The past year of my life has been the hardest so far.

I don’t expect that it will be the hardest of my whole life and in a way I really hope that it isn’t. I have learnt a lot about myself and my view of the world in the past year and I have realised something intrinsic to the nature of life. The path we take through the years is a journey of space and time, and each step that we take defines who we will be in the future.

Throughout our lives there is a process of construction that is ongoing and integral to who we are and what we become. Similar to the growth of a forest and the forging of tools by a blacksmith our identity and skill sets take time to develop, go through times of growth and expansion, get cut down, beaten, placed in the forge fires and dowsed with water. In tough times our life and the identity we have built around ourselves is put to the test, a trial by fire that burns away the weaknesses and leaves behind only that which could withstand. It is the hard times in our lives that define us that show us what our core is made of and what we are truly capable of. Sometimes we don’t stand the test, sometimes we collapse and come through the fire with nothing left. Other times we are burnt back to a foundation of strength, reminded of what is important and pushed to stretch ourselves to a new challenge.

I hope that this year is not the hardest year of my life as I know that in the tough times I grow and change, in the tough times I become a better version of myself or I lose the bad parts that I have started to incorporate. The challenges of life remind us of what is important and push us to cast aside the pretenses that we use to shield ourselves from the outside world.

I am a scientist, of heart and mind. One of the things that brings me joy is to discover something new, to talk to other scientists about their research and make connections between disparate ideas and fields. I can talk for hours about the nature of light, the movement of electrons and the interactions of elements, but at the heart of this is a quest for understanding. How does it all work and how can we keep on moving forward? I want to use the gifts that I have to help improve the world, to work on problems of energy and environmental balance. For some years I have dreamed of being a famous scientist, but I realise now that this dream is unimportant. I don’t think Edison, or Tesla, or Einstein sat down and planned out their 10 step plan to becoming world famous scientists. What is important is to love what I am doing and simply to focus on being the best that I can be.

My father gave some words of wisdom last night, he said to me “just do it the way you eat an elephant… little bits at a time.” So many expressions center around this idea, that good things are comprised of many small steps taken over time. That is the way that I want to live my life, moving forward one step at a time, I know that sometimes I have to go through the fire but hopefully that makes me stronger. Most importantly I know that if I ever come to the fire that burns me down I have friends and family that will help me to rebuild.

Take some time out this week to think about the hard times in your life that made you stronger, and when some of those times got too hard remember the people that helped you pick up the pieces afterwards these people are worth more than I can express.

I am going to keep on moving and remember this fire as one that brought me low, but reminded me of who I am and what I want to be. Just taking it little bits at a time and moving toward being the best version of myself.

Cheers,
Daniel