Good Times Are Coming...

 

Hi!

Sometimes life is just hard. 

Full stop.

At times, it can feel like a darkness trying to swallow you whole. The only news you seem to be getting is bad news. The little things that go wrong begin to stack up, adding to the big stresses that are being dumped on your doorstep. You begin to feel destabilized, shaky, like the next thing regardless of how small, just might be the last thing you can handle without collapsing under the weight. 

These phases of life seem to happen to some people more than others. there doesn't seem to be rhyme nor reason. They happen regardless of how kind, how cruel, how accepting, how bigoted, how powerful, how absolutely average you are. But, as far as the stick of life goes, some definitely get handed the shitty end more than others. 

I'm not sure if that helps prove, disprove, or changes in any way, the concepts of karma, universal fate, or whatever, but these are my thoughts on the subject...

I think that everything that comes to us while we walk this earth is brought to us to teach us something about ourselves we have yet to learn, and need to know. Easy times can teach us just as much as hard ones. We find out if good fortune makes us more or less greedy. We find out if hard times make us bitter. We find out if, when things are going swimmingly, we remain grateful, or begin to feel entitled. We find out if, when things are moving along like a tornado within a hurricane on top of an earthquake, we can remain grateful, or do we surrender our joy. 

When things are going great, enjoy it! Celebrate it! Bathe in it! Soak it in! These are the times that fortify us for when things get tough. These are the memories we draw from in times of grief or loss of any kind, really. 

When things are going great, it's easy to start taking things for granted. It's easy to slip into a mindset that somehow we deserve nothing but good times, that we must be, in some way, just a little bit better than those whose lives don't sail along without a storm in site. Then, when something dark inevitably creeps from the shadows, we feel "why me" syndrome take hold. 

It takes hold, we aren't perfect. Of course it does. We just can't allow ourselves to lay down a foundation and build our life there, regardless of how seductive and easy that feels. Why me? Why not me is a much better question. 

When things get dark, although it can be a struggle, we are only human after all, it becomes more important than ever to hang on to every glimmer of light we can find, no matter how faint, how small. Sometimes, it's wearing super cute hats on chemo day, and all the days in between. Sometimes it's hanging out with those that matter to you most, simply catching up. Sometimes it's cranking music and dancing with the confidence of a sugar-buzzed toddler. Sometimes it's watching funny dog videos and old movies that you know make you laugh. Sometimes it's allowing yourself room to cry it out, cleansing the soul. 

If the glimmers elude you, please reach out. Someone will help bridge the gap between the grips and the grace. They may not do it perfectly, with the perfect words, but they can connect you to a space bigger than the weight of your stress, creating room to breathe. 

Find the little things, and hold them tight, good times are coming...