A little girl once asked her father, “Why am I scared of heights?” She seemed pretty perturbed about her fears and only her Dad could allay them. Then he replied.
“You’re not scared of heights my child.” He answered.
The little girl was quite befuddled with her father’s answer considering this was her fear not his.
“Erm…mm…Pretty sure it is, Dad.” She replied quite cheekily.
“Sweetie, people aren’t scared of heights. They are only scared of falling.” He said.
A pause on the story for a second. It tells us that heights ain’t the problem, falling is. Wonder why the monkey climb trees hopping from one to the other unfazed? Or why the birds are always sky high and do not fear falling off the sky? It’s because they trust in their abilities and they thrive on it. The monkey believes in its leaping ability whilst the bird trust on its wings. So I guess the question is not if you’re scared of heights, it’s where is your trust?
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People say they’re scared of heights because they fear they may fall. Truth is, no one is scared of heights only falling just as the little girl’s father said. Life’s a ladder and all we’re doing is climbing. Of course, in the event of climbing and trying to get to the top, we slip up and sometimes fall pretty hard in the process. But we get back up and start all over again. While at it, you’re shoved off the ladder by dogged beings who think you don’t play in their league.
Again, you find yourself at the base, disgruntled about how your life has turned out even as you watch others have a rollercoaster ride to the top of the ladder. At this point, you blame it on ill luck. But then you cheer yourself up and hop on that ladder again. On the rise, you’re knocked out cold by a huge rock and down the ladder you go again.
Blurry, you’re pretty much convinced it’s the last time you’re going up there. Now you’re scared of climbing because you don’t want to get knocked off to the ground, probably concluded height is your Achilles’ hill and so relinquishing the chase seems only logical. At this point, you’re questioning everything you stand for whilst you sadly stare at others cruise through the pecking order like gliding through life was innate.
In that moment, you wonder why things are not going right for you like the others. But more importantly, we forget to ask if they’ve ever fallen? Amazingly, those we see today riding through life have all gone through the worst you could possibly imagine. They swam through oceans to get to the shore they find themselves today. Truth is, after the rain, comes the rainbow.
In our world today, “Success” and “Failure” are common terms used to categorized those at the top and those at the bottom. They attach synonyms to the word “Failure” like Disgrace, A Reject, An Outcast, Lousy or Lethargic and often referred to as “A Disappointment”. Then we liken words like Great, Elite, Prominence and more often than not you hear the word “Affluence” being attached to “Success.”
Well, like almost every assertion in our world today, totally inadmissible and lacks a concrete premise. First off, there are no failures only failed attempts. The concept of “Failure” is more psychological than literal. Quite emphatically, there is no success without failure. In fact, the only reason the word “Success” exists is because of the word “Failure.” It takes “Hell” to get to “Heaven” they say and you’d agree with me that every successful person today, went through hell at some point to get to the paradise they are today. It means every Success is a Failure.
“Hell” is “Failure” and Hell is a test, a challenge, a trial not a disappointment. Hell will test your level of faith, character, believe, resilience and focus. Amazingly, everyone goes through that. So cheer up little girl, Daddy was right, indeed, we are all scared of falling. We’re all scared of going through a rough patch. We all fear rock bottom. To you, who’s concluded the top is your Achilles hill, well I’m glad to tell you we’ve all been there. Do not turn your back on the ladder or hide behind your shadows because you fear another beat down.
Again, Failure is psychological, all in your head. Truth is, there are just failed attempts and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Success is but a step away if only you’d allow Failure {Test} walk you through it. In the end, we are all in transit and there’s no telling a breakdown. This is Danny world….
DANNY WORLD 