Sometimes Understanding Is Enough

You aren't what your situation makes you. You are what you choose to make out of your situation.

I think we can all agree that life can be really terrible sometimes.  Everyone can relate to the times when life really kicked us in the teeth and we couldn't seem to pull ourselves back up from the dirt.  I mean, who has never known adversity?  The world can seem like it is rising up against you, and many will cower from this and so we all relate, because we have all "been there".  Sometimes, I think that in the midst of sinking into the deep, we lose sight of all else, and we can't seem to pull our gaze from all that's below us to look up.  It's an interesting idea, but to make this more physical and less metaphorical, we've all walked outside at some point I would hope.  I don't know about those of you reading this, but I get distracted easily and I find myself staring at my surroundings more than where I'm going.  What happens in these instances?  If I stare long enough, I begin to drift that direction.  You see, the body follows the head and often, the head follows the eyes.  If we spend all our time staring into the depths and never take a moment to gaze at the sky above us, we will naturally drift further down.  It's almost like a dangerous spiral.  One thing happens that sets back, and then we can either accept and move past that or we can get hung up on it.  People have a tendency to throw pity parties and so we get hung up on our plight.  Then, while we're focused on the wrong in our lives, we forget to make something good for ourselves, and more bad happens.  And this can continue to pile up on our shoulders, dragging us to the bottom.  But, if you choose to accept and move past the events in your life.  If we choose to accept the things we can't change and make a change in what you can control, then life takes a turn in a completely different direction.  Instead of our worries and anxieties weighing us down, we now have an optimism and drive pulling our feet off the ground and putting our heads in the clouds.  You see, bad things happen to everybody.  They do.  Family and friends die, we lose jobs, relationships end and we get sick.  You see, that's how life works, but without these things we wouldn't know the peaks.  That's what we have to remember.  That as bad as it may be now, it will all pass if we choose to fight through.  Life is a struggle, don't misunderstand me.  But, we often make it so much harder on ourselves than it has to be.  Go out, and make your own situation, make your own luck and keep your eyes to the heavens.

Reviews

[dave]

Reminds me of the quote, "When you've hit rock bottom, the only way is up." I like it a lot. One thing, though, is that some of your sentences don't flow well, and maybe I'm just reading it wrong- but if you have problems with this, E.B. White and William Strunks "The Elements of Style" and Stephen King's "On Writing" really helped me there. But overall a fantastic and inspiring read.