A Puddle of Wins in an Ocean of Defeats
This past weekend I was watching Cast Away (great movie btw), and a certain idea kept popping up in my head. Even a couple days later, the idea kept poking around, almost begging to be explored.
“A puddle of wins in an ocean of defeats”
The phrase itself, though making no sense at all (how could you possibly have puddles within an ocean? what is an “ocean of defeats?”), is quite simple. You could be drowning in what feels like never-ending negative events, where wave after wave you feel yourself go under more and more. The rain gets stronger, the water gets colder, and your arms get weaker. Yet all it takes to ease this misery is one small puddle of wins.
In Cast Away, these wins were quite obvious for Chuck Nolan. In his drowning loneliness, the ocean gifted him Wilson. Despite not being alive, Wilson provided a sense of companionship and accountability for Chuck that kept his ever-dwindling sanity from drifting away (if you haven’t watched the movie, Wilson is a volleyball with a bloody-handprint as its face).
Another win for Chuck was the metallic door, which would eventually be the sail to the raft that saved his life. This door ended up on his island by mere fate, or chance, or destiny, literally whatever you might want to call the randomness of the ocean’s waves. Yet it made it to him with perfect timing, just before he finally gave up entirely on going home. Think about that for a second. Four years of isolation and four years of his human spirit slowly eroding as he lost his appetite for coconut and crab legs. These small, almost overlookable events that happened, were what shifted his mindset to one that remained hopeful. Artifacts that could be deemed as trash, like a volleyball and a metallic door, were what led him to keep going.
For me, I had a similar feeling a couple of days ago (not even slightly comparable with Chuck’s nightmarish adventure, but alas). I was feeling slightly defeated for some reason or another, just waiting for the week to end. Yet, my morning got slightly better as I received an invite to a cool event. That morning turned into an even better noon because of a Google Calendar invite for something I had been excited about for months. And that afternoon turned into a good day because of a text that I had received.
Looking back, my Friday could be comparable to Chuck’s 4 years on the deserted island, not because of the quantity or quality of the negativity, but because the puddle full of wins was not grand, or inherently obvious at first glance. All those wins, however small they were, had to be enough. Enough to keep you going, enough to shift your mentality towards a positive one, and enough to keep you human.
A puddle of wins in an ocean of defeats.
