Life is Hard, But We Keep Moving

We don’t develop courage by being happy every day. We develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity. ~ Barbara de Angelis

A warm winter in some ways seems like a blessing, an escape and/or temporary reprieve from the ice and snow.  But this winter has seen it’s share of hard times for my family and friends.  The butcher’s bill has included the death of my Granny and my Great Aunt Catherine.  This has made the holidays tough for the family, both women were feisty women, one a hillbilly, the other the prototypical Irish mother and both lived into their 90’s.  I wrote a couple of pieces about my granny when she died as well as a resource piece on overcoming loss:

Life Lessons from Granny

Happiness is my Granny

Happiness Resources: Overcoming Loss

I have another friend who is struggling through a divorce and I’ve watched this dance before.  No matter how amicable people try to be in the process, the inevitable pain and hurt involved spills out.  I’m far too familiar with divorce, it has been an ever-present companion in my life, one I would have happily done without.

My friends and their friends have not been spared either.  An old friend and fellow blogger has also just written a really amazing piece about moving forward with cancer.  She’s a two-time survivor of cancer and a really wonderful person and as the title of the piece says, In A Blink of an Eye, Everything Changes check it out, it’s a great piece and definitely worth the short-time to read it.

I’ve had my own emotional struggles in the last month and I’m happy to say I’m doing much better with my own issues.  Things really can turn on a dime just from getting the right information or word at the right time.

But tonight’s piece is not a downer, tonight’s piece is about hope.  The fact is things can get better, not by ignoring what’s happening, but by facing, accepting and working through the adversity you are facing.

We get stronger through overcoming adversity, I wish it wasn’t true but it is, but there is good news within that reality.  The good news is that you can overcome the bad things that happen in your life and you’ll be more ready for what comes next.  My biggest advice is that you never try to take on these things alone, I operated that way for a good part of my life, it was a mistake.  There are people who will listen to you, help you, give you a shoulder to cry on, and ear to listen to your troubles.  Often, you find out in these times who the best people in your life really are.  At one point in my life, at one of these times, I would come to realize that my friend Kara, was a saint and one of the best people I know.  The more clouds that exist, the more opportunities there are for silver linings.

Here’s a short and excellent piece from essentiallifeskills.net, Tips for Overcoming Adversity.  The advice in the piece is really solid and I think reinforces some of what I’ve said above.  One of my favorite quotes is that it’s always better in the end, if it’s not better, it’s not the end.  Keep fighting through my friends, and have a happy day. ~ Rev Kane