When I heard of the water challenge for the first time, I was determined to become the most hydrated person on earth.
The rules were simple. For 30 days, I was to drink 3.7 liters (a gallon) of water a day, without taking in sweetened drinks, tea, juices, etc. I had to finish the entire contents of my gallon before going to bed each night.
I got a green bottle which I filled and tucked at the side of my bag every morning. It seemed quite easy at the beginning; all I had to do was remember to fill it with water. I even set a reminder on my phone which went off every two hours. I’d see a little Drink Water! alert pop on my screen and I’d do just that.
Till this day, I cannot tell what happened. I didn’t lose the green bottle in the backseat of a car. Those little reminders didn’t stop (although I did disable it after a while because the beeps got annoying). And unfortunately, water is still as relevant for my body now as it was then, when I was determined to swallow a river, if I could.
Purpose isn’t a subject that’s often talked about. Probably because it is the one disease we are too ashamed to talk about because deep down, we all know we suffer from it. But the reason for beginning something, the goal that serves as the foundation on which heights are reached is as significant as the journey itself.
So many firms have crumbled down because at some point, their aim, their mission, was thrown to the wind. There are a million courses and plans left undone because the reason for starting in the first place was forgotten along the line. There is an emerging trend in this generation where talents and skills dry up in the face of criticism and lack of appreciation.
To compromise one’s purpose is to, in fact, lose a sense of direction. It is only when we know the why, that we are able to come up with the how. Being clueless about why the journey is being embarked on in the first place makes us vulnerable from the beginning. Every challenge encountered, every unforeseen circumstance becomes a quick escape. Lacking drive rids you of the will to fight when the need arises.
At some point in my water challenge, it stopped being about keeping a healthy body and having my system hydrated. It became more and more about how many bottles I could finish in a day, how good I was becoming at this game. When my intake began to reduce, it wasn’t about how my body was going to be affected by the lack of adequate water. I became more concerned with how I was losing and worried about the fact that I couldn’t keep up.
Now here’s the difference we hardly notice: the purpose, no matter how far we’ve fallen short, almost always, brings us back on track. Every other driving force (approval, support, acknowledgement, profit, etc.) when we hit rock bottom, leaves us right there- in the middle of the ruins, in the valley.
Quitting becomes easier when the reason for starting was never clear. Having a blurry vision of the future only causes us to stumble ahead.
If you don’t know where you’re going, you’re not going to get lost. You’re just never going to arrive.
It’ll be impossible to exhaust all the factors that cause us to lose focus on the ultimate goal, to ignore the propelling force and opt for another form of motivation.
Forgetfulness has cost me great opportunities and even some friendships. I can’t seem to keep dates of birthdays and anniversaries. Sometimes I write them down in an effort to remember but when the time comes, I can barely even recall the month of celebration.
Often we commit ourselves to activities or projects and after a while, we find ourselves asking the same tired question “Why on earth did I even start this?”
Forgetfulness, however, does not stem from a place of nothingness. It shows its head when anger, dissatisfaction, doubt, etc. come into play the moment success is not close enough for us to see.
But our motive must always be louder than the voices in our heads.
If the dream cannot help but cower and tremble every time a mountain springs up, then it isn’t a dream fierce enough to be pursued.
Martin Luther King, Jr. couldn’t have put it any other way: “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
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