I had a fourth grade teacher in Ohio who frequently repeated that phrase with accompanying groans from us students: "So close, yet so far away." He was probably referring to the probability of us getting an 'A' on one of his quizzes or tests.
Where do you rate your chances? Is your desired pot of gold extremely close, or is it far far away?
I used to think that the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow just materialized out of thin air if you were lucky enough to find the end of the rainbow. Only recently I read that Leprechauns actually work every day as shoe makers and store their pay (or gold) in a pot which they safe guard at the end of the rainbow. Now this version of the story has an entirely different meaning.
Often, people end up feeling like their chances are out of reach because the world is snatching them away at rapid speed. In fact, this feeling can become so prominent in an individual's mind that it becomes a habit to assume that with every available chance--the world will instantly snatch the opportunity away.
What are you left with after thinking that way? By default, you're left with missed opportunities, failed opportunities, or opportunities that are snatched away before you can even aim your efforts on them.
Sometimes it's important to notice that it's not only the world that offers you chances--it's you who offers yourself the chance to get what you want out of life. You have just as much power as the world to either give yourself a chance or to snatch it out from under your nose. Every time you're on the verge of snuffing out one of your opportunities, you may end up hearing these words subtly play in your mind: "So close, yet so far away."
Does the world rip these chances away from your reach, or do you do it? Maybe a little of both? Maybe the world follows your own lead in certain situations. It's a question worth asking because the answer isn't always so self-evident. What you thought was the world stopping you could be you stopping yourself. And other times when you're bent on blaming yourself, maybe the situation was entirely out of your control to begin with.
In regards to chance in life, it's as important to be realistic as it is to believe in that pot of gold. The pot of gold is earned, not discovered (at least from what I've read on the topic. I'm not Irish, though--as far as I know.) And no one said this has to be an all or nothing situation. Your own unique pot of gold is neither extremely close nor far far away. Realistically it's somewhere in the middle.
The important thing is that you give yourself a chance. No matter what you see in front of you or behind you--you have the greatest power to give yourself a chance. More than the world, more than your family, more than your boss, more than your friends, and more than your children.
We're all unique in what we're aiming for. You've been storing something away in your pot. What is it? Luck comes to those who go for it.
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