"People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built." - Eleanor Roosevelt
Life can be tough sometimes. There is no denying that. It doesn’t matter what we’ve been through or the path we have chosen to take. There are seasons of life that can be just plain hard. I find myself enduring one of those times right now. It seems that no matter where I turn I feel discouraged and hurting. Like there really is no light at the end of the tunnel. You don’t realize how hard it is to have a positive attitude until you really don’t have a choice otherwise. I am in a daily battle with myself to wake up and choose to not allow my circumstances to defeat me. Some days are easy and some are just rough. I am thankful to have people in my life who add such joy and contentment. Sometimes that is exactly what keeps me from telling life to shove it and locking myself in my room and never coming out. Which could actually work. I mean, until I get a knock on the door looking for my rent check. In which case I would have to figure out a better plan. I know, realistically I can’t just hide. No matter how appealing it might sound. But I do believe that we face these trials and tribulations for a purpose. I think it adds a tremendous amount of character to our person and without that sort of growth there really wouldn’t be a ton of purpose to life. I think of it this way: whenever we overcome something in our lives that we never thought was possible that feeling of accomplishment is like no other. When I finished my half-marathon I was on a high from it. Not because I could run that long or because I got this super cool medal after. It was because I remember that time during training when I thought there was no possible way I was going to be able to do it. I literally was halfway through one of my long running days and I thought, if 9 miles makes me want to cut my legs off, there is absolutely no way I can handle the 13 I have to do in a few weeks. But I pressed on. And when I crossed that finish line I didn’t remember that pain I felt in those prior weeks. All I felt was excitement. I was proud of myself for pushing through. Life is that way. We go through shitty times and we are sure we can’t handle it anymore. It overwhelms us and we think nope, nothing could be worse than this. We play the “what did I do to deserve all of this disappointment in my life?” game. Which of course makes us absolutely crazy.
Everybody is on a journey. I believe for some it is simple and uncomplicated. It is a string of events from birth to death that happen in perfect timing and there isn’t much trial to it. I also think for some it can be nothing but obstacle after obstacle. No matter what they do or say nothing seems to work out for them. It is a constant battle to do anything. Even though these seem like two very different lives, they have one common denominator: one always wishes they had the other. The grass is always greener. It’s human nature to think that the person sitting next to you has it better, easier, whatever it might be. Not to say that thinking that way is always a bad thing. I mean, for some that is the driving force behind their success. Unfortunately it can also be the exact thing to cripple someone else. I believe very strongly that life is all about the attitude you choose to have. Not that I’m saying, in any way, that I have this perfect outlook on life, but I am working on it. Usually failing miserably, but still trying nonetheless. And that is all that matters, right? :)
Life is absolutely complicated and messy sometimes. But I don’t think there is one person on this planet that doesn’t have at least one thing that makes their life absolutely worth living. Sometimes all we need to do is keep our eyes focused on that very thing and allow for it to carry us through those difficult times. That is the beauty of seasons like the one I’m going through, I always come out on the other side so much better and ironically much happier than I’ve ever been before. God is funny that way. We try to hold on the best we can and the second we find ourselves losing hope, God does something to remind us He is right here. Taking care of us. I can think of very few things in this life sweeter than that.
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