What is Valkyri

Since the dawn of time, womankind has sought to overcome the everyday obstacles she encounters in her everyday life. Most of these obstacles are familiar to each of us, we know that everyone deals with them constantly: hunger, fatigue, bad weather… But some obstacles are unique, or feel like they are: a broken dishwasher, a child with a learning disability, a particularly difficult teacher to deal with, a particularly difficult employer, chronic illness, horrible in-laws, a bad internet connection…

The truth is, we all face opposition of different shapes and sizes. Of course, it comes in varying degrees of difficulty and we each deal with it in our own way. But there are those times when we are faced with something that seems impossible to overcome. These are the times we are really tested.

. . . . . . .

You find yourself on a perilous ledge looking into a vast pit of darkness and danger, the other side far beyond your reach, you are confident that there is no way you can possibly cross this chasm. And yet, cross you must. For on the other side is a child. The child carelessly dangles his legs over the edge, not aware of the danger. You are all too aware of the danger threatening the child, and suddenly you are filled with despair. Knowing, just absolutely certain, there is no way you can reach him.

You are not afraid of the depths of darkness that lay before you. You have been down there before, suffered the agony of the monstrosity that lurks in the depths. Then, in the depth of your despair and self-pity, something sparks for just a moment. The slightest whisper-of-a-hint of realization. You do not fear falling into the pit. You fear failing. Your fear of not being able to reach the other side has traumatized your effort and frozen you in place. Destroying all chance of making it to the child because you fail to even try. The spark comes again, brighter, stronger this time. You MUST get across. No matter the possibility of failure. No matter the danger to self. You must reach the child. Your fear subsides now, replaced by the determination that comes only with a cause greater than self. Fueled by your building confidence, you take a few steps back, get a running start and…

…you fall. You didn’t make it to the other side. But the fall is not as far as you remember it being. But it hurts and you cannot move very well, nevertheless, you still must make it to the other side. Then, drawing on a reserve of strength and will you forgot you had you get back to your feet. Surrounded by darkness and murk, you begin to trudge forward. The dark seems to pull at your legs like a sucking mud that doesn’t want to let you go. But it is just darkness, and you are more powerful than it. Continuing forward you see the other side of the chasm. But now you are at the bottom, and the wall rises before you. No matter. You’ve come this far and the only way back is up the other side. And the child is still in danger, dangling somewhere through the darkness above you.

Summoning from that reserve of will, you begin to climb. The wall is slick, pieces of it coming away in your hands, crumbling beneath your feet. For every foot of forward progress, you fall back half a foot… But you continue on. Not even a shadow of fear remains. Only a steely determination that you can, and must, reach the top before the child falls.

You dig in deeper, clawing your way forward, and now the darkness thins, the faint outline of the child silhouetted against the sky above you. He’s looking down at you. He’s smiling. Completely oblivious to your agony. But his innocent stare cements your eyes to his, and suddenly you realize that your roles have switched. He is helping you. Urging you forward. With renewed vigor you accelerate through the muck and filth clinging to every inch of you. Launching yourself free with a last primal burst of power you reach up, toward the child’s outstretched arm…

Lying atop the other side, you clutch the child in your arms, safe now. And he’s wriggling… Giggling. You are both safe, and happy. Looking back over the edge, you realize though difficult, the crossing was not impossible. You feel confident now, that if you had to do it again, you could. With sense of confidence you turn to face the next obstacle in your path, a mountain rises in your path, blocking your way, it’s top invisible among the clouds. Beyond that, a great expanse of water, a boundless sea, churns and bubbles. Beyond that, who knows. Your path will take you straight through these and surely other seemingly insurmountable obstacles. But you have traversed the gaping chasm that now lies behind you, and these things are but going to slow your progress. They will not stop you. They cannot stop you. You know now that YOU CAN conquer anything. Only your fear of failure can stop you. And you no longer fear failure.

. . . . . . . . .

This is what Valkyri is all about. You will discover that nothing can stop you. There is no barrier too tall, no pit too wide. You will find a way. You are a Valkyri! And you will rise to the challenge.