Welcome to the Daily Quote, the podcast designed to kickstart your day in a positive way. I'm your host, Andrew McGivern, and this episode is brought to you by the Great News podcast. Because great news should be heard, and the link is right here in the show notes.
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Today's quote is from Albert Camus.
Albert Camus (1913-1960) was a French-Algerian novelist, essayist, playwright, journalist and Nobel laureate, best known for exploring the “absurd” conflict between humanity’s desire for meaning and the universe’s apparent indifference. He is often associated with existentialism even though he rejected the label.
Albert Camus once said…
”In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.”
SOURCE: Episode 3: Albert Camus, ”Return to Tipasa” (Retour à Tipasa), first published in Summer (L'Été). French: ”Au milieu de l'hiver, j'apprenais enfin qu'il y avait en moi un été invincible.”
Camus wasn't talking about the weather. He was referring to that feeling of being lost, disheartened, and uninspired and then discovering that something inside of him hadn't been extinguished by it.
We all have to go through a winter seasons where life just isn’t going according to plan. Maybe you lost your job, closed a business, lost a loved one or ended a relationship. All of these things can affect your well being, mindset and physical health. But winter doesn’t last forever and spring could be just around the corner.
But what Camus is saying is that you don’t have to wait.
That's the thing about hard seasons. They can change your circumstances, your mood, even your plans. But they don't automatically get to decide what's still alive inside you. There can be a warmth, a stubbornness, a bit of joy that refuses to go out, even when everything around it feels cold.
Even in the midst of winter there is an invincible summer within you!
You don't have to feel it all the time to know it's there. Sometimes you just notice it in a small moment, a laugh you didn't expect, a bit of courage you didn't know you had, a reason to keep going that shows up quietly.
So if today you are in the middle of winter and you don’t feel like you have an invincible summer inside you, don’t look for the summer. Just look for one warm ember. That one little ember is actually warmer than you think. And more invincible than you think.
So here’s the question:
Can you feel an invincible summer inside of you? If not can you find a little warm ember? I bet you can! Next time you are feeling wintery use that ember to warm yourself up. Winter can get you from the outside but it can’t get you from the inside.
That's going to do it for today. I'm Andrew McGivern signing off for now, but I'll be back… tomorrow! Same pod time, same pod station with another Daily Quote.
