A story of wood, trees and fireplaces which keeps me moving forward.
Hi everyone. I’d like to share a story that means something personal to me, something I turn to almost every day to keep me moving forward, especially when progress seems slow. Before we start we’ll need a fireplace, some trees and wood. I’ll warn you now, I’m going to get a little deep, but hang in there with me, I think you’ll find it insightful.
I’m sure most of you have started something new, a project or learning an instrument, maybe you want to be a photographer. During that process there are those times when you feel your progress is slow. Sometimes you feel you’re going backwards and you loose your drive. Frustration can kick in and stress if it’s something really important, such as a new business venture.
All of these things are perfectly normal. You think you’re the only one who feels like this, trust me, that’s normal too, but it’s so far from the truth. There are many cliches you will have heard. You reap what you sow. You only get out what you put in, and so on. I have to say, they’re all true, but those one liners don’t always help you when you’re slogging away, feeling like your goals are never going to be reached.
I’m always on the look out for insight and inspiration, to get a clearer view of the road ahead and try to prepare for changing conditions. In this search I came across a chap called Earl Nightingale. I listened to a number of posts on You Tube, amongst all the fascinating points one story really stuck out.
The story
I don’t remember the exact words used by Earl Nightingale, but my version maybe somewhat different.
It’s getting late in the year, the weather is turning colder, a man, wanting to get warm, enters an old abandoned house and sits in front of a fireplace and says “Give me warmth” He does nothing other than sits in front of the empty fireplace, expecting to get warm. After a short while he gets fed up waiting for the fireplace to give off heat and walks away, grumbling to himself.
A second man finds his way to the house also wanting to get warm. Seeing the fireplace was empty with no wood to burn he goes back out into the cold, taking his axe with him.
The man searches the nearby forest for a suitable tree to chop down. After felling a tree he drags the tree back to the house. In the yard he chops the tree into smaller logs then brings them inside. He places the wood carefully in the fireplace, pulls out some kindling he’s also collected from the forest. The man builds a fire, lights it and after a few minutes starts to feel the warmth.
Soon the whole room is warm and this man sits close to the fire, his eyes closed, feeling the warmth throughout his body. He thinks, job well done.
In brief
If you’ve stuck with me this far you’re either wondering what sort of looney I am or, I hope, I’ve got you thinking.
Often we can work and work at something, not feel we’re making good progress. We get stressed and frustrated or simply give up. Sometimes you need to chop a lot of wood before you can build a fire. I’ve found that life has it’s own plan and idea of how hard you will work to achieve a goal. The thing you must know is, keep working, keep striving, push forward and it will be achieved, no matter what it is, but not always in a time suitable to us.
Any time I’m feeling tired and stretched, wanting to have achieved more, I play this story in my head. It’s kind of like a built in movie theatre. I remind myself that as long as I’m out collecting and chopping the wood, I am making progress and the warm fire or goals, are just around the next tree stump.
Thanks for sticking with me, I hope it helps you if you’re in this position.
Take care and I hope to see you back here very soon.
JT 🙂