The Coil-Spring Mindset

Dear lovely people,

You must have heard, seen or read about the coil-spring. In its most familiar form, a coil-spring is a toughened coil of metal that help things return to a particular position, but it can also be used to absorb energy (as in car suspension) or store it for long periods of time (as in watches and clocks). You can find springs in everything from automatic doors to ballpoint pens. What can we learn from the way they function?

When you use a pushing or pulling force to stretch a coil-spring, you're using a force over a distance so, in physics terms, you're doing work and using energy. The tighter the spring, the harder it is to deform, the more work you have to do, and the more energy you need. The energy you use isn't lost: most of it is stored as potential energy in the spring. Release a stretched spring and you can use it to do work for you.

Sounds familiar? What about the person who sets a goal to obtain a university degree with excellent grades for example? It’s tough going to school consistently every day, taking difficult tests and doing assignments. You are actually pumping in intellectual energy and braving the odds until you obtain your certificate which comes with improved know-how and gets you ready to land an excellent job where you will start releasing that energy to resolve everyday professional issues for a good pay package.

In the game of life as you work your way to success, you are certain to be bombarded with all types of setbacks. It could be discouraging messages from yourself, the media and the people around you. These difficulties sometimes stretch you to limits and you even fail many times over so much so that you feel like giving up on your dreams.

If you have what I call the coil-spring mindset, once stretched out by all the untold difficulties on your path, you will not remain stretched or broken by giving up. You will recoil back ready to be stretched over and over again just like a coil-spring because you have learned from your mistakes, you still have the desire to succeed, you want to try and try again and you self-motivate. Just like the coil-spring, you have the potential energy to burn in starting all over again.

“You're not broken beyond repair there is hope. There is a God who knows all the pain you endure and will heal, protect and rejuvenate you.” So says Pauline Seaport.