Life Is Like A Waterwheel

Problems. Everyone has them. Everyone wants to get rid of them.

But the problem with problems is that they’re intentionally designed to help you grow.

To illustrate the point, I’m going to use the concept of a waterwheel.

When you step forward into the big, wide world, you realize that a nearby river is the source of all power, peace, energy, and happiness. To draw from that river, you’re born with a waterwheel that you place on the edge of the river. As the wheel turns, it draws on that happiness to create power that provides everything you need to grow and prosper in life.

On occasion, debris flows downstream and gets clogged in the wheel, slowing it down and interfering with the flow of life-giving energy and happiness.

Since you are responsible for your waterwheel, you clean out the debris, check for damage, and get the wheel moving again.

Inevitably, the cycle repeats. More debris comes. Sometimes, the debris is small and easy to clean out. Other times, you get larger branches that create a mess, requiring a timeout from your daily routine to address. And on those odd occasions, a tree comes long to severely damage your waterwheel, knocking it out of operation for a good, long while.

Debris is a part of the cycle of nature. You’ll never stop them. The only recourse you have is to do your best to deal with them as they come. The debris are the problems of life.

One day, you decide you want bigger fields, a spouse, and children.

The waterwheel you have is not enough to support your dreams. You need a bigger waterwheel, but you can’t have a bigger waterwheel until you find a way to make a bigger spot on the side of the river to place it.

The river is mighty and long, so that’s no problem, but you can’t seem to keep up with the debris on the wheel that you have. A bigger wheel in the same spot with the same level of attention will get clogged a lot faster, and you won’t be able to keep out.

What can you do? You turn your attention upstream, further away from the close focus of the waterwheel. You step back, look at where the bigger waterwheel could be, and picture where the debris will land so that you can prepare to address the branches, leaves, and logs before they clog the spot where the new waterwheel will spin.

So, you practice looking upstream to see the debris and stop it before it arrives at your old water wheel.

You’re gaining a broader perspective on your problems, looking at the bigger picture, and making room for the life you want. Not the life you have.

When you look back on your life, you realize you need to learn how to handle the smaller problems before you can grow into a better life because a better life requires a bigger perspective.

Life is like a waterwheel drawing from a river of happiness. How big it gets is up to you.

If you found this post interesting, let me hear about it by replying to the email or by telling me about it on X (formerly Twitter) via @MrGabeHernandez

Also, I’m getting ready to launch my newest Urban Fantasy novel –

The Revelation Cycle

If you’re interested in learning more, please sign up for the waitlist for details on its release: https://bit.ly/TheRevelationCycle

-Gabe