FACE THE FLINCH

To “flinch” is (1) to draw back or shrink, as from what is dangerous, difficult, or unpleasant; (2) to shrink under pain; wince. 

In her book “THE FLINCH” Julien Smith considered the flinch as our real opponent. She said, “The flinch is why the lazy actor never gets discovered—because she never really sweats to make it happen. It’s why the monolithic company gets wiped out by a lean startup—because the big company culture avoids the hard questions. It’s the reason you make the wrong decision, even though you may know what the right one is."

My perspective is that dealing with our own flinch will not be easy because of our fear to do the difficult tasks and to answer the hard questions in life. To test our limits, we need to discover which areas of our life do we flinch? We need to face it. 

Most of our valuable and unforgettable learnings are not from information we read from a book, nor from a degree or coached by our mentor but from the hard lessons we actually experienced in life. These learnings came from tears on our pillow, from unanswered calls, from doors that were shut behind you, from the cynical laughter of your so-called friends, from the failing marks, from the nagging voice of debt collectors, from unexpected diagnosis, from the humiliation in the meeting room, from conspirators who plotted against you, from rejected proposals and lost deals. We grow more from our own “scars” than from the principles we read and heard.

When we allow ourselves to go through these painful and inevitable experiences means we're willing to learn and change.

Kris Carr, went for a regular checkup with her doctor and came back with a diagnosis of a rare and incurable Stage IV cancer called epithelioid hemangioendothelioma, existing in her liver and lungs. It was February 14. “Happy Valentine’s Day. You have cancer,” Carr wrote in her journal that night.

Instead of giving up, she totally altered her nutritional lifestyle and advocate this through books and documentaries and launched her own website which impacted over 40k people. It has been more than a decade, Carr is now a New York Times best-selling author and wellness activist.

Let’s not escape life’s adversities or unpleasantries. The reason God did not remove those problems and obstacles in our path is for us to face the flinch and hurdle it no matter how painful it gets. It will build our character and solid faith in Him. Don’t avoid the flinch, face it!

#Signposts #resiliency #standfirm