Fighting the Dragon

This week we studied about overcoming the obstacles that we may face in our path to entrepreneurship and also in our life in general.  No one escapes this life without going through major challenges and struggles so I appreciated the wisdom gleaned from our readings.  As I have written about before, this semester in particular has been one of great struggle for my family.  My mom has been suffering from major health challenges that will completely alter her as person, that is if she is even able to survive this experience.  In addition to my mom's health, my husband has been facing deep challenges at work and faces a possible job furlough within the next year or two.  To put it simply, 2024 has started out with a dragon.  In the book A Field's Guide for the Hero Journey by Jeff Sandefer and Reverend Robert Sirico, chapter 8 was titled, "Fighting The Dragon." The chapter begins with the following passage:

 "If you are pursuing a hero's quest, the time will come when you must face a life-changing challenge. This is not a stone in the road; this is a man-eating, fire-breathing dragon. You will not escape unscathed. You will not emerge unchanged.  You must sacrifice part of yourself in order to conquer and move forward." 

What an appropriate and gut punching passage to read! I am face to face with a dragon.  I know that I will not come through this experience unchanged and neither will my family. However, I am not afraid.  This experience is difficult, yes, but I have the strength to persevere.  A bit farther along on the page, the authors of A Field's Guide ask a series of questions intended to help the reader determine if they are ready to fight a dragon or not.  They ask:

  • Have we developed strength by facing and overcoming other challenges along the way?
  • Have we developed wisdom by practicing self-discipline and heeding our ethical guardrails?
  • Have we learned to persevere by trying multiple methods until we reach success?
  • Have we learned to use our imagination in order to keep our eyes fixed on what we would like our dream outcome to be?
For all of these questions, I could answer yes. I have practiced each of these principles in my life leading up to this point.  While my past experiences may not relate perfectly to the dragon that I am facing now, I can use the lessons that I have gained from each of them and liken them to my dragon at hand.  And then, once I have overcome this challenge, I can use this experience to glean lessons that will help me fight off future dragons.  Because one thing is for sure, there are many dragons to face and fight in this life and each dragon changes us, but strengthens us too, molding us into the person we were always meant to become.   

Location: Indiana, PA 15701, USA

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