I had a dream recently where I was on a plane going somewhere I wanted to visit. The pilot came on the intercom and said in order to reach our destination, we’d have to make a rapid decent, rise quickly over a building, and touch back down beyond it. As we did our “touch and go”, the final destination came into view and was even more beautiful than I had imagined.
While it seems a bit corny in waking hours, dreams of course have a way of bringing forward their own message from our subconscious. In this case, the message and metaphor seem obvious, but it was the message my conscious mind needed to hear. Sometimes you have to go through obstacles to get where you are going. The obstacles are often less scary than imagined, but the payoff is even better.
And while the story above is a true personal account, Stoicism is having a bit of a moment. Lots of people have recounted the quote below. I guess some things really are timeless.
The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way – Marcus Aurelius