Your Diamond Destiny

I was talking to a woman I work with about trauma and pressure after failure; especially repeated failure. As someone who has previously and repeatedly failed at tests, fertility, fundraising, legal petitions, etc., I know that no matter how statuesque I attempt to appear, the pressure of repeated failure is enough to flatten even the highest standing marble to dust. Perhaps sensing my feeling of flattening or experiencing her own, the woman said, “That’s OK. Pressure makes diamonds.” 

I’ve heard the saying before, but something about that statement made me curious this time around. How do diamonds form? Is pressure really the key? I looked it up and yes, immense pressure and heat are necessary to form diamonds. But did you know that in order to become a diamond, a carbon atom need only connect with other versions of itself and wait? That’s right, carbon atoms find other carbon atoms that are the same and existing in the same space, and, eventually those atoms are diamonds. They don’t need to fight anything or seek heat, they don’t need to be conscious of the pressure they are under, they just connect to themselves, stay in position, and become a diamond. 

What if the real work each of us needs to do in order to become our strongest, most unbreakable selves is commit to finding ourselves over and over and over again. What if your diamond destiny wasn’t something you could possibly pursue or purchase? What if it’s just who you are?

But–and there’s usually a “but” in my doom-oriented, overthinking mind–what if you can’t find the other you’s in the space? Staying in place is not something I’ve done well historically…what if I can’t do it? In my endeavor to be more open and vulnerable, do I even want to be a diamond? 

I did some more research. Did you know that carbon--all by itself–is the chemical backbone of all life on earth? With boundless potential, carbon can bind with just about anything to become any living thing. Imagine the possibility of being a lone carbon atom in this universe–able to bond with atoms to become DNA, for example–the stuff that makes everything every thing. That potential-realized or not–is so big that it has a brilliance of its own; the brilliance of beginnings. 

It would seem that diamond or carbon - under immense pressure or free and full of potential – Starting or finishing or anyplace in between, your destiny is to shine!

And you don’t have to do a damn thing other than be exactly who you are to be brilliant!