Choose To See The Light On Your Darkest Days

“You have the ability to be happy, regardless of circumstances.”

There is no denying that sometimes life hurts. It’s extremely hard. Regardless of who you are or where you are from, there is an absolute chance that your life will, at times, be very difficult. Some people will experience “hard times” longer than others, but then again, hard times can also be subjective to each individual’s experiences and frame of mind.

Some will handle difficult times and uncertainty better than others. This is just another thing that makes us all uniquely beautiful. You have to have people who are empathetic and emotionally in tune with their surroundings, just as much as you need people who are emotionally strong and sufficient in not letting things get them down. We all benefit from coexisting in this way.

Regardless of what category you see yourself falling into, or even if you are somewhere in the middle, I think something everyone can benefit from is the art of controlling your reactions to external circumstances.

Consciously guiding your own reactions to external factors that are beyond your control can be really helpful.

Only when you step back and look at the “big picture” of everything can you truly see how little control you have over what happens to you in this life. Things WILL, without a doubt, go wrong and continue to go wrong. Controlling the way YOU react to external disappointments will be the best thing to keep you going.

You have the power to control how circumstances will change you and grow you. You can choose to let yourself sink with the negativity or instead rise up with courage and optimism. It’s difficult to not feel sorry for yourself, or dwell on how others might have hurt you, but in no way will this type of thinking help you move forward. You will inevitably get stuck.

You can decide to react however you choose to less than desirable external factors, and there is great power in that. You can decide how to be impacted by what happens to you, and there is even greater power in that.

Decide to be happy. No matter what it takes, no matter how hard it is to do sometimes. Just make a conscious effort to not be sucked into the sad things about your life.

There will always be something to dwell on that will hurt you if you let it, so acknowledge it and take the time needed to mend it and heal it, but don’t stay down there with it for too long.

Focus too long on yourself and you will inevitably get sad. Concentrate on others and how you can help them, and you will have less time to ponder the uncertainty and unjust parts of your life that bring you down.

Like we’ve already concluded, life is hard. It’s messy and ugly and sometimes can break you down so badly you don’t know how you’ll keep going. But there is a way to keep going, and almost everyone finds their own way to do that, with however long of a time period they need.

Just remember you can choose how things impact you. You have the right to do that, and the right to love yourself enough to choose to see the positive, regardless of any ugly thing that happens to you.

Start practicing radical self-love. I’ll be doing the same.