Life is a Rorschach Test
Either you see the road going somewhere or nowhere. The choice is yours.
The Art of Becoming is a newsletter about finding value in adversity and embracing discomfort. Each week, I share an idea on how to find fulfillment and a little joy and be more resilient, wiser, and better along the way.
It starts with you and me embracing discomfort.
I hope you join me.
Swiss psychologist Hermann Rorschach developed the Rorschach test in the early 20th century. It is a psychological assessment that aims to probe the human psyche by presenting subjects with ambiguous inkblots and analyzing their interpretations.
Just as we navigate life through the lens of our experiences, the Rorschach test highlights the subjectivity of perception. What one person sees as an opportunity, another may see a disaster.
The Rorschach test helps psychologists understand the interplay between perception and reality and how our interpretations shape our understanding of the world.
Life is also a Rorschach test. Either we embrace its fullness and richness or see it through the lens of pain, failure, and misery.
Tony Ryan, the founder of Ryanair, a low-cost Irish and Europe’s largest airline, failed in his aircraft leasing company, Guinness Peat Aviation. Ryan lost everything, but he wanted to be successful. He and his partners saw an opportunity in low-cost air travel after one of his partners, Michael O’Leary, flew Southwest Airlines.
When most of the industry saw the loss of revenue and customers, Tony Ryan saw an opportunity.
As I walk the Camino de Santiago, I notice most people view their time walking the Camino as in life in one of two ways.
You can either allow the Camino to enter your soul so it envelopes your senses, take you by the hand and guide you through a half-dozen towns in one day, walk past the neighborhood churches, and then take you to the nearest bar to eat tapas and drink vino tinto. Fresh jamon hangs in each bar, and hot, buttery tortillas wait to be eaten.
The Camino, just like life, will carry you over fields of wheat, rows of olive trees, hundred-foot-tall windmills capturing the wind, and vineyards standing at attention.
If you let it at night, you can walk over cobblestone streets through Plaza Mayor to a 700-year-old cathedral.
Over every kilometer, you hear a thousand holas and Buen Caminos. Each word poured sweetly and quickly from a million Spanish mouths.
That is one way to see the Camino or life. Welcoming. Warm. Happy. It is an opportunity to reflect, meet new people, and find joy in everything, including the difficult, contrarian moments.
Then some see the Camino, or life, as hard, complex, dirty, lonely, hot, cold, uncomfortable, lost, feeble, and blistered.
They regret each step and want to go home, even though home is every bit as hard as the Camino—maybe more so.
Susan and Siggy epitomized the Rorschach test. I met them in Rabe de las Calzadas, a small town 13 kilometers outside Burgos, Spain.
The Camino de Santiago was on Siggy’s bucket list—a dream he carried secretly for years. The miles were not hard for him but rather an opportunity to find joy and connect with his wife.
I saw Susan first at a bar on the road. She offered me a chair in the shade. The first thing I noticed about her was her face. She looked tired and unhappy. After a few minutes, I asked her if she was enjoying the Camino.
“I hate it. My feet hurt. My back hurts. And the food is fried. I haven’t eaten a vegetable since I got here. I miss my home.”
“Then why are you here,” I asked.
“I’m doing for him. The Camino is on Siggy’s bucket list.”
In life, we can either be Siggy or Susan.
Where Siggy saw opportunity and joy, Susan discovered regret and anguish. When he had fun, Susan felt regret.
Everyone sees the same road, but where it leads is different for everyone.
What do you see?
Thanks for reading. Everyone is the narrator of their own life. Choose to be the one who embraces joy.
Love to you and yours,
Michael
Michael, really good connection between our perception, life, the Camino walk, and attitude. Sometimes it's OK to grouse before moving forward, though.