Today I was on the bike at the YMCA doing my usual reading with iPod blaring and came across this passage:
We all write our life stories as if we were novelists... with beginnings, conflicts, turning points, and endings. And the way we characterize our past setbacks profoundly influences how satisfied we are with our current lives. Unhappy people tend to see setbacks as contaminants that ruined an otherwise good thing, while generative adults see them as blessings in disguise. Those who live the most fully realized lives... tend to find meaning in the obstacles.Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a Word that Can't Stop Talking (New York: Crown Publishers, 2012), 263.
It kinda speaks to what I was doing in yesterday's post. Viewing my past setbacks as a contaminant instead of a blessing. In a way though that sounds like a cheesy "Every cloud has a silver lining" kind of statement. The problem is finding the silver lining in this cloud.
What I also found funny about this and other things I've read in the book is that these are things I seemed to intrinsically (big word) know, but I had to read them before my brain said, "pay attention stupid, and do this."
It's hard to change how you think about things, especially when you've thought a certain way about them for a long, long time. I'm hoping that I can though.
So maybe the journey of finding the new me isn't as scary today as I thought it was yesterday. Maybe I need to look at it as an adventure that not a lot of people are lucky enough to embark on. And my reward at the end of it won't be some prize or parade, but the satisfaction of knowing and loving myself, who I am, more then I ever have.
Edit: I should also give credit where credit is due and say that Sam's comment on yesterday's post also helped lighten my morning a little so that the passage above could really sink in.
Hehe!
ReplyDeleteYeah this is the spirit ;) good passage man, it was kind of what I was trying to say, but this said it way better haha.
Most people get depressed and saddened later in life, because the things that were once easy slowly become harder and harder to maintain. So in some ways you are lucky to have something that will become only easier as time passes.
Provided you keep challenging yourself like you are doing,
You seem to be improving with night and day!
(and no probs on the comment, thats what these things are for right?!)
Sam
I don't know about "night and day" improvement. There are good days and bad days. But the bad days aren't nearly as bad as they once were back when. I do think I am improving day by day though.
DeleteAs for the comment I just really wanted to give you some credit. It was nice waking up this morning and seeing some supportive and encouraging words. It's a good way to start the day. :)
Now that I say that I think I may need to tape some encouraging phrases to the mirror so that it's one of the first things in the morning I see. That would at least be an attempt to get me in the right frame of mind every morning don't you think? :)