What’s Your Bridge over Troubled Waters?

Bridges are amazing!  Just think of it – you are standing on one side of the river or canyon and you want to get to the other side but not get wet.  You might take a boat – if there’s one handy (and you know how to work it).  However someone came up with the idea of getting across the uncross-able expanse on this thing we now call “a bridge”.  Some say it was the Greeks during 13^th Century BC, others the Romans and some the people of Latin America, but I digress. 

Last week I wrote about Perseverance and you might be asking, “What in the world could building bridges have to do with Perseverance?” Consider this:  What keeps a bridge from falling?   

Support!  

As you look at the pictures of the various bridges, notice, that while the basic concept is the same, how it manifests is different.  For some it’s the power of the arc, for others the strength of suspension.  Either way, it’s support.   

If I could give you a gift it would be “Support”.  It might look like a network of people who value you and your dream: like guide wires they hold you up when everything looks like it’s going to fall into the chasm below.  It might be like the arc: solid structures and systems upholding you from underneath and with the upward thrust of the arc at its pinnacle sustains your movement above the unknown below.  Whatever your dream is, if you want to maximize Perseverance, create a support structure and network.  When the going gets tough and everything in you wants to quit – draw on your support. 

Tori Murden, the first woman to row solo across the Pacific, in her darkest hour when everything inside her wanted to call it quits, when all she had to do was make the call and the pain, agony, isolation would end, was greeted by a pod of dolphins.  They played with her and kept her company for several hours.  Her support came when she least expected it in exactly the situation surrounding her.  She said the memory of playing with the dolphins kept her going until she finished the row, weeks later. 

If I could give you a gift, it would be the Support to Persevere.