Meaning: the consequence of the circumstances into which a person is born.
For example, a prince will probably have a different life to a pauper or an
Inuit to a Kalahari bushman. The term may also be applied to some innate talent
that a person has by virtue of the DNA they inherited from their parents. For
example, "LeBron James's success at basketball was, in part, due to the accident
of birth of growing to 6 feet, 8 inches tall".
- Gary Martin, https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/accident-of-birth.html
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The inner debate of nature-vs-nurture in rationalizing my own successes and
failures was a perennial waste of time. It invaribly led to hubris, self-pity,
or paralyzing fear. It's better to focus on one thing at a time without
obsessing about the past or future, or even current circumstances.
Many a long-distance runner could attest that the most important thing is to put
one foot in front of the other. If you run up a 2000ft steep hill, thinking of
the summit at the bottom magnifies your pain and wishing the ordeal over turns
the trail into a rack. A long-enough slope breaks your strong will.
If you focus, instead, on the nuances in making each step as pleasant as
possible (for example, by shortening your strides when the rise is sharp and
matching your breathing to them), however, you enter a meditating state and it
would feel as if you reached the top in no time with a fresh pair of legs.
This happened each time I ran up Mission Peak. Folks huffed and puffed while
gawking at me ascending effortlessly. The last time I went with Peter, my nephew
in his 20s, on Christmas Eve. I left him behind at around two thirds of the way
up, and waited at the top for 15 min, watching him climb.
I had years of training. What if you just started? You run up maximizing the
pleasure of each step until it feels no longer fun and you go home. You come
back the next day or the day after. You do the same and find it takes longer for
you to quit. You hold the line and stay with the plan. It is an anti-fragile
process, each cycle breaks some weak link in you and builds you up stronger. You
enjoy the progress until you are able to do it.
This is wisdom and I'd like to end with two quotes:
- "From one thing, know ten thousand things," and
- "If you know the way broadly you will see it in everything."
by Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings.
