To GIVE UP, a transitive verb that webster defines as to abandon (oneself) to a particular feeling, influence, or activity <gave himself up to despair>. Not something anyone wants to admit but there are times you have given up, you walked into a ace and your heart sank because you just couldn't take another step. I have every now and then but there is always that inner power that pushes me to take that next step. The small burst of adrenaline that pushes my mind to forget the aching muscles that scream in rebellion, to get that little will power I need to move forward. Have you ever heard of the broken heart syndrome, to paraphrase it there are people out there who have died because of a broken heart. After experiencing a great loss or betrayal, your heart just can't take it anymore and stops working.
I once heard of a man whose wife passed then he went into deep depression and died as well only 3 days later. He wasn't unwell in any way but they were both advanced in age, they had been together for over half a century and it was now difficult to differentiate their personalities or character traits. She had been in hospital for a while and he cared for her every day and almost never left her side. She had been his first love never her his, they had seen three children grow up and had held 7 grandchildren I'm their arms . Whenever you saw one the other was not too far behind and you never expected to tell one something and think the other will not be informed of the same. That, is broken heart syndrome. I try to envision that the warmth of her embrace, hearing her voice every day and even the sound of her breathing kept him alive. It all gave him a reason for living but when she was gone, he had no reason for that anymore. We would like to call that true love but some would probably frown on such levels of co-dependence. Remember the scene in the movie titanic where the ship was sinking and an old couple were in bed together with the husband gently kissing his wife's cheek as water filled up their cabin. It is said that when people started exploring the titanic at the sea bed they did find a couple together in bed just like that. Would you like a relationship like that, I guess you will have to answer that yourselves.
Sorry for starting you off on such a tone so I'm gonna ask, have you ever heard of a lady called Diana Nyad? Well, she is a world famous distance swimmer and just a couple of years ago she became the first person to have been confirmed as having swam from Cuba to Florida without the aid of a shark cage or a any form of a propulsion system. She swam the 180 km distance in 53 hours with a large team of experts and a few boats as backup and support. She at no time stopped to get on the boat and was in the water the whole time until she walked onto the shore in key west Florida. All this sounds amazing except that I haven't told you the amazing part. This was her fifth attempt and she was 64 years old when she succeeded. I have always had a passion for swimming and have procrastinated on distance swimming for quite some time now but this woman amazed me. This was by far not her first venture into distance swimming as she has had some amazing once in the last. Check her Wikipedia page for more information. In order to prepare for the grueling swim ahead of her she started swimming 12 hours at a time and gradually increased her swim time to the point that she was swimming continuously for an entire day. I managed to watch a clip of the documentary about the swim and I could see her getting fed by spoon over the edge of the boat. Her best friend was managing the team that supported her so she was also her emotional and psychological support. Diana would tread water close to the boat and as the rules do not allow her touching the boat she would just be spoon fed directly. Many a time she needed reassurance whether they were gonna make. It was at a point when she felt her body screaming no more that her friend pointed her towards some lights. Those weren't the lights of another ship but their destination and with the last bit of energy that she could muster, she pushed on for the last few miles left and eventually walked onto the shore. The last thing I remember her saying before she collapsed in exhaustion was , never give up.
These two stories contrast in that one brings out a situation where giving up is all you can do and the second where giving up is not an option. Just wanted to share both situations and impart some knowledge. Love with all you are and all you have
Comments
Post a Comment