{"id":16,"date":"2020-12-31T21:46:10","date_gmt":"2020-12-31T21:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paulparker.org\/?p=16"},"modified":"2025-08-08T02:05:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T02:05:11","slug":"struggles-lead-to-champions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paulparker.org\/?p=16","title":{"rendered":"Struggles Lead To Champions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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As I enter into the last days of 2020, I look to reflect on this year. Certainly, it has been a difficult year for everyone. It has impacted the entire world in some capacity. Some more than others. This has been one of those years you ask \u201cgod what were you thinking\u2026\u201d. Even now we\u2019re in uncharted territory for this generation as new vaccines are being distributed. Governments and peoples are trying to decide to how do we roll it out while maintaining people\u2019s privacy and right to choose. Americans are instilled at birth with the inalienable right to choose what is best for them and their families. It\u2019s a powerful idea that leads to great accomplishments and an enduring hope that the future will be better tomorrow. But\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n


But what do you do between the now and the future of tomorrow? There is a gapping hole of gray in there and it swallows up so many lives with the promise. The light sometimes gets darker, dimmer. Dare I say it goes out sometime too? This whole human thing, the humanity in all of us trying to measure up in front of our peers, neighbors, friends, & family is somewhat exhausting. So\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n


So, what do we do as homo sapiens? Apparently, we\u2019ve been evolving for hundreds of millions of years. Hmm\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve been evolving that long and we are still in the hunt for perfection(well, maybe excellence)? Well, we find ways to dilute the struggle, alleviate the strain, remove the pain. I call it the elusive \u2018search for significance\u2019. We all know the beast that calls to us from the deep recessive of the subconscious to buck up, straighten up, suck it up and become better than you are today in search of the golden chalice of \u201cI\u2019ve made it.\u201d. We still get on this path despite hearing from the people that have \u2018made it\u2019 and their troubling conclusion that it empty. It was in fact the struggle, the journey that produced the enduring sense of \u2018significance\u2019. Call it progress in your journey\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Some who\u2019ve \u2018made it\u2019 say you have to be relentless even ruthless to get to the top. Is that what is called \u2018making it\u2019? In this pandemic we\u2019ve called 2020, I\u2019ve found solace in youtube and twitter and the world seems to spin out of control in the spaces of social media. Looking for why so many of us seem unhappy even bitter and unhappy with our lives while missing the bigger picture of significance being found in the progress of moving towards finding out that \u2018making it\u2019 really is different for all of us. How do we come to terms with that dreams are meant to help become a better you not bill gates, denzel washington, michael jordan, . And still\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n


And still social media wants to push out the message that you can be that person who is your hero, except you can\u2019t really because they are them and you are not them. Then who are you?
Well, now that\u2019s to be determined\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I enter into the last days of 2020, I look to reflect on this year. Certainly, it has been a difficult year for everyone. It has impacted the entire world in some capacity. Some more than others. This has been one of those years you ask \u201cgod what were you thinking\u2026\u201d. Even now we\u2019re […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulparker.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulparker.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulparker.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulparker.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulparker.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/paulparker.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48,"href":"https:\/\/paulparker.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16\/revisions\/48"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulparker.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulparker.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulparker.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}