What’s That White Elephant Doing In Here?

Steven Pressfield has authored many books in which he labels the enemy of our success as “Resistance” (with a capital “R”). Resistance will use whatever tactics necessary to take you out and keep you from fulfilling your destiny. One of those strategies is gifting you a white elephant.
The term “white elephant” comes from Southeast Asia where the unique albino animal was considered sacred and laws protected it from labor. Receiving the gift of a white elephant from a king or monarch was both a blessing and a curse: a blessing because the animal was sacred and a sign of the monarch’s favor but a curse because of the expense to maintain the animal.
One king made it a practice to give white elephants to his enemies, with the ulterior motive that the recipient had no choice but to expend massive amounts of time, resources, energy and finances to care for it. Over time, his enemy would destroy himself because of the burden of caring of the “gift.”
White elephants. What you thought would be a blessing ends up a curse. You took the position with the bank that you always wanted but it requires so much of your time and energy, there’s nothing left for family, friends or your faith. You purchase the dream home but it is more house than you can afford, and you are being crushed financially.
The house—the job—they are not the problem. The challenge is when you consider the pursuit or the possession so sacred you refuse to get rid of them when you realize the potential harm for your life. Maybe it is sacred to you because it has been a life-long dream to own that 5,000-square-foot home or to hold that certain position in a company. Now you can’t admit to yourself that the dream has turned into a nightmare.
For me it was a restaurant I opened several years ago. What a dream—to make money doing what I loved, cooking and entertaining. But after almost two years of working 16 to 18 hours a day and earning very little money, I finally turned the white elephant loose and sold the business before it totally destroyed my physical and financial health.
As it turns out, I was not suited for the restaurant business (go figure) and I turned to mortgage banking instead where I have been for 16 years.
Whatever has been brought into your life that you thought would be a blessing but it is now costing you more than you could have ever dreamed in time, money, your health or your relationships with family, friends or God, get rid of it—now.
Do not consider it so sacred that it takes priority over the things and people that matter the most to you.
White elephants are not the best pets, just sayin’. You might try a dog or a cat, or better yet, a goldfish.
Have you ever had a white elephant in your life and if so, what was the point where you turned it loose? Or are you still feeding it?