The Longer You Hold Something, the Heavier It Becomes

A psychologist once walked around a room while teaching a stress management course and she raised a glass of water. Everyone expected her to ask the “Is the glass half empty or half full?” question. Instead, she asked, “How heavy is this glass of water?” The audience called out answers that ranged from eight ounces to 20 ounces.

She replied that the absolute weight doesn’t really matter. “What matters is how long I hold it,” she said, “If I hold it for a minute, it’s not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I have an ache in my arm. If I hold it for a day, my arm will feel numb and paralyzed. In each case, the weight of the glass doesn’t change. But the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.”

She continued to say that the stresses and worries in life are like that glass of water. Deal with them for a little while and nothing happens. Deal with them a little bit longer, and they begin to hurt. And if you deal with them all day long, day in and day out over time, you’ll feel paralyzed, incapable of doing anything, because of the weight of the worries.

The Way We View the World

We live in an age of sweeping conflict, widespread skepticism, and intense anxiety. Contention feels pervasive and balanced discourse is a thing of the past. Pundits regularly tell us what’s wrong with society. People complain like it’s an Olympic event. (I’ve checked – it is not.)

Gurus in the marketplace obsess over the massive problems they see in the world, and negativity seems to be part of the new normal. The last couple of years have been hard. It’s been a very stressful time for almost everyone. We all feel it.

I love astronomy and I’ve learned that by choosing different lenses or filters for my telescope, I can literally observe different things in the night sky. By changing the lens, the things I view can appear or disappear before my very eyes. Objects can be overwhelmingly bright and painful to view, or they can be a beautiful sight to behold.

I believe that our lives are similar. The lens you choose to view the world through influences your life in ways that will determine your future.

You Are Not Alone

Today, more than ever, your network can help you. When you are part of a caring and effective network, you are not alone. Your network can help you take some of the weight of your business, and your life, out of your arms and give you relief when there doesn’t seem to be any around you. With the support of our network, we’re getting through these challenging times because we have each other to help us believe and achieve.

Throughout my lifetime I’ve seen ordinary people do extraordinary things. I believe anyone can do extraordinary things with the right mindset, plan, and effort. I believe that our vision controls our perception, and our perception becomes our reality.

Set a vision that makes a difference to the people around you – then hold the vision, NOT the obstacles. This is the thing that is so difficult for people; they continuously focus on the obstacles. The truth is if you want to be successful, hold the vision, not the obstacles. Forget about the noise and distractions all around you. There have always been distractions; there will always be distractions. Focus on your vision.

Today is the Tomorrow you were so worried about Yesterday. Maybe it’s time to set the worries aside and put the vision in front. Let your network help you. You are not alone.

It’s important to recognize that we all have challenging times, all of us, myself included. The secret to getting through them is the lens that we look at life through, and the ability to focus on the VISION and not the obstacles. The more we all can do that, the more successful we’ll be in our professional life and in our personal life, as well.

I would love to hear how your network has helped you.