Have you ever been so overwhelmed by the stress, monotony and pace of your life that you found yourself wishing you’d just wake up with someone else’s life? All the small things that you continually worry about in your day to day life would simply vanish and you could finally live the life of your dreams right? Well, for all you dreamers out there who hold onto the idea that you’ll find serenity and peace in a bottle or magically create such a thing as a life without problems, I have bad news for you. That place you’re desperately hoping to find, is already right where you’re standing, and the only one preventing you from actually finding it, unfortunately is you.
For me, I don’t know if it’s discouraging or liberating to fully understand that I alone control my own fate and lead the path to my own destiny, but I do believe that it’s true. In my life it was the choices that I made that actually created the path I found in front of me. At any point of time I could have chosen another direction, but the problems I had in my life were too overwhelming to overcome, and eventually I gave up. I allowed my problems to become more powerful than I was and the weight of it all crushed me.
The silver lining of it all was that once I forced myself to walk through the pain of changing those negative behaviors, I gained a stronger sense of self-respect and confidence as a result. What I’ve come to realize is that the problems we all face are for specific reasons. They don’t just happen as a result of bad luck or just because. I believe they are signals or warning signs sent to challenge and indicate to us the path that we’re on. When things in your life start getting more and more difficult to maintain, it’s like the universe is saying you’ve strayed from your intended path and you need to fix it. The hard part is actually facing the truth about what you’re doing to create those problems around you and then actively taking the steps to correct it. It’s one of the hardest but most rewarding things you could ever do for yourself.
The trouble with most people is that they identify so much with their problems that they eventually become a part of their identity. It’s like they hold on to their misfortunes and scars like a crutch so they have an excuse to justify those negative behaviors and choices that they’re not ready to let go of yet. They’ve accepted the role of the victim and unfortunately lose the ability to see themselves any other way.
However if we learn to stop looking at our problems in a negative light, we would see that they are actually gifts for our soul. Every struggle we face is just another opportunity to build and strengthen our character and every time we succeed it reinforces who we actually are.