A Letter to Someone I Love

“I frequently-regularly-often trip while reaching for my high ideals. Then I giggle, or cry, and get back up.”

Erika Harris

“It's not that I'm so smart; it's just that I stay with problems longer.”

Albert Einstein

My friend,

I know you’ve had a hard day.  You worked hard and it wasn’t appreciated.  Instead what was pointed out was what you did wrong.  You are also suffering because of someone else’s actions, though you had absolutely nothing to do with them.  You feel tired, discouraged, and lonely.  You were hoping things would look better at the end of the day, but they don’t.

Then you realized something:  you’ve been through this before.  You’ve endured rejection, criticism, loss, loneliness, fear, and pain.  And you’ve survived them.  The truth is, at this moment you’re fine.  Yes, you feel lonely, but tomorrow may be different.  Yes, you felt wounded, but you’ve seen relationships heal.   You’ve felt trapped by circumstances, but you’ve freed yourself.  You’ve let others rule over you and make decisions for you, whether those decisions were in your best interests or not, and you’ve taught yourself independence.  You’ve struggled financially, but eventually a way out appeared.

So you will survive today.  You will also survive tomorrow.

But here’s the thing:  If you had a bad day, smile and thank God it was only one day.  If, however, what happened today happens almost every day, then it’s time to make some changes.  You may not how, so I’ll tell you:  take a step, any step in a new direction.  It may turn out you went the wrong way.  If so, try a different direction.  But Keep Going. 

This won’t make your life perfect or easier.  In fact, in some ways, it may seem to become more difficult, not less.  That’s actually a good sign.  Difficulties are for those who are fighting for life, as you are.  You are fighting for your life, your faith, and your freedom.  It seems that it would be easier to give up, to surrender to the moods and whims of others, but trust me, I’ve tried that and it doesn’t work.

So, tomorrow, when you wake up, do the following:

·      Practice gratitude

·      Take one step towards your goal

·      Take more than one step. 

·      Take as many steps as possible.

·      Know that “difficulties” may be blessings in disguise and that they are part of the process.

·      Don’t worry about the opinions of others.  No matter what you do, someone is going to be unhappy.  So don’t let it be you.

·      In fact, make happiness and contentment your goal.  You can do this by trusting God and being in each moment as best as you can.

·      Accept your failings, but don’t acquiesce to them.

Do these things and you will have better days.  They won’t be perfect, but they’ll definitely be better.  Just Get Started and Keep Going…no matter what anyone says.