Life has a way of throwing us curveballs. On any given day, the sun may be shining, the grass may be green, the sky may be blue and a fresh breeze blows through the vibrantly colored flowers. But even the very next day, the breeze could pick up to a violent wind, the rain pours down, and the flowers lay tattered in the yard. Sometimes we can succumb to the storms in our lives, and we feel that we can never come back from the pain and sadness. The despair has proven to be too much, and life will never be the same. It’s just too hard to keep going.

This doesn’t have to be the case. Yes, life is not fair. No one has ever claimed it is, and probably no one ever will. But, even when we can’t depend on life or other people as our source of happiness, we DO have the ability to create that for ourselves, despite whatever is raging around us. We have to embrace what life throws at us as a chance to create meaning out of a bad situation, and to learn and grow from what it teaches us. As Akshay Nanavati says in his article How to Escape Despair and Bring Meaning to Your Life “Life is challenging, get used to it and embrace it. There can be joy in challenge if you choose it. As ultramarathoners often say, it doesn’t have to be fun to be fun.” He goes on to say that even if the storms in our lives were brought about by the actions of other people, we have to take 100% responsibility for what is going on in our lives and how we respond to it.

Mr. Nanavati goes further to give suggestions as to how we can create this meaning and purpose in our lives amidst whatever we might be going through. We need to learn to love ourselves for who we truly are, and then we can move on to love the people around us. We need to find our passion or calling, and respond to it. That will give direction to our steps. We need to cut any unnecessary negativity out of our lives, and finally “connect our passion to a higher purpose.” If we can find our passion, and create happiness for ourselves, we can increase it twofold if we can use that passion and happiness to bless other people.

Yes, life is unfair, life is crazy, and we never know what’s around the corner. But despite what goes on, what hurts and pain we are experiencing, there is one person who will never give up on us. And that is we ourselves. We have so much strength and resilience, there is no need to give up just because something bad happens. Realizing our own strength is such an exhilarating, thrilling and empowering experience. We have the power to change ourselves, we have the power to get right back up again and keep going.

Works Cited

How to Escape Despair and Bring Meaning to Your Life