Waves

It’s no secret to anyone that knows me that I love the ocean. I love to hear the waves, watch the waves, and feel them against my skin. I’ve been reading a lot and thinking about life and that’s when it hit me….

Life is just a series of waves…

We all have good times, smooth sailing one might say, when things seem to click and work our way. Then we’ll hit a rough patch, stormy seas perhaps. When you’re in the rough time it seems like you just keep getting knocked down with one bad thing after another. Enough already, right? You’ve had your two or three hard things and it needs to stop. But sometimes it doesn’t…and the hard things keep coming at ya.

One hard thing after another after another.

Damn – I hate it when that happens. Truly. I hate it for myself, I hate it for my family, friends, and even complete strangers. I hate to see people I love suffer hardship.

When the seas of life get rough, just remember that this hard time (like ones in the past) will NOT last forever. Enjoy the good times while they’re there and then hang on, dig in, and ride out the hard times. Remind yourself that the hard times won’t last forever, and even in the hard times there is often good – whether it be the “showing up” of people who care about you, personal growth, or a hard time that forces you into a new space in life (job, home, etc) – you may find the difficulty pushed you into growth that you may have otherwise missed.

Enjoy the good times of your life. Relish them. Laugh as much as possible, create memories, enjoy every single minute. Don’t take those good times for granted. Those good times might make a hard wave of life seem extra difficult, but remember that these waves change – from the good to the bad – and from the bad to the good.

During a hard time I had to sit back and take stock at the reality of MY situation. The reality is, my worst days are likely easier than someone’s best day. I’m very lucky to have the life I have, and find it important and humbling to keep that in mind. Yes, my struggles are still valid and meaningful to me, but when I let myself get too deep into my own head I remind myself that my worst day is better than someone’s best day. I’m not searching for basic needs for myself and my family. I don’t live in a war-torn area and fear for personal safety. Even at my worst, I have it pretty damned good.

Enjoy the good days and learn from the hard ones. As I said in the recent Writing Prompt post, the situations in my life that provided my most significant personal growth have been the HARD situations. Living and learning go hand in hand, so when faced with challenges, look for the lesson or the opportunity that you might not have seen before. It may take time, but personal growth is usually found there…growing under the shit show that your day/week/month has been.