The Unwritten Stories of Heroes

 

As children, we learn about stories of heroes (both real and fictional), who are brave, hardworking, compassionate, and how they overcome extremely difficult situations. We aspire to become like these heroes.

Keeping our hero in mind, we persevere through difficult moments, we work tirelessly to become the best versions of ourselves, we try help those around us. I believe everyone should have a hero to help them find attributes they want to improve in their lives and give them direction. However, our heroes usually only let us see what they want us to see! Because we don't see their weaknesses or their struggles, we see these heroes as perfect. That usually results in us believing that we need to be perfect as well. We work harder and harder to achieve this unobtainable goal and we feel like failures when we break down emotionally.

Unfortunately, what we don't always see in the hero's journey, though, is all the ugly stuff in between that got them to their victory. You never see batman breaking down crying, wondering if he is good enough. You never see images of Mother Teresa crying on her bathroom floor because she was so overwhelmed. You never see Martin Luther King Jr. reviewing his speeches over and over again and having panic attacks because he doubted the impact of his words. I don't know if these things happened. We will never know the darkest moments of our heroes, but every person is human and every human needs to break down at some point. 

When a person breaks down and feels like they can't take a step, they have three choices:

1. Give up, 

2. Keep pushing until they burn themselves out

3. Allow the emotions to come them like a wave, listen, and come up with a new plan with God. 

Our dark moments show our character AND they force us to turn towards our Father in Heaven and humble ourselves to hear Him and His will for us. They remind us that by ourselves, WE ARE WEAK, but through Him, we are strong enough to overcome all that is before us. They force us to be still and listen, to remember our purpose, and what our "mission" is. Most people keep these struggles private, but the struggles of our heroes are what defined history because of what they overcame. 

As much as we perfectionists may hate to realize this: we are human and we AREN'T perfect. We need to be honest with ourselves and emotions and allow ourselves to sit still and let these emotions come out. This is when God is able to speak to us the most because this brings us to our knees. We are reminded that we can't do this alone and we receive greater purpose and greater strength.

May we not be so afraid to fail and have bad days. May we embrace these waves of negative emotions and work through them until we feel better and feel refreshed. May we remember that we have a loving Father in Heaven who provided a way for us not despite our mistakes, but because he loves us SO much, he genuinely wants to walk with us through our mistakes and our sufferings. May we remember that we don't need to be perfect. May we strengthen those around us who never ask for help and always serve others.