Just a little diatribe...don't read if you're not interested.
Hmm...
So I've been doing a lot of thinking lately...pretty much after the turn of the new year. Things have been going quite well for me thus far, even though we're only the third week into the year.
Oddly enough, I never did a farewell 2007 post. Not sure why I didn't, but I just didn't. It seems a lot of things are turning around for a lot of people. A lot of big changes are taking place all around us within our own lives and even just in other things. It's like as soon as that clock struck midnight on New Year's Eve, it set something in motion.
I for one believe in signs. I beleive in God. I have a very strong faith in God even though I may not always show it. I beleive that he speaks to us through several different means, not always directly, but through signs, sometimes through events in your life. Heh...I dunno really. My thoughts are kinda scattered right now. I can't seem to find the right words to express what I want to say.
I guess, what I've learned is that (and I've always beleived this) we go through different trials and tribulations and certain people are put into our lives for a reason. I look at last year and think about how crappy it was and how miserable and depressed I was over everything that happened. I look back at all those entries I made about being depressed and upset because things weren't going right in my life or that I felt like I wasn't going anywhere. I really was frustrated.
I'm not sure what happened after the first of the year, or really, it started a little sooner than that, I just finally took control of everything. I got tired of the way my life was spiraling downwards. I knew that I was worth more than I was giving myself credit for, but for some reason I just kept beating myself down and telling myself that I wasn't going to do any better in my life so why bother? A part of me was satisfied and just kind of gave up, but the other part of me was kicking myself for doing that. I used to be so positive and carefree and uplifiting, and all of last year I was the exact opposite.
There were points last year where I thought I was happy, but I think that was just a facade. I dunno. I'm working on building myself back up and getting back to where I used to be. Right now I'm extremely happy with my life. I'm the happiest I've been since I graduated high school.
I logged onto myspace tonight and there was a bulletin from my sister-in-law talking about some video she had seen, and inside the bulletin, she had posted a link to the video.
So I clicked on the link and watched the video. It was some video that talked about living your life to the fullest basically and making every second count. Now, I know that everyone is like "Duh...shouldn't everyone be doing that anyways? We all know we only have a limited amount of time to live" Which all of us do know that...but how many of you are actually doing it? How many of you sitting there right now reading this can honestly say you're making the most of your time each day and enjoying it to the fullest?
I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I am, because I haven't been. I haven't been for the last year and a half. Maybe that's why I was so miserable. I think I just lost faith and hope and gave up on everything. I adopted this defeatist attitude towards life when I shouldn't have. So going back to the video...the video is right. I look around and see people so upset and so miserable with themselves and certain situations that they're in.
Sometimes when things turn out badly or you have a lot of bad experiences, people begin to wonder what life would be like if they were somewhere else? I for one think that moving from a place because "things got bad" is a wrong idea. Granted there are exceptions to that. But for the most part, if you have a problem in one area, and you decide to move to another area...say another state because you want to get away from it, is a dumb idea. Our environments only get bad when we give up and let them get bad. All last year I kept thinking to myself that I would move away and not have to deal with the crap I'm dealing with now. But then I realized that I would be in a different state and still have to deal with the same problems I have now, only I'd be in an environment unfamiliar to me and not know anyone.
So my philosophy is that if there's issues or problems that need to be worked out...I think it's best to stick it out and work through them...take it upon yourself to improve your surroundings and environment. Take control of the things that you can and improve them. Set out to make your life better. Sometimes you've got some really great things or even people sitting right in front of you and you may not even realize it.
I dunno. I hope some of that makes sense to those of you who're reading this. It's just that I look around and looked even in my own life and realized that I wasn't taking full advantage of my potential and controlling and fixing what I needed to so that I could have a better life and be healthier emotionally, spiritually, and physically. Having great health in those areas I feel is key to having a successful and healthful life. Hell, I'm only 22 years old so I'm not going to sit here and tell you I've discovered the secret to having a balance between all three of those or even finding the secret to happiness.
I learned something in my Psychology class at the Art Institute that I've kept with me ever since then. While I was reading in my book, I read about something called "reframing a negative" or simply put, finding the positive out of any negative situation. That old saying comes to mind "Every dark cloud has a silver lining" or something like that. Sometimes we focus too much on the negative aspects of our lives when we really should look at them and learn from them. Figure out what the positive is that we can learn from those and use it to propel ourselves to greater heights and become better, happier individuals. Don't treat any experience as a waste of time...because it wasn't.
No matter what you go through wether it be a break up or your on a sports team and go to the championship and lose...yes...those are negative and bad things but I bet if you were to look at them and go "Well...the outcome wasn't so good...but what did I learn?" then you can take the positive from it and grow as a human being. Perhaps if we all did that, then maybe lives would improve a little bit. Now don't get me wrong. Life isn't all about being happy and peachy and sunshiney and all that jazz, sometimes life can throw curveballs as you and it can be tough. There's always going to be certain exceptions, but as I stated before...adaptability is an important skill to have in this crazy world. As long as you can adapt and learn from your experiences...then that's what life is all about.
Ah...I hope that makes sense to at least one person out there. Comment if you want. I'd love some feedback.
So I've been doing a lot of thinking lately...pretty much after the turn of the new year. Things have been going quite well for me thus far, even though we're only the third week into the year.
Oddly enough, I never did a farewell 2007 post. Not sure why I didn't, but I just didn't. It seems a lot of things are turning around for a lot of people. A lot of big changes are taking place all around us within our own lives and even just in other things. It's like as soon as that clock struck midnight on New Year's Eve, it set something in motion.
I for one believe in signs. I beleive in God. I have a very strong faith in God even though I may not always show it. I beleive that he speaks to us through several different means, not always directly, but through signs, sometimes through events in your life. Heh...I dunno really. My thoughts are kinda scattered right now. I can't seem to find the right words to express what I want to say.
I guess, what I've learned is that (and I've always beleived this) we go through different trials and tribulations and certain people are put into our lives for a reason. I look at last year and think about how crappy it was and how miserable and depressed I was over everything that happened. I look back at all those entries I made about being depressed and upset because things weren't going right in my life or that I felt like I wasn't going anywhere. I really was frustrated.
I'm not sure what happened after the first of the year, or really, it started a little sooner than that, I just finally took control of everything. I got tired of the way my life was spiraling downwards. I knew that I was worth more than I was giving myself credit for, but for some reason I just kept beating myself down and telling myself that I wasn't going to do any better in my life so why bother? A part of me was satisfied and just kind of gave up, but the other part of me was kicking myself for doing that. I used to be so positive and carefree and uplifiting, and all of last year I was the exact opposite.
There were points last year where I thought I was happy, but I think that was just a facade. I dunno. I'm working on building myself back up and getting back to where I used to be. Right now I'm extremely happy with my life. I'm the happiest I've been since I graduated high school.
I logged onto myspace tonight and there was a bulletin from my sister-in-law talking about some video she had seen, and inside the bulletin, she had posted a link to the video.
So I clicked on the link and watched the video. It was some video that talked about living your life to the fullest basically and making every second count. Now, I know that everyone is like "Duh...shouldn't everyone be doing that anyways? We all know we only have a limited amount of time to live" Which all of us do know that...but how many of you are actually doing it? How many of you sitting there right now reading this can honestly say you're making the most of your time each day and enjoying it to the fullest?
I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I am, because I haven't been. I haven't been for the last year and a half. Maybe that's why I was so miserable. I think I just lost faith and hope and gave up on everything. I adopted this defeatist attitude towards life when I shouldn't have. So going back to the video...the video is right. I look around and see people so upset and so miserable with themselves and certain situations that they're in.
Sometimes when things turn out badly or you have a lot of bad experiences, people begin to wonder what life would be like if they were somewhere else? I for one think that moving from a place because "things got bad" is a wrong idea. Granted there are exceptions to that. But for the most part, if you have a problem in one area, and you decide to move to another area...say another state because you want to get away from it, is a dumb idea. Our environments only get bad when we give up and let them get bad. All last year I kept thinking to myself that I would move away and not have to deal with the crap I'm dealing with now. But then I realized that I would be in a different state and still have to deal with the same problems I have now, only I'd be in an environment unfamiliar to me and not know anyone.
So my philosophy is that if there's issues or problems that need to be worked out...I think it's best to stick it out and work through them...take it upon yourself to improve your surroundings and environment. Take control of the things that you can and improve them. Set out to make your life better. Sometimes you've got some really great things or even people sitting right in front of you and you may not even realize it.
I dunno. I hope some of that makes sense to those of you who're reading this. It's just that I look around and looked even in my own life and realized that I wasn't taking full advantage of my potential and controlling and fixing what I needed to so that I could have a better life and be healthier emotionally, spiritually, and physically. Having great health in those areas I feel is key to having a successful and healthful life. Hell, I'm only 22 years old so I'm not going to sit here and tell you I've discovered the secret to having a balance between all three of those or even finding the secret to happiness.
I learned something in my Psychology class at the Art Institute that I've kept with me ever since then. While I was reading in my book, I read about something called "reframing a negative" or simply put, finding the positive out of any negative situation. That old saying comes to mind "Every dark cloud has a silver lining" or something like that. Sometimes we focus too much on the negative aspects of our lives when we really should look at them and learn from them. Figure out what the positive is that we can learn from those and use it to propel ourselves to greater heights and become better, happier individuals. Don't treat any experience as a waste of time...because it wasn't.
No matter what you go through wether it be a break up or your on a sports team and go to the championship and lose...yes...those are negative and bad things but I bet if you were to look at them and go "Well...the outcome wasn't so good...but what did I learn?" then you can take the positive from it and grow as a human being. Perhaps if we all did that, then maybe lives would improve a little bit. Now don't get me wrong. Life isn't all about being happy and peachy and sunshiney and all that jazz, sometimes life can throw curveballs as you and it can be tough. There's always going to be certain exceptions, but as I stated before...adaptability is an important skill to have in this crazy world. As long as you can adapt and learn from your experiences...then that's what life is all about.
Ah...I hope that makes sense to at least one person out there. Comment if you want. I'd love some feedback.