Nature is many things: from breathtaking and awe-inspiring to havoc-wrecking and downright devastating. Today, as I stood idly by, watching a thunderstorm from my window, I realized that it can be both. A bolt of lightning, dazzling as can be, holds within it the insurmountable power to completely and utterly annihilate anything in its path.
If you have ever tried capturing a flash of lightning, you will know it requires a combination of patience, a heightened sense of awareness, a quick response time, and of course, the right tools. Throw in a little bit of good luck and you’re golden. In an ideal world, all these factors come together in complete harmony, rendering you capable of immortalizing that fleeting heavenly blaze. But more often than not, for a mix of reasons, some under and others beyond your control, in the blink of an eye, it’s gone. Just like that. You think to yourself, maybe I didn’t miss it. Fret not, nature has a cruel way of confirming it: thunder. You hear the skies roar and you know you’ve missed your shot. The louder the rumble, the brighter that brilliant white hot streak would’ve been.
Compare this to the opportunities that you and I are presented with in our daily lives. We need the same elusive mix of factors for things to go our way. Only this time, there’s no thunder to tell us if we’ve missed the boat. Opportunities are a lot like lightning; their beauty can sometimes blind us. Every opportunity bears with it an opportunity cost: what you stand to lose by choosing to pursue it. Simply put, not every opportunity is worth being chased after. But that doesn’t mean we stop trying. Sure, you will miss some opportunities. Sometimes, even the ones you do manage to seize may prove to be futile endeavors. But know that there is always going to be more lightning, if not in this thunderstorm, then the next, or the one after that. Never stop chasing lightning. Lightning doesn’t strike twice? That’s a myth. There’s a thunderbolt out there with your name on it!
So yes, nature is many things; it can provide and just as easily take away. But one thing it isn’t is dishonest. All you have to do is look a little closer, breathe a little deeper, and listen to what it has to say.