In three words, I can sum up everything I learned about life

Graphic courtesy of Wordle

At the beginning of this year, I resolved to begin blogging, and so I did. I was getting on pretty well with it, too: enjoying the process of recording and expanding upon ideas and researching quotes and people. However, this all came to an abrupt halt at the end of February for a number of reasons: March was an intense month with some hairy deadlines to meet, my paid work was unrelenting, I put in a couple of job applications and had a job interview - and my life just felt like it was under a lot of pressure. Not only that, but I had to deal with some big disappointments, one of them being not getting the job! When life comes in for knocks like this, it's not surprising that something has to give - and blogging was one of my victims.

But, hey, it's the Easter break and I'm back - and blogging again...

The title of this post comes from one of my favourite quotes by the American poet, Robert Frost:

'In three words, I can sum up everything I learned about life: it goes on.'

Frost's early years were inconsequential: he drifted through a string of occupations after leaving school, working as a teacher, cobbler, and editor of the Lawrence Sentinel. In 1895, Frost married Elinor Miriam White. The couple moved to England in 1912, after their New Hampshire farm failed. However, on his return to the States in 1915 after the publication of two collections of poetry, Frost's reputation was established.

The quote itself sounds dark, resigned - even cynical. Indeed, Frost was known for his dark, searching meditations. However, for me, the quote projects a quintessential truth about life - something that many people either forget or simply avoid: life isn't plain sailing - it is stormy, treacherous, unpredictable. But it goes on.

I like Frost's pithy reflection on life: it reassures me and I take comfort from the fact that I'm not the only one that finds myself in a battle.

Oswald Chambers said, 'Life is more tragic than orderly.' This, from a well-known and published Bible teacher. Chambers' life was far from orderly and it panned out quite differently from the way he had planned it. Earlier, I indicated that many people are reluctant to accept life as it really is. I don't think Chambers or Frost could be counted in this number but there are countless people that spend their money and their weekends escaping from the reality of life, unable to accept that normal life is one of hard knocks.

At this point, I could reel off countless quotes about resilience, perseverance, determination... there are any number of inspiring success stories that survivors have lived to tell. Failure, mistakes, disappointment and rejection are part and parcel of life - but they hone the character we are and make us into what we become, provided we choose to use those experiences to build us, which reminds me of another favourite quote (forgive me), from David Brinkley this time:

'A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him'.

My month of March was tough and I wish I could say I handled it well. In any case, it reinforced some important lessons about life and I hope it developed my character and built up my courage. As a life-affirming ex-colleague with whom I still keep in touch with often reminds me:

'That which does not kill us makes us stronger.' (Thanks, Friedrich Nietzsche.)

And, to finish on a wonderfully positive note from Nelson Mandela, one of my personal heroes, who had every reason to give up but proved beyond doubt that life goes on:

'I learned that courage was not the absence of fear - but the triumph over it.'

How have you learned to deal with disappointment?


What lessons have you learned about living the life of 'hard knocks'?


How have you proved that 'life goes on'?



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