~~I believe that life is a journey, often difficult and sometimes incredibly cruel, bit we are well equipped for it if only we tap into our talents and gifts and allow them to blossom.~~ Les Brown
We often say that life can be hard and I guess that's true. Sometimes, though, I think it how we respond, react, and handle life that makes it hard. We tend to want easy, right? Why must we struggle so much???? We just want to breath and live and go about our business with a minimum of fuss.
But we lose people we love. We hurt...we really, terribly hurt. We get sick. We lose jobs, homes. And somewhere in the midst of what life has done to us, we often lose us. Where is that young girl full of spirit? Where is that guy determined to have it all? Where is that spark? That passion for life?
Yes, life can be hard; but sometimes we just don't want what life has to offer. We don't want the pain. We don't want the struggle. We don't want the embarrassment or the humiliation or the shame. We don't want the mistakes or the constant drama or the disappointments. We don't want anything that makes our hearts heavy or our spirits dim or our souls weary.
But life itself is birth and death. Everything in between is us. And we learn not through being happy all the time or getting everything we want, but through our challenges. We learn to truly love by our losses, our lonelinesses. We appreciate what we have when we've had things taken from us. When we struggle to make ends meet.
I'm not good at going through tough times. I cry, I resent, I stubbornly resist getting through them by trying to go around them instead. Ignore, refuse to change, hate the process. But in the end, I appreciate the lesson and I truly grow as a person. My adventures in life haven't been smooth or easy or simple. But, oh, my goodness, I so love my life!! Every precious minute of it.
I don't know all of you here but I know you are either thinking of quitting smoking or you have quit smoking. And this is one of life's tough times. It isn't easy to change your lifestyle in order to regain control of your life and that's exactly what you have to do to keep that precious quit. But rather than thinking of how difficult it is, maybe you can see it as a gift. You are gifting yourself life. More minutes to appreciate, to feel, to love, to live. You are giving yourself courage to get through the next challenge. You are giving yourself wisdom that will guide you over and over again.
I don't know anyone who welcomes negative life experiences (I'm not saying they aren't out there!). But when we make through, we bring with us all that we gained from the experience. The bittersweet moments, the hurt, the struggle; all of which make us kinder, softer, yet stronger and wiser as well.
I hope you take a moment today and feel yourself breathing. Be present in you for just a few moments and truly feel grateful for all that you are and for all that you have become through the years. Life looks so good on you!
Sheri
