Storms can wear you down, but these miseries can also allow you to view the amazing positives circling your life.
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I remember when my grandmother passed way almost five years ago. I was completely lost. It took me weeks, maybe even months, to snap out of the haze that was my depression. I just didn’t care anymore. My work suffered, and I got laid off. So compound the fact that my grandmother had just passed away, here I was now unemployed. What more could go wrong right?
It’s easy to be bogged down in the crap that steps on you sometimes but you have to see the proverbial open window to your closed door.
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Shortly after losing my grandmother AND my job, I became single. Triple whammy. Three strikes and John was out. I was bogged down and attempting to weather storm after storm. I was incapable of rectifying the terrible things that were happening in my life and I sat in a shell. I lost who I was. It took me a really, really long time to snap out of it. But through my inability to reconcile the loss I was experiencing, my inability to address how I was feeling, I started doing the one thing that you see me doing now, writing.
It’s easy to be bogged down in the crap that steps on you sometimes but you have to see the proverbial open window to your closed door. Things happen for a reason. You can either cry and complain or you can figure out your new course of action and navigate your way in that direction. To me, in life there’s a lot of times that creep up on you and you’re brought to the brink of a mental disaster and at an immediate crossroads in your life. This could be due to the end of a relationship, loss of a loved one, getting fired etc. All of these things can be life-altering events and obviously will attribute significant stress unto your life. That being said, it’s often times that in life’s greatest miseries comes some infinite clarity.
The one sad reality in life is the truly precious, short amount of time you have on this earth.
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It’s funny how often times in life we can see nothing but disappointments and heartbreaks. It’s easy to let that things consume you and tear you down. But the truth is, these are the types of events and miseries that allow one to view the amazing positives circling your life. At the time, it is impossible to imagine yourself being able to feel any worse, or hurt any more. But when those feelings inevitably pass you’re left with a profound clarity, respect, and appreciation for all that it was that you had and have. That’s one of the greatest things about the resiliency of the human spirit. That no matter how debilitating or crappy life can make you feel, there’s always another day, there’s always another moment to make you realize just how truly luck and blessed you are.
In life it is important to find the good stuff. The glass half full moments that make up your mundane everyday life. There’s beauty in commonality, and there’s amazement in simplicity. In other words, appreciate what life is offering you on a daily basis. The one sad reality in life is the truly precious, short amount of time you have on this earth. That is why finding silver linings in everyday bull* you deal with is so important. What it boils down to is making each day count for something. Appreciate the people in your life and the things you’re blessed to have. Tomorrow is not always guaranteed. Take the bull* and the things pulling you down and cut those strings loose. Then, and only then, can you find your silver linings and appreciate just everything you’re lucky to have.
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Photo: Flickr/Soumyadeep Paul