When life is complicated and challenging, it’s natural to want someone to rely on. Someone to believe in. Someone who can make things better.
You want someone to save us from the bad, scary things, but you need to be careful. Focusing on heroes can sometimes keep us on-lookers in life, rather than participants.
During these challenging economic times, many individuals look to leaders for hope. This is happening now. Whether we stand cheering when a pilot lands a crippled airplane—keeping all safe—or a young father raises a child alone after his wife dies or a new president is sworn into office, people desperately want to believe in a knight in shining armor.
Someone to make it better.
In truth, every individual is a hero when he deals with his own fears. This is the hardest thing any person can do in life. To take decisive action and learn from his own choices, makes a person heroic. Being a big media hero isn’t a reality for most people. Facing daily life dilemmas is many times the harder thing.
We’re all capable of true heroism.
It is common to watch and cheer as others with big names are facing and conquering significant challenges. Celebrities with disabled children or crippling diseases are lauded by the media, but many people deal with these kinds of challenges in obscurity every day, and with usually a lot less money. Life has it’s difficult moments and, while money or celebrity status doesn’t make these go away, being wealthy or well-known makes an individual’s strength more recognized.
It’s important that you realize your own heroic moments.
The desire to celebrate and make heroes of others can sometimes spring from individuals not dealing with their own challenges. Watching famous people and big media moments is just easier than facing your own problems. You may not know what to do with the challenges facing you. You may feel overwhelmed. Relationships are complicated and parenting is sometimes heart-breaking. The hard choices are the ones you face. Your life; your own challenges. Your dilemmas are the important ones. Although you may not be on television and may not receive awards for it, you can be a truly courageous hero by dealing with the challenges in your life.
Having public heroes can give hope in hard times, but never forget you’re own capacity. You can choose to handle the difficult times in your life. You have that strength.
You’re the real hero.