My Personal Achilles Heel

Author: Fasan Olumide (Amethyst 💜) 

Ever read the Greek mythology, Achilles Heel? The story of the hero of the Trojan War, the central character and greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad who died because of a small wound on his heel? 

I'd love you to tag along with me on a smooth ride to the past🏂 

Although there were about two to three versions of this myth, I'd love to stick to the River Styx's own. Achilles' mother, Thetis took Achilles to the River Styx, which supposedly offers powers of invulnerability. Her desire to make her son invulnerable swelled within her and she decided to dip his body into the water but, because she held him by his heel, it was not touched by the water of the river.

Achilles thereafter, grew up to be a man of war who survived many, many great battles. Are you interested in knowing how this great hero died? Well he was shot at his heel, ankle by an arrow (probably poisoned) and that was the end of him. 

Teleporting back to the present, do you think that Achilles ever thought he would be killed by an arrow and to his heels? For me, I'd never imagine that. If it were to be his arms,  chest,  stomach, back,  at least those places were pretty obvious. But it would need a lot of patience, determination and focus to target the heel of someone fighting at the moment (in motion). 

Not like I'm an archer anyways. 😅

This mythology has a lot of lessons but I'd want to shed more light on the fact that the tiniest weakness you decide not to notice could mar you. We all have our personal Achilles heel, something we know holds our vulnerability, some people have identified theirs while some are in denial that it doesn't exist.  

For some, their Achilles heel is purely egocentrism (the inability to accurately assume or understand any perspective other than one's own.) This might start off as an habit the individual doesn't even know they exhibit but it takes effort to carefully examine one's self (introspection). 

Some people Achilles heel might be as little as a particular subject (maybe they get edgy whenever the situation is being talked about), for some it's them being paranoid, for some their pessimistic attributes and so much more. 

In order not to be shot unexpectedly in the heel like Achilles, let's try to find our weakness and deal with it before it becomes our downfall. 

If Achilles took his weakness so seriously he would have done all it took to dip his heel back into the River Styx. 💆

Happy Wednesday 💭