You may have heard the saying: 'When life is challenging, remember that diamonds are formed under pressure'. This quote is often accompanied by an image of a brilliantly-cut diamond. I believe the sentiment of this quote is to encourage us to grit our teeth and battle through difficulty because if we do, good things will come as a result. But I feel that this may be a misleading half-truth...
Factually, diamonds are formed under enormous pressure, but a natural uncut diamond looks nothing like the image we think of when we think of a diamond. A natural uncut diamond's appearance is relatively unimpressive. For a layperson like me, an uncut diamond looks a lot like rough, dull, broken glass.
Likewise, pressure in our life alone is not enough to transform us for the better (whatever better might mean to us). I believe that pressure experienced in isolation and left unchecked ends in destruction, and at best maladaptation.
Contrastingly, a cut diamond's brilliance (its ability to reflect light) is neither natural nor a mistake. It comes from an expert craft person carefully cutting away the parts of the diamond that distract from its brilliance. Similarly, we need people in our life who will act like that craft person β who have our best interests at heart and will help us to cut away and shape the experience of our pressure to form something of beauty. It is only after the refinement process that the true brilliance of the pressure being overcome manifests itself.
If youβre looking for a source of inspiration check out Writing 4 Resilience. Weβre a community of writers, runners and humans who are striving to build resilience in our local community with the goal of making Canberra suicide free by 2033.
The Milkbar
Reflections of a Clare Bear
I love this Tim!! Great Piece π₯°