“In every problem, there is a lesson to learn, an asset to acquire, a rest to restore, a bitterness to sweeten, a load to lighten or a price to pay.” ~Ikechukwu Joseph
Everyone wants to be happy, stay in health and abundance, feel loved, valued, accepted, get the next big break, have a promotion, the list is endless! But a thought provoking question would be this?
How do you handle life and living when things don’t go your way; or more succinctly, suddenly appears not to go as planned?
As an individual, I can absolutely relate with the feeling of gloom. While it is pretty straightforward to handle beautiful moments, gloomy times can give you a real test of character, motivation, and your essence.
I vividly recall this same day 6 years ago, (5th September, 2016), it was supposed to be normal like every other day. The only difference was that I got a phone call at about noon that had the simple worlds: “Victor, you’ve got to be strong, your mom is gone”. I wasn’t sure how to handle this information because she was not just my mom; she was a primary support system and very personal to me. There wasn’t a single detail about me she wasn’t in notice of. I had to figure out what was next.
My emotion at that time was a mix of bitterness, deep grief and anger. I prayed to be dreaming, but reality stared right in my eyes and would not go away. I had substantially hit rock bottom! That certainly wasn’t what I planned for!
Maybe it lingered too much and the recovery process took longer than I expected-in years, but I was finally able to do just three things, after I struggled for over five years, since that moment.
I was able to stay grateful to God for the 46 years she lived.
I accepted her loss as true, because I couldn’t change it.
I started looking for the best ways to move on and I sure found so much beauty in this, particularly.
While this experience is very personal to me, gloomy moments (often rarely talked about) are entirely diverse and can be distinct, from one person to another. It is very important to aim to fly high, to pursue very big things and to maximize life and living to the fullest limits (I always do this)! However, If you are ever rocked by a gloomy moment (whatever it is), you must always remember that that point in your life is never a full stop, it’s just a coma (a temporary pause). Feel all you want, cry all you want, but don’t stay there! Most of the greatest beautiful stories and people we hear about and see today have also been rocked by several gloomy moments. In fact, your life can yet still hit a progressively upward spiral. This could involve a few sacrifices, cold moments and hard times. Notwithstanding, your beautiful realities are still very much valid!
