First published on Elite Daily. Read it here>>
http://elitedaily.com/life/motivation/everyday-cant-sunshine-daffodils-life-gives-lemons/622339/
With the many feel-good articles circulating on social media (including my own), I thought I’d deviate from the norm and try something new.
To think that every day will always be sunshine and daffodils is to truly live in a bubble. Some of us may think that life owes us something and that we deserve a free ticket to a smooth ride, but this is real life, where things don’t always work out the way we expect them to.
I am also guilty of sometimes expecting everything to always go my way because growing up, it simply did. I often have rude awakenings to sudden unexpected twists and harsh realities of people and life. What do you do when this happens?
When asked why bad things happen growing up, my dad always told me that the world is made up of the positive and negative; there must always be good and bad. Having grown up, I can appreciate this simple, yet profound wisdom. Oftentimes, we don’t realize that the bad things can be good things turned inside out.
There must be bad days for us to appreciate the full splendor of the good ones. If things were always wonderful, we would just take them for granted, as there would be nothing with which to compare them. There is always a silver lining, which we can see if we look carefully behind the grey clouds.
There is always a lesson or something positive to be derived from every situation in life. The (perceived) bad things also happen to save us from making mistakes, bad choices or to prepare us for something better to come.
You may have experienced this when you did not get the job you wanted, only to learn that your friend who was selected for the job, which included bad bosses, long hours and unfair working conditions, left after one month.
When life disappoints you (and it will), it is a wise practice to remind yourself to be thankful for small mercies because things can be a whole lot worse. There are many people who are not as fortunate as us.
Our situation is always relative to someone else’s. When we realize the magnitude of our blessings, we suddenly realize that we are sometimes guilty of making mountains from molehills.
Not to discount the sources of our pain and discomfort, but we must be grateful for what we have because someone else will always be going through something worse.
I believe that we are each born with unique gifts and have the power to change and empower lives. When we “dig deep” within ourselves to realize our worth and find our gifts, the possibilities for achievement are endless.
Yes, there will always be days when we doubt ourselves or question the paths our lives will take, but if you really search within yourself, you will be able to find the strength and willpower to rise beyond your circumstances and state of mind to be able to achieve greatness and prove the naysayers wrong.
Another way to stay afloat in this world of uncertainty and competition is to never compare yourself to anyone else. Every person has his or her own crosses to bear and this journey is completely different.
This perceived success is only relative to our own. No one knows what sacrifices someone else endured to get to where he or she is and what life is really like for someone else when the doors are shut to the outside world.
In fact, what we have for ourselves may also be pretty wonderful if we really stop to consider it and many others may see it that way, too.
If we concentrate on our own journeys and make the most of what we have to get where we want to go in life, we can transform those lemons and soon see that the sun will shine again, as our daffodils are now in full bloom.
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