My name’s Eric and I’ve been in competition with a garage door since I was six. Every time I leave my parents’ house I lock the door, hit the button and sprint out of the garage like Indiana Jones before the door can close me in.
It’s never been easy. Twenty-two years ago the distance between the button and the door seemed to stretch a football field. I was just a little runt and a pretty slow runner. Today I can just about cover that distance with my arm span, but at 6’5” I need all the speed I can get.
Clearly I have a knack for siphoning the weird out of life. But I can’t help but laugh when I think about how The Garage Door Challenge (let’s give it an official name) represents challenges in my life.
The garage door is a constant. It’s always been the same distance from the button and has always closed at the same speed. When I was young I struggled to beat it because I was slow. Today I struggle to beat it because I’m tall. Different challenges. Same problem. Here’s a chart that should demonstrate my struggles slaying this particular beast.
I know challenges will always be there. But the nature of those challenges and the ways in which we address them vary greatly.
Relationships are no different. The goal is to be happy together. But the basis of your happiness might rest on different factors or circumstances than when you first met one another. Things change. Maybe you’re too slow. Maybe you’re too tall. Either way, you’re still going to need time to get out of your garage before the door closes on you.
You’ll always be the same person but your talents, perspective and yes, weaknesses, are likely to evolve. It’s how we respond to those factors that help us conquer our challenges that matter.
But that’s just fine. Because if there weren’t challenges it certainly wouldn’t be worth doing.
P.S. On a lighter note, if you’ve got a silly, garage door-style game of your own, we’d love to hear about it. Just comment below.
