Enduring the unexpected with fluid motion.
“How I Cope In 2020” in Six Words
Light at the end of the tunnel
Midlife Reflections #8
“Time heals all wounds” they say but a lot of us cling to the past which makes it quite difficult to move forward in life. Memories of the past is like a double edged sword. Many of the experiences we hold so dearly are often ones of joy, love or laughter that was shared with family, friends and loved ones which can never be replicated. Others are of fractured memories that bring sadness, pain and loss that we try so hard to forget but to no avail. Often times when we’re in a different setting, we encounter a similar situation or experience and expect it to follow what had happened in the past. When it doesn’t live up to the hype, to our expectations, the end feelings leave us disappointed, discouraged and depressed. Or when it brings about the same feelings of sorrow it just fuels our doomed outlook on life.
It’s truly hard to move past these things and I for one can admit that I find it challenging to do so. But everything that we experience makes us into who we are and really does help us to become stronger. Time really doesn’t fix things, it just add more to our already full plate and lessens the degree of our greatest or most horrible past memory. It really just finds a way of taking us out of our comfort zone and pushing us beyond our limits. Whether we bend or break is all up to us. I for one take it by its horn and wrestle it aside.
So if you find it hard to find happiness in life or just trying to make it day by day, take solace in knowing that you’re not alone. We’re all grinding it out the best way we can. There’s a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for all of us, it’s out there waiting for us to discover it. If things are not going your way or your ready to throw in the towel, take stock in where you are right now in life. You’ve made it this far, just think how much further you can go. It hard to stay positive but if you just have a tiny spark, it’s all you need to start that fire in you to go out and take action!
When Your Dream Becomes Reality
When your dream becomes reality,
a sense of self-accomplishment,
unbridled joy,
boastful pride,
all come together
in one harmonious fashion
When your dream becomes reality,
the endless hard work,
excruciating trials,
never-ending tribulations,
were all the catalyst
in creating your character
When your dream becomes reality,
new found worries arise
trepidation,
dismay,
the fear of never achieving
another goal again
But you’ve been down this road
you never gave up
against all odds,
all naysayers,
you prevailed,
you believed in yourself
and in doing so
that is
When your dream becomes reality.
Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining
For all my life I’ve tried to be an eternal optimist in a somewhat pessimistic world. (To be more specific, I’ve applied that thought to my life as an aspiring screenwriter.) Lately, however, I’ve been trying to adopt that to my personal life.
You have to believe that otherwise your life would be desolate and miserable. No matter how bad things may get, you should never feel hopeless because better days do lie ahead. There is a light at the end of that long tunnel, it may be big as a spotlight or small as a penlight flashlight, but it is there.
Believe me, there are some days when my convictions and faith are tested to the limits. A bad day at work, an injury, arguments aplenty, caught in terrible weather, rejected for a prospective job, someone close passes away, illness…the list can go on and on and on. Everything bad, whether insignificant or huge, becomes fodder for our mind’s consumption.
We’ve all been there and I know that each and every one of you’ve said the same thing – “WHY’S THIS HAPPENING TO ME?!”
It’s times like these when you start to wonder if there’s some validation to all the pessimism out there in the world. Your outlook starts to look grim and any chance of bliss seems futile. You begin to get envious of those around you whose luck and good fortune seem to line up effortlessly.
Once you get into that mindset, it’s SO difficult to recover; if you can’t, then you become another statistic in a world of pessimistic drones. I’m not going to lie I’ve fallen into that trap numerous times, enough to the point where I have a plaque with my name engraved there. But I’ve learned that no matter what, there really is brighter days ahead.
Anytime you encounter a bad situation and feel like it’s the end of the world…STOP! Soak in what happened and know that you are not the only one experiencing something “catastrophic.” There are millions upon millions of people out there going through a similar or maybe even worse situation. You are not alone! Turn to God and pray if that’s your faith, confide in family members and friends, or spend time with your beloved pet to get some clarity on your life.
For every negative thing that happens, there’s some good that comes from enduring our ordeals. We may be able to see it clearly, it may be subtle or it may reveal itself down the road. Either way, something positive will always appear.
Overcome each hurdle one at a time, jumping over the smallest one first. Clearing one impasse leads the way to clearing the rest of the hurdles ahead of you.
Who knows, we might discover a new found friend, gain confidence from an underlying skill we never knew we had or learn something useful…there are countless of things that could arise. So in essence, there is a bright spot in an otherwise bleak situation; we just have to have a positive outlook.
We should instead think of possibly the worst situation we could be in and compare it to what we’re facing. I’m sure it pales in comparison. We’re alive and we get to see another day; some people are not so lucky. Just relish in the fact that we’ve conquered past obstacles and live to tell the tale. That’s an accomplishment in itself.
So when things don’t go your way, just stop, take a deep breath, soak in all that bad vibes and reflect on your life for a moment. Look around you, look at your family, look at your friends, examine your life for a bit…reminisce on all the good times and laughter shared. Revisit all those joyous memories and know that you’ve become a stronger person because of that. Keep the faith in knowing that there’s always a glimmer of hope in the most dire of situations.
Midlife, Maniacal & Me 