Water bottles

I recently read somewhere that it is better to be a bottle of water than a bottle of soda. Bottles filled with soda that are shaken will explode when finally released; however, a shaken bottle of water remains calm, even as outside tension and stress builds around it.

When looking at our life as the bottle, this mentality seems to oddly make sense. When our lives are filled with “soda,” we bounce along, enjoying the good things in life that come from that what we have poured in. The flavor, vitality, and excitement, just like in a bottle of soda, sustain us through the good times. However, when things start to be shaken, and the pressure builds, we attempt to curb the effects of our past choices before finally exploding when we do release the built-up stress. I know in my life I have been guilty on more than one occasion of letting that stress build to the point my soda “pops!”

Conversely, when we look at what fills our lives as water, we will find that no matter what we face, we can do so with calmness, peace, and dignity. Does that mean that stress and hard times will not meet us head on? No. It does, however say more about us when we are able to handle those stressful situations with calmness.

I know that this is a lot easier to say than do. It is our human nature to blow up when we are constantly put out and put on. It is easy to let the injustices done to us or our loved ones shake us to the point that we explode on anyone and everyone we come in contact with. It is much easier to do these things than to turn the other cheek and stay calm. But let me ask a question: how many times do we get bent out of shape about things that have no bearing on the future reality of our lives, do not really matter, or truthfully do not really involve us? I would bet that this happens more times than not.

I do realize as well that there are times to that we need to blow our top, so to speak, but we do need to do it in a proper manner, and for the proper reasons. (Simply being offended does not constitute the proper reason.)

The next time you have a soda explode on you, think about this: every time you lose your cool on someone over a trivial issue, you look just like that soda. That does no one any good, and causes you to look worse in the process. Take time to “be like water.” And when you are finding that a little more difficult, be a duck: because both soda and water will roll right off its back!