I love this entry from The Daily Stoic since I’m a mere three inches taller than Muggsy Bogues. As such, I’ve enjoyed surprising people with my strength, speed, athleticism, and other abilities that they weren’t expecting because of my height. However, there is much more to this entry than matters of height and impressing other people. Just as it states, I’ve found ways to take aspects of myself that many would consider weaknesses and use them to improve my life situation. A little creative thinking can turn practically any challenge into an opportunity for improvement and success, and I love surprising myself by finding new ways to succeed in many different situations.
“Just as the nature of rational things has given to each person their rational powers, so it also gives us this power – just as nature turns to its own purpose any obstacle or any opposition, sets its place in the destined order, and co-opts it, so every rational person can convert any obstacle into the raw material for their own purpose.”
-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 8.35
At five feet three inches tall, Muggsy Bogues was the shortest player ever to play professional basketball. Throughout his career, he was snickered at, underestimated, and counted out.
But Bogues succeeded by turning his height into the very thing that made him nationally known. Some people looked at his size as a curse, but he saw it as a blessing. He found the advantages contained within it. In fact, on the court small size has many advantages: speed and quickness, the ability to steal the ball from unsuspecting (and significantly taller) players, to say nothing of the fact that players just plain underestimated him.
Could this approach not be useful in your life? What things do you think have been holding you back that, in fact, can be a hidden source of strength?