I’m going to Baader-Meinhof you: "STRUGGLE."



The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon occurs when you become aware of something, and then start to notice it everywhere around you.



Like Cole in The Sixth Sense who saw "dead people,” I see struggle.



If you don't see it already, you're about to see struggle too.



I don’t actually see people struggling.



I see and hear people write and talk about their struggle. However, the situations they describe as struggle are nothing more than the challenges of everyday life.





Bastardized Struggle



We live at a time when when things are fairly good for most people.



However, the human mind has a way of finding problems. In the absence of major problems, we tend to make the minor ones major, at least in our minds.



We literally make mountains out of mole hills.



We start to believe the little stuff that's part of life is a bigger deal than it is.



That's dangerous. If you believe the little stuff is a struggle, you'll be woefully unprepared for the big stuff that truly is a struggle.



In addition, you'll perceive everything that's a challenge as a struggle. Eventually, your mind will be overwhelmed with all the "struggles" you face, and you'll feel like something is either wrong with you, or the world is against you.



What does it mean to struggle?



According to the Collins English Dictionary, the definition of struggle is:



to contend with an adversary or opposing force. to contend resolutely with a task, problem, etc.; strive to advance with violent effort



Each of the three definitions involves a tone of action and tenacity.



To advance with violent effort means you deliberately, intentionally, passionately do whatever it takes to reach your goal.



Sometimes the opposing force is you. Sometimes the opposing force is a false perception of the world you live in. Sometimes the opposing force is all the stuff you have to get done to reach your goal.



The point is, for you to truly struggle, you can't passively sit around and talk about how hard things are. You don’t search for sympathy or settle for things staying as they are. You don’t whine and complain. You don’t wish for someone else to deal with your stuff for you.



If you truly struggle, you take all the action necessary to achieve your goal, in spite of the resistance pushing down on you.



Struggle is Not…



When someone says...



...they struggle to eat well, while they have a refrigerator full of junk food, or



they struggle to build a home-based business, while they spend their evenings scrolling through Facebook, or



they struggle in their marriage, while pointing their finger at their spouse, and doing nothing to change their own ways of communicating and relating to him or her, or



they struggle in college while spending study time in a drunken stupor, or



they struggle to get a promotion at work, while doing the bare minimum to keep their job, or



they struggle to get out of debt while buying toys and TVs on credit…



…they do not struggle. They face a reality of life that comes from choices that take them down a different path than the choices that are proven to work.



Struggle is…



Struggle is...



a student with ADHD who controls his impulses long enough to study the material for class, even though it’s 10 times harder for him than it is for his classmates, or



a stay-at-home mom who makes the most of the job she has, so she can provide for her family, and brings joy home with her even though her days are long and the deadbeat dad is nowhere to be found, or



an alcoholic who holds true to his sobriety, even when friends drink all around him, or



the husband who encourages and lifts up his wife as she battles through one health complication after another, not knowing what the future might hold, or



the parents who unexpectedly lose a child, and work through the grief together, while lifting up and encouraging their other children, or