Building Balanced Strength

A few weeks ago, I posted a video on my personal Instagram account of an experience I had in an airport.

The video has gained quite a bit of traction – which wasn’t expected.

A plane next to my gate had to be deboarded after the passengers had already sat on the plane for an hour and a half – that sounds miserable to me.

This particular plane had been hit by lightning on the prior flight and they finally determined that the plane needed further inspection and shouldn’t fly.

As the passengers came off the plane you could see the frustration on their faces.

It was interesting to observe the different ways in which they handled their emotions.

There was one guy in particular that stood out to me – and everyone else, I’m sure.

He was visibly distraught about the situation and was being very vocal about it.

As he got to the desk where the attendants were scrambling to help passengers get new flights, this individual came apart.

He had a meltdown like what a child does when they don’t get their way.

I observed that this individual was very strong physically – which I know takes a lot of work and discipline to develop.

I wondered why someone who is so strong physically was acting so weak mentally and emotionally.  

The message of my video was that we need to put in the work to have balanced strength in every area of our lives.

If we are strong in one area, and weak in others, that weakness is going to surface when certain situations present themselves.

What good is freedom in one area if we are willing slaves in another?

There were a few people in the comments who said, “you don’t know what he is going through, it’s not your place to judge.”

I agree, actually.

But that wasn’t the message of the video. The message is that we must be balanced in our strength so we can better handle difficulty.

We have all had situations where we have acted poorly and later regret our actions.

It is possible this guy has come a long way and acted better than he may have in the past.

It is also possible he is tough to deal with and is doing very little to handle himself better – or maybe it’s somewhere in between.

We don’t know.

What we can know is ourselves and our own tendencies.

Are we out of balance?

Are we putting too much emphasis on building strength in one particular area while other areas are lacking?

Are we balanced in the important areas: physical, spiritual, mental, emotional, financial?

The more balanced we are, the better equipped we are to handle these situations when they arise.

If we seek true personal freedom, our quest must be one that incorporates all of the important areas of our lives - and not heavy just towards one or two.

This experience isn’t a judgement towards that individual, rather a reminder to me that I need to build myself so that when I have my “airport experience” I will be prepared to handle myself appropriately.

That ability to choose how we will respond is the essence of true personal freedom!