is pulled taut, it’s much easy to break. No wonder not many people like to stretch the rubber band they are.  They think they won’t survive the tension forgetting that stretching reveals their weaknesses. As we all know the strongest man is he who knows his weakness. Knowing your weakness makes you full aware of what to do and what not to. It brings an understanding of oneself. And there is nothing more important than knowing who you are.