The Weights of the World

Posted on September 6, 2020

Every day as we move through this crazy world and especially during these crazy times, many of us struggle with carrying the weights of the world on our shoulders. Sometimes it feels as though we are shouldered with more and more and more, until it becomes unbearable, and unfortunately, when we keep these weights held high and stacked upon each other on our shoulders and back for far too long they begin to squash us into the ground with each step we take.

Sure, using weights to gain strength is important, but as many a trainer will tell you, if you workout with weights that are far too heavy for your abilities, at any given moment, you risk sustaining an injury that can cause great injury to you, and may sideline you for far too long, creating even more problems for you and pulling you away from successfully meeting your goals of service to others.

I believe that sometimes you need to put all of the weights down. You need to release them from your shoulders, take them off your back, release your arms and hands, and stretch a little to give yourself some flexibility. Then as you reconsider what you want to pick up and carrying, I suggest that you re-engage with the appropriate weights for your heart, body, mind and soul, then move forward.

Yes, this is hard, especially for those of us who feel massive responsibilities for the people we care for, teach, lead, and seek to serve. Yet, if we don’t do this, we run the risk of running ourselves deep into the ground, with the weights of the world falling on top of us, and then not being able to serve those we seek to serve. So, drop the weights!

As you realign the weights you will carry, consider grabbing onto these weighty things first, prior to continuing your journey forward. Always grab your dignity and integrity first. When you hold your dignity and integrity close to your heart, body, mind, and soul you engage, interact, communicate as the most authentic person you can be. In every conversation, engagement, interaction where you are keeping your dignity and integrity in hand you will also tend to treat anyone with whom you interact in a way that protects their dignity and allows them to hold ono their integrity. Mutual respect develops based on holding dignity and integrity in each conversation.

Next, be sure to ensure that you are carrying compassion, care, empathy and consistency with you at all times. It might seem obvious, yet, if we listen to anyone who reports on the political landscape of the day it seems that those who should hold compassion, care, empathy and consistency as compass points in their decisions, actions, and goals, are frequently lacking in these three essential components in building a healthy lifestyle.

When those in leadership roles are lacking in compassion, care, empathy and consistency, we find that they place more people at risk of harm, injury, trauma, and often make decisions that simply are short-sighted, fraught with peril, and prejudice. We find that they lack the application of a theory of equity, which in turn creates an inconsistent level of response to every situation. When we do not engage our minds with a theory of equity, we disallow our minds from considering that how we think, act, and we leave our minds with a presumption of correctness, even though faulty logic may be leading our thoughts.

Each of us, in our unique situations must then choose the next level of weights we take into our arms, place on our back and shoulders, and we must do so with thoughtful consciousness. Possibly you will carry, passion, justice, ethical practices, for your people or issues. Perhaps you will carry emotional healing for others, or safety and security for your family. In any case, as individuals we must individually select what else we will carry so that we can do the work that we want to focus on, and live the type of life we want to be proud of as we continue our journey.

There is no one way, one choice, and yes, some of us will follow our past practices, and grab onto too many idealistic expectations for ourselves, yet, if what you grab has truth embedded in it, then it is right for you, and no one should dissuade you from your choice.

Now, I will ask you to not pick up these particular weighty items as holding them will take a toll on you that is not worth the effort. Leave the weights of deceit, lies, anger, hatred, righteousness, prejudice, racism where they lay, and work to ensure that they are released from your heart, body, mind and soul whenever they seek to jump into your life’s work. Sometimes they are sneaky and try to work their way into your life as a defense mechanism or faulty intellectual argument, but you are stronger than that, and can see and feel these most heavy of weights tugging you to the ground.

Now, to be clear, I am not a certified personal trainer in any way, shape or manner, and yet, I have worked to serve others for a number of years, and truly believe that each of us must take the time to self-reflect, consider what weights of the world we are carrying with us, reengage with thoughtful consciousness regarding how we maneuver through our world deliberately with the most important issues in our hearts, bodies, minds, and souls.

If each of us did this, and if we expected our leaders across our systems to follow these simple practices of leading with resilience, I think that we would all be in a better, safer world.

Dr. Rob Martinez, AKA “Resiliency Guy,” is a 33-year educator, author, educational consultant, and is completing his next book with the working title, “Lead with Resilience – My Story, Your Story, Our Story.” You can follow and connect Dr. Rob on all the social medias as @ResiliencyGuy