Be Great...

Have you ever had a time in your life - some of us have had several - where you feel so low, so beaten, so defeated, so confused, so terrified of the next step being the one to send you off the edge of the cliff? It's hard to know the "right way" to respond, to act. We seek the advice of others, hoping to gain some type of perspective or learn from their similar mistake or circumstance. The truth is we never really learn from someone else. Most of us think that it will be different for us. I will make it work. I won't end up like that. It will be different this time. If I learned from the mistakes of others and listened to all the sound advice I've ever received, I'd be extremely wealthy, never experienced hard times, or know what struggle feels like. Think about it. Growing up, if you had listened to ALL the advice from your parents and didn't think you knew more than they did, they would have saved you a lot of grief. But we aren't made like that. At least no one I've ever met is like that.

There is something to be said for struggling. Battling demons. Battling others. Finding a way to stand back up after you continue to get knocked down. But, within that struggle, it's important to always carry one thing with you that keeps you from going over that edge. For some, it's faith. Faith in God, in themselves, in a child. Others, it could be a tangible item that takes them back to a happier, safer time. Whatever it is, never lay it down.

People will disappoint you. You will disappoint yourself. Life will suck. You will be scared. You will be at the end of your rope. One thing I have learned is that blaming others, being angry, having hatred in your heart, does nothing but pull you deeper and deeper into a very dark place. Revenge rarely yields positivity. Retaliation may feel good for a minute, but those minutes don't last long. At least for us cursed with a good conscience it doesn't. Why waste moments in your life actively trying to hurt someone just because they hurt you? Why waste time blaming and cursing another instead of moving on and starting your next adventure? Just because one chapter is filled with hurtful stories doesn't mean the next one won't hold your miracle.

My point is this - while it may not seem like it in that moment, the most beautiful things can come from the ugliest of places. Embrace your pain. Embrace the struggle. Embrace the fear. Acknowledge the power that it can have over you and seek ways to rise again. Adversity yields greatness if you let it. Today is the day to let yourself be great.