Today is November 13 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is "Does what stands in your way become the way?"
When translating dreams into reality, those who navigate the chaos often practice Stoicism in that what stands in their way often becomes the way.
As Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote “Our actions may be impeded but there can be no impeding our intentions or dispositions. Because we can accommodate and adapt. The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting. The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”
The end result of that the impossible becomes possible. People like international soccer player Pele know just how inspiring it can be when one works towards doing something that others think impossible.
Pele successfully executed perhaps the most difficult move in soccer known as the bicycle kick. A bicycle kick is achieved by throwing the body backward up into the air, making a shearing movement with the lower limbs to get one leg in front of the other in order to strike an airborne ball rearwards above head level, without resting on the ground.
Its complexity, and uncommon performance in competitive football matches, makes it one of association football's most celebrated skills. Bicycle kicks can be used defensively to clear away the ball from the goalmouth or offensively to strike at the opponent's goal in an attempt to score.
The bicycle kick is an advanced football skill that is dangerous for inexperienced players. Its successful performance has been limited largely to the most experienced and athletic players in football history. While he did not invent it, he made it popular in modern times in a match between Brazil and Belgium in 1968.
Pele received a cross pass from the left wing but instead of facing the goal, he had his back towards it. As everyone wondered what the footballing genius was up to, he tilted his body backward and sprung in the air to unleash a shot with his highly renowned right foot. The keeper and those watching were stunned with what they had just seen, as it redefined norms of conventional football.
As Elna Baker wrote “Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary.”