The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are." ― Marcus Aurelius (you'll be seeing a lot more from this guy)
There is a Chinese Proverb that goes something like this...
A farmer and his son had a beloved stallion who helped the family earn a living. One day, the horse ran away and their neighbors exclaimed, "Your horse ran away, what terrible luck!" The farmer replied, "Maybe. We'll see."
A few days later, the horse returned home, leading a few wild mares back to the farm as well. The neighbors shouted out, "Your horse has returned, and brought several horses home with him. What great luck!" The farmer replied, "Maybe. We'll see."
Later that week, the farmer's son was trying to break one of the mares and she threw him to the ground, breaking his leg. The villagers cried, "Your son broke his leg, what terrible luck!" The farmer replied, "Maybe. We'll see."
A few weeks later, soldiers from the national army marched through town, recruiting all the able-bodied boys for the army. They did not take the farmer's son, still recovering from his injury. Friends shouted, "Your boy is spared, what tremendous luck!" To which the farmer replied, "Maybe. We'll see."
I was brought up to believe that a situation is neither good or bad - it just is. However, the way we look at a situation can make it either good our bad in our minds.
Think of it this way: one person may see a situation as the best thing in the world, while another may see it as the worst. Now, you may think certain situations are either good or pad. Period. But allow me to explain this concept to you:
A good perspective on pain, bad situations, struggles, etc is the key to a good headspace.
With that in mind, let me start talking about perspective.
If you don't know what perspective is, it is the way you look at something - whether that is a situation, pain, a person, yourself, or just the world in general. If the way you see things is damaged, your mind will be as well.
In the story, people were so quick to say that a sitaution was horrible or absolutely miraculous! However, in each scenario, that wasn't the case. Each scenario just was what it was and people labelled it as 'good' or 'bad.'
Those who saw the situation as 'bad' grieved and created so much negative emotional energy for nothing - because within a few days, a miracle would happen and everything would be great!
Sometimes, things just don't work like that.
There will be times in EVERYONE'S life that cause pain and bad luck. Period. End of story.
However.
There is a way to make the most out of those situations.
Each time you go through a struggle, knowing that the way you feel will not change a situation is important for keeping the right perspective.
I know that's not what you want to hear - and it definitely wasn't what I wanted to hear when my dad first told me that.
Think about it this way: if you're upset that you got a bad grade on a test or if someone was rude to you while you were at the store today, will being angry change what happened?
The only thing you can do is learn from it, change what needs to be changed, and move on.
To give a more serious example, let's me tell you a story about what happened between myself and I guy I had a HUGE crush on.
This guy and I were texting one night, and it ended up with him asking me for pictures. I was so disappointed, hurt, and I was so angry at him. Why would he disrespect me in such a way?
About two months later, as I angirly thought on the situation, I aksed myself: "Why is this STILL bothering me?"
And the answer was simple: my perspective was all wrong.
I was blaming him still, wondering how that one action could have so much power over my thoughts. But I decided to do something about it instead.
So I asked myself: what can I learn from this sitaution?
And I realized that I found so much of my own identity in his thoughts of me (sounds cliche, but it's true) that I had forgotten what I wanted and I had realized that I wasn't living for me. I was living in search of another opinion to replace his.
So, the change began. I looked inward and asked myself: What do I want? and Who am I really?
Since then, my world has been drastically different and all of the change has been for the better. I have truly started living for ME, not anyone else.
Now, I want to see what I can accomplish, I want to see how I can impact the world, I want to see how far I can push myself - those two simple questions unlocked an entire world of self-discovery that has forever impacted me.
Every time you see a challenge as an opportunity for growth, you will ALWAYS be better on the other side.
But you have to make a choice.
Will you see situations as opportunities? Or will you see them only as struggles?
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Hi, everyone! It's Lynn! I hope you guys learned something from this chapter! I know this is a tough lesson, but it is one that everyone needs to hear and apply to their lives, so I thought I'd share it.
If you have any requests that you would like me to write for my own book (it's called Endurance and you should totally go to my profile southxbound to check it out😜), leave a comment or send me a PM so I can get to work!
Thanks for all the support, guys!
Isaiah 43:2