While I’m still a little behind on the writing challenge I accepted from Erin Loechner at the beginning of the year, this particular passage spurred reflection.
Often, I catch myself thinking about that Tolstoy quote that I wrote about in What if My Whole Life Was Wrong.
In Leo Tolstoys The Death of Ivan Illyich, the main character Ivan, from his deathbed, looks up at his wife and says, “What if my whole life has been wrong?”
It’s a scary question, but one you need to ask, frequently, to avoid having the wrong answer creep up on you.
What Erin shares in the Erdrich quote conjures up images of both love and business. It’s frightening to love completely. It’s frightening to be an entrepreneur, when all successes and failures ultimately lay themselves at your feet.
Would you rather try and fail? Or come to the realization, on your deathbed, that you never tried? Isn’t that the most frightening thing of all?
You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it, said Maya Angelou.
Life has had its massive ups and horrendous downs to be sure. At the end of the day, however, I can honestly say I’ve made every attempt to taste all the apples.
Have you?
See you on the journey.
