When Life Emulates the Mannequin Challenge
If you have in any way plugged into social media over the past few weeks, there is no doubt that you have encountered the Mannequin Challenge, the viral Internet video trend where people remain frozen in action, like mannequins, while a video is recorded, usually with Rae Sremmurd’s "Black Beatles" playing in the background.
Watching living, breathing humans stand completely still is a reminder that life, at its core, is about movement, progression, evolution, and achievement—none of which can be accomplished by merely standing still. Whether it is in your relationships, job, or at home, when you reach the point where you are no longer moving—that is evolving, redefining, or growing, you are at risk of missing out on all the valuable lessons and opportunities that life has to offer. Becoming stagnant in any situation is detrimental to your physical, emotional, and spiritual health and well-being.
Being stagnant causes one to lose focus on the things that are really important in life. For instance, many of us have seen various celebrities from Hillary Clinton to Black Chyna doing the Mannequin Challenge, but few of us actually know that the phenomenon was started by students from Edward H. White High School in Jacksonville, Florida to promote testicular cancer awareness and encourage donations to research.
Stagnation evidences a lack of change. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “Length without breadth is like a self-contained tributary having no outward flow to the ocean. Stagnant, still, and stale, it lacks both life and freshness. In order to live creatively and meaningfully, our self-concern must be wedded to other concerns.”
Let us examine a river flowing downstream. Gradually, it becomes narrow and at first glance appears to be stationery until you follow it to the point at which it reaches the larger ocean. As we prepare to encounter greater things in life, we are likened unto this river. It is necessary for our individual flow to contract before it can expand and be exposed to greater. Without that contraction there can be no expansion.
If there are any Bible (or geography) scholars out there, you know that there are two seas that are formed by the Jordan River--the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. The Sea of Galilee is filled with life and gives an abundance of its 13 miles of water to support and nourish its surrounding area. The Dead Sea, as its name implies, is…dead. There is no life in its waters, and its surrounding area is a desert. Why is this? Because the Sea of Galilee receives of the Jordan River but also gives of it, while the Dead Sea merely receives of the Jordan River and does not give of it. In other words, the Jordan River flows into the Sea of Galilee and has an outlet on the opposite side, but the Jordan flows into the Dead Sea without an outlet. Nature, through these two seas, can teach us something quite insightful. In order to flourish and be life-giving, we must receive and give of ourselves in order to progress.
Remember that life is a journey and not a destination. As you embark on your journey here are three keys to ensure you stay in motion:
Pinpoint. Take an honest assessment of your life’s story and determine in what chapter your situation came to a halt. Until you can identify the root of what stopped you, you will never be able to strategize and move beyond that hurdle.
Power-up. Never be afraid to invest in yourself. There is a fountain of untapped potential in all of us and we must search diligently for and nourish that place that will propel us to the next level.
Progress. Let your past fuel your future without fear of deviating from your place of comfort. We are constantly exposed to new resources and opportunities. If you never put forth the effort to move, you’ll never notice the chains attempting to hold you back.
