I just had a friend return from a trip that included a 10-day trek through a section of NorthUmbria in the UK. They did some research on their adventure before they went, but interestingly enough, most of the guidebooks talked about the history of the area, the various landmarks and scenery along the way, but didn't include too much information about the topography of the land. So, much to my friend's surprise, their trek involved a lot more elevation change from day to day than they realized! However, through some significant perseverance and effort, they made it!
At one point along the way, their GPS went out and they just had to follow the descriptions in the guidebook that included phrases like, "walk between the two fences," and "go alongside the burn." One of the phrases even read, "eventually you will come to a road," without a reference to any specific distance. Turned out that "eventually" took almost 2 hours of walking!
I've been reflecting on that word "Eventually" since my friend told me that story, and I have been wondering how many times I might have been tempted to quit something if I actually knew the actual distance connected to it. For example, I've been working on some projects in my backyard. Eventually, several of them have gotten done, but most of them have taken me longer to complete than I originally thought (and involved way more trips to Home Depot than I planned)! Now that they are complete, I am very happy with them, but if I had known at the beginning how much time, energy and money it was going to take to get them finished, I may have been deterred from starting. Knowing that I would "eventually" get done helped me get started and allowed me to just keep going in the process.
Maybe there are some areas of your life where you are in the middle of the trek and the only marker you have right now is "eventually." Eventually the project will be finished. Eventually the position will be filled. Eventually your choices will help bring about the results you want. Is there a way you can use the "Eventually" as a motivation to press on? Can the vision of what you know is coming in the future help you just keep taking another step forward today? Could it even be possible to relax into the "eventually" enough that you can enjoy your current place on the journey right now?
Here's to knowing this week that "eventually" we'll get there, so we'll just keep walking today!
Be Well,
Stephen
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