Welcome to Day 11 of the 30 Days of Encouragement series! To read Day 1, click here.  I will be writing about The Hidden Years today.  What are The Hidden Years? They are the times before visible success, when you work hard and make moves, but the evidence shows itself later. Let’s get to it.

Overnight Success

We tend to think of those who become successful seemingly overnight as lucky or favored. It wasn’t because of hard work, sacrifices, and time. It was all due to a lucky break or a serendipitous meeting! I am sure there are people we can each bring to mind who seem to fit the lucky category. Still, the deeper into this life I go, the more I have realized that even those people did not have it as easy as I had once thought. Everyone has things they must face and either rise or fall to. Usually, those things are met in The Hidden Years.

Slow and Steady

The tortoise and the hare is an Aesop fable in which an overconfident hare ridicules the slow-moving tortoise. Realizing that slow and steady steps are the pathway to success, the tortoise challenges the hare to a race. To make his point that the tortoise was silly for even daring to challenge him, the hare decided to take a nap in the middle of it all. As the story goes, the tortoise passed the hare and reached the finish line while the hare was napping. The hare couldn’t catch up to the tortoise no matter how swiftly he ran, and the tortoise won. 

Consider this story as a metaphor for The Hidden Years. The hare, the voices of comparison and FOMO, makes it seem like you will never get anywhere at the rate you are going. Let alone be successful (win). The tortoise, wisdom and belief in oneself, knows that it is only a matter of time before the goal line is crossed. Running about trying to prove something would not cause the finish line to be crossed any sooner; it would merely cause a mad dash to the goal only to miss it entirely.  

Refinement

While things are moving slowly and steadily toward success during The Hidden Years, the deeper context to it all is refinement and clarity. Refinement of character and clarity of vision. Is this a fun process? Yes and no. When clarity comes roaring in, it can be exhilarating. While it is nice when clarity comes through, reaching it tends to be counterintuitive. Example: taking a step only when you know what you are doing with zero risk. In reality, when you take action and risk it, you start to see clearer. Refinement means looking at areas of yourself that have long been pushed aside and are usually issues. Once those areas have been addressed, more clarity tends to occur. They seem to go hand-in-hand. Very few outside of yourself will witness it, especially not those who will only see you after your success. Those who will assume you are like the people who came to your mind when I mentioned seemingly “easy” overnight success in the first bit.  

Without the refinement and clarity process, though, when success arrives, there is the chance it will overwhelm and ultimately destroy us via the areas that needed the refinement and clarity in the first place. The definition of that success varies from person to person and even within each person. Financial success looks different from relationship success, which looks different from career success. However, they are all intertwined and require The Hidden Years to come into focus. 

All is Not Lost

I know this one was a bit heavier, but cheer up! All is not lost. If you find yourself in the midst of some of The Hidden Years, know you are not alone in it. I believe you will come out better and more capable than ever before. I’ll leave you with an encouraging quote by Craig Groeschel, “It is the things nobody sees that result in the things everyone wants.” 

Until Next Time,

Rah