Just keep going

I'm holding a magazine with Sophia Thiel on the cover. I've opened the magazine to page 16 and am reading her article. I've known Sophia from Instagram for years and one of the reasons I noticed her back then was because she's from my home country. Sophia is a fitness influencer and I was always fascinated by her strength and strong will. Then, a few years ago, she suddenly disappeared from the scene. After two years in which her body and mind were allowed to recover, she was back - and stronger than ever.

I am fascinated by real life stories like this. They show the ups and downs that life brings with it and that often the biggest crises can also bring about the greatest personal development. Without them, we would not be shot forward like a catapult and rise like a phoenix from the ashes. Without them, this would not be possible. And at the same time, we are so afraid of it, aren't we?

The last few years have been characterized by many ups and downs for me. It goes up and you're happy, then it goes down again - and you're not happy. And then it goes up again and then down again and so on. I'm sure you know the principle only too well. The curves may change on the journey, i.e. the climbs are sometimes less steep and higher, but overall it is an emotional up and down that we are allowed to go through again and again. These ups and downs are there for a reason:

Life keeps telling you, “How will you know one side of the coin if you've never seen the other before?” In other words, how can you even recognize that there are two sides to a coin and that they are as different as night and day? How can you recognize light if you have never experienced shadow? You only recognize the rain through the dryness, the sky only through the earth and the high only through the low. The one only exists through the other, they are mutually dependent.

And yet we are always in resistance and only want the “good”, the light, the sun, the beautiful view without the strenuous climb, the success and the lifelong phase of falling in love. As hard as it is, it is all the more important to learn to love and accept these shadows. It's about creating an inner balance in your life. It's about perfection, the whole. Because through resistance you lose energy and this in turn prevents you from being able to devote yourself fully to the ‘beautiful’ side. This is the only way you can recognize and appreciate this side at all. So you can devote yourself fully to the other side and bring both into a natural balance.

I'm really enjoying writing about this right now, because I know for myself how incredibly much I've learned over the last few years. And especially in the phases when you are confronted with challenges, you can see how good your inner balance is and whether you can accept and balance both sides. It shows where you are at the moment and what has already been integrated.

An example: with your higher visibility also comes rejection from others, financial success, envy and another commitment. Having your own family and new happiness usually means less time for yourself.

If there's one thing I've learned, it's that when you enter new territory, there will also be new downsides. This can scare you and others and block you from going for what you want in the first place. This is because we often already anticipate to some extent what this will mean in terms of “discomfort”. But this side is just as much a part of it as the price you are paying for your current life situation.

For example: you are currently in a job that pays your living expenses, but at the same time you have stomach cramps every day on the way there, you can't stand your colleagues, you are always so tired at work and secretly dream of another job. The health challenges are just the price you (voluntarily) pay every day. You could also have a job that you enjoy and love, where joyful excitement replaces the stomach cramps. But at the same time, you may already suspect that you might have to move or prove yourself in the new job. That would be a possible new price that you are weighing up internally. You don't yet know whether this will happen or not, but your mind is creating anxiety with all the uncertainty. You decide to continue paying the current price. You probably already realize that everything belongs together, the light and dark sides, and that everything is always perfect in itself.

The trick now is not to resist what is coming, to navigate calmly through all the challenges, knowing that after the down comes the up and that with the bright side will come a dark side. That with the next “level” you reach, you will also be able to master new tasks and grow from them. And the most important thing is to always follow your inner voice, no matter what others say. Your inner voice knows more than any mind could grasp and explain. And it can be heard and lived. That's what it's there for!

Therefore: keep going! Just keep going and don't give up, especially in phases of “downs”! You now know that the greatest developments come from these phases, because as intensely as you have experienced shadows, you can now also see the light and gratefully accept it. You will grow on your own journey and look back on it with pride, I'm sure of it.

Where are you right now? What do you love about your life? And what are the downsides? What do you want in the future? But what will go with it? What kind of person do you need to become so that you can hold on to these dark sides, i.e. so that you don't lose your balance?