John Derek Campbell

My last post was “The Valley”, but my current stop can be likened to a reflecting pool. There is a light where I am, shining gently onto the floor of the valley and across the waters. I feel that this might perhaps be the most apt description for my mood.

There are many things worth taking a moment to appreciate in life: a solid career, great colleagues, credible and even inspiring leadership, supportive friends and family, one’s health, and so many more. This is not to say we won’t fall, skin our shins on an outcrop of abrasive rocks, or suffer from deep wounds to our hearts from acts of unkindness and betrayal, but we can still choose to feel the joy that is brought from the positive things.

I know I feel incredibly blessed to have some in my life who not only I can be vulnerable with, but navigate some often turbulent waters alongside as well. It may not even obviously impact my journey, but assisting those in need still refines the qualities in us we seek to grow and steward.

Many times in life, I’ve felt most joy from helping others. Giving, it turns out, has an interesting way of refilling a soul running on empty than merely receiving gifts alone. That does not mean we should never take time for caring for ourselves or accepting help, love, and support when things grow dire. In many cases, my experience has been centered around mental health struggles for others. Perhaps someone was experiencing severe anxiety or another was in the deepest pit of their own valley, unable to see hope on the horizon. Other times, I walked alongside those experiencing heartbreak from the loss of a first significant relationship in youth to someone grieving the departure from this world of a most dear friend or relative.

I am no psychologist, but simply being present and lending an ear has helped me and I’ve seen it help others. But this is not the only way we can help people navigate things. This can be applied in mentorship either in career or in the spiritual lives of others just to name a couple of examples.

So, instead of allowing myself to remain in the miry bog of resenting the valley I sometimes find myself in, today I choose to reflect on the ways I have stewarded my abilities to help both myself and others in the past while also appreciating every individual that I’ve had the pleasure of crossing paths with and exchanging a warm or otherwise character building conversation.

I pray that I may continue to be blessed with an ability to help others and to be humble enough on any occasion to accept wisdom and help from those who would like to assist me as well.

As someone who has experienced highs and lows throughout my personal and professional life, who has battled enemies in the mind or on the other side of the keyboard, I acknowledge that it was not through myself alone that I overcame and for anyone else going through struggles, the same is perfectly okay to be true as well.

With that reflection and moment of appreciation drawing to a close, I can almost envision myself looking up and seeing the way out of the valley I am in. I have no way of calculating the distance nor the amount of time it may take to traverse. It is undetermined what further trials I may face, but the best rewards in life are rarely easily fought for.