In a 2008 article for Time, Richard Stengel, who knew has had numerous conversations with Nelson Mandela, complied what he believed to be eight practical rules – or lessons – for people to make “the best kind of trouble.” The best kind trouble, Stengel argues and Mandela draws from personal experience, is the trouble “that forces us to make the world a better place.” In a video interview with Time, Mandela himself touched upon the “rules,” and the video touched upon Rule 8, which was “Quitting is leading too.” The video mentioned that he never showed his own anger – he put on a sense of optimism, of hope, of reconciliation – despite the fact that deep down, he was angry of the prejudiced system that locked him away for most of his adult life. Yet, be letting go – “quitting” – his own anger, he led, by becoming a face of hope for change and reform of that particular system that eventually, did reform.
It applies to me because one of my flaws is the lack of ability I have to let go. I cannot quit – let go – when it becomes necessary or beneficial for me to do so. I try to do what I cannot do – everything – and fail when I do. What I desire is a sense of control, an ability to recognize when I need to stop, rest, and retool what I am doing. That is how the lessons from the article and the video relate to me.
