What I’ve Learned

I’ve learned a lot during my lifetime. I’ve learned a lot over the past few years, and even more over the past few months. It seems like I never stop learning. So what have I learned, you may ask? I’ve learned things about heartache and happiness. I’ve learned about love and loss. I’ve learned about anger, hatred and forgiveness. I’ve learned about myself, and the world around me. I’ve learned to be myself, no matter what.

Heartache and Happiness

Throughout life, we all end up with heartache. We find ourselves struggling with survival, both physically and emotionally. Sometimes it may seem as if we just aren’t going to make it. But, we’re stronger than we think sometimes. Sometimes we just need a little push in the right direction to figure it out. And sometimes, it takes something drastic to make us realize what we’re doing. But there is always a light at the end of that proverbial tunnel. There is always happiness waiting around the corner. We just have to reach for it. We just have to jump. We just have to decide, once and for all, to choose happiness over misery and heartache.

Love and Loss

Love is a mystical, mythical, often sought-after emotion that not all of us ever experience. Those of us who are lucky get to feel it. We get to experience the ups and downs that go along with it. But, like most other things in life, love is sometimes a two-edged sword. You see, love is both good and bad, really. It’s great on one hand, because it makes you feel whole. Complete. It’s like a breath of fresh air in an otherwise dreary world. But on the other hand, it also comes with pitfalls and dangers. Now, before you rake me over the coals, listen to me. I don’t mean that those pitfalls aren’t worth it, because they are. Dangers about in everyday life, and love is just one more example. What kind of dangers am I talking about? Well, one of the biggest dangers involved in love is the act of completely opening yourself up. In order for love to even be meaningful, you must open up. You must give yourself completely, or else what’s the point? But in doing so, you also open yourself up to potential heartache. Or Happiness. It could go either way. And the only thing you can do? When Cupid draws back his bowstring and shoots that flaming arrow straight through the center of your heart, the only thing you can really do is surrender.

Anger, Hatred and Forgiveness

Anger and hatred are facts of life that most of us deal with, sometimes even on a daily basis. Sometimes others bring out these aspects of our human nature, as much as we try and try to stop them. Often it’s too easy to just give into that anger, that hatred, and run with it. When this happens, you start building walls around yourself, around your heart, around your very being, that makes it difficult to not only breathe and function, but for anyone else to get in. And that’s where forgiveness comes in. No, forgiveness does not mean condoning. It does not mean acceptance of an action, thought, deed or word. But it does mean letting go. It means making a conscious choice to dismiss the anger and move forward. It’s not easy. In fact, sometimes it’s pretty damn hard.. almost impossible. But at the end of the day, you have two choices.. continue to hate, or forgive and try to reclaim at least some small semblence of yourself before you completely destroy who you are.

What I’ve learned about myself

I’ve learned so much about myself that I don’t even know where to begin. I’ve learned that I CAN take down walls. I CAN allow other people in. I CAN step outside of my little box when I need to. I CAN love, and be loved. I can make decisions, even when they hurt. I can do what I feel is right, even at the cost of my own sanity sometimes. I can be me! I can live. I can love. I can enjoy life. I just have to choose it. And I’ve realized this about myself: I do have the strength to do so.

What I’ve learned about the world around me

Much of the world around me just sucks. I can’t turn on the news without seeing evidence of that. But it’s not the entire world. It’s not everyone. Sometimes you find little rays of sunshine amidst the otherwise dreary universe. And when you do, you’d better take advantage of the opportunity to find that little bit of happiness, because true happiness doesn’t come along often. Not at all.

So, choose love. Choose happy. Choose life. Be strong. Find that faith, that strength, to grab life by the balls and say “I choose!”