ENTREPRENEURSHIP: THE CRUCIBLE

So, you want to be an entrepreneur, huh?

Get ready for a journey

Like no other you’ve been on before

It’s contradictions,

and gyrations,

are something special to behold.

It shows you everything strong about yourself,

It reminds you of everything weak about yourself,

It stretches you,

it hurts you,

it consumes you,

it strengthens you.

It stings, it bites, it burns, it heals, It empowers, it humbles, it purifies, it straightens, It contorts, it confuses, it clarifies, it frustrates.

It grows, it shrinks, it withers, it blooms, It connects, it isolates, it screams for more, it cries for less, It hangs in the balance, it feels like opportunity around the corner.

It asks for just one more step, it confronts your greatest fears, It feels treacherous, it makes you question everything, It feels like heaven, it burns like hell, it feels in alignment, it feels out whack.

It feels purposeful, it feels pointless, it feels hard to keep going, It feels impossible to call it quits, it begs for rest, It unexpectedly propels you forward, it feels like a dream, it feels like a nightmare.

It feels like the clouds have parted, it teases you with clarity, It mocks you with confusion, it cries for validation, it begs for gains, It yearns for inner peace, it overwhelms and assaults the senses.

It feels more primal than you expect, it gives you the option of fight, fight, or freeze, It consolidates your focus, making everything else irrelevant, It destroys your focus, making everything a flicker or fragment.

It feels like you walked off a plank, it reminds you that you can swim, It begs for help, it implores self-reliance, It grinds to a halt, it gives you a moment with yourself.

It explodes with progress, it demands everything you are, It throws back everything you can be, it surfaces your best self, It juxtaposes against your limitations, it extracts the powers within.

It humbles you with the powers without, it bends your dream into reality, It’s reality smashes into your dream, it tricks you in thinking that it’s all up to you.

It makes you create a plan, it incinerates that plan, It spars with you in the ring, it makes you a more capable fighter.

It falls, it gets back up, it smiles, it laughs, It frowns, it cries, it tenses, it relieves.

It makes you wonder what you were like before, It builds up energy all around you, it throws monkey wrenches in your path, It brings generous people into your path, it sprinkles in some foes.

It demands more when there is nothing left to give, It resolves itself with less, it conjures up complexity, Its truth is so often simplicity, it demands priorities.

It gives you too many of those to prioritize, It questions your assumptions, it makes you think you know, It asks for your gut reaction, it wants logical reasoning for reinforcement.

It sheds light on darkness, it asks you to stand, It demands that you kneel, it nudges you into prayer, It makes you wonder who or what to pray to.

It brings forth your courage, it compels your humility, It gives you what you need when you need it, it gives and it takes away, It thinks it’s a game, it reminds you it’s not.

It feels insurmountable, it promises it’s not, It asks for your trust, it shows you the way, It waits for you when you’re down, it picks you back up like a good friend.

It connects you with your true self, if you let it, it holds a mirror to your face, it shows you what you need to see.

It reminds you of your infinite potential, it juxtaposes this against your finite constraints, it makes you stand in awe, it wants you to finally recognize the person you’ve become.

It whispers in your ear, the project was just a vehicle, it says, to show you how special you are, it nudges you toward acceptance, it appreciates your gratitude, it takes you to a place so high, it returns you to a place so low.

The person inside you finally elect to see, in the middle or at the end, is a version of you that could only be cast by its pressure and heat, in the crucible of being an entrepreneur.

You resolve to see, you are exactly where you need to be, and the gifts are yours forever.