When Leonidas, king of the Greek city state of Sparta found out about the Great Persian army’s invasion of Greece, he knew the Greeks were not strong enough to withhold the Persian might. The Greeks were disunited, outnumbered, and therefore weak. King Leonidas knew if the Persian “god-King” Xerxes had his way the children would be imprisoned and the army butchered, while the Spartan women would be treated as sex-slaves.
For Leonidas, it was clear Sparta’s freedom was threatened and all hope was lost, right? Wrong.
Instead of curling up into a shell and accepting his fate, he literally threw himself in to adversity.
He put together a small campaign against the Persians. 300 of the finest Spartan soldiers marched together towards the Persian army to bring the fight to them. They decided to face adversity head on
But why would Leonidas do this? He knew that 300 Spartan men were no match for the tens of thousands of Persian in the battlefield. He knew the Persian Emperor would not spare them if they were captured. He knew his men would be slaughtered. There was no hope for victory.
So then why in Zeus name did he do it?
Because sometimes when you find yourself facing unbearable adversity and you lose all hope — your only option is to throw yourself in towards adversity in search for your lost hope. Often you’ll discover hope where you least expect it — you’ll find it in the very place you lost it — in the face of adversity. But you will never know until you have the courage to search for hope and to throw yourself in the face of adversity.
Perhaps you’ve found yourself in a failed relationship and now you think that you will never find true love again, and therefore there is no hope for you. Instead of locking yourself in your home with a alcohol, blasting away to Adele’s “Someone Like You” track, sum up the courage to throw yourself in the face of adversity. Step outside, smell the fresh air of despair, and start talking to other men/women. Pretty soon you’ll find your hope.
When King Leonidas threw himself and his men in the face of adversity he did so because he had courage.
You need courage. Courage will help you find your lost hope. Because courage will allow you to throw yourself in the face of adversity where you lost your hope in the first place.
But what’s more, he knew not all hope was lost; because all hope is never lost. He found hope in others; in the heart of his wife and the face of his young son. And that gave him the courage he needed to search for his own hope and the hope of his countrymen.
I don’t know you. I’ll probably never will. But what you need to do is turn to the people in your life, specifically, your loved ones. Because when you loose hope, finding hope in others will give you the courage to search for yours.
Go on, talk to them about their wishes, dreams, goals and future aspirations. Talk to them about their families; children; partner; and talk to them about the work they do. Find the courage to give yourself permission to throw yourself in the face adversity where you once lost your hope.
A’oo! A’oo! A’oo!
