The truth does not cease to exist when it’s forgotten or
ignored.
From https://www.marcandangel.com/2025/01/08/5-painfully-obvious-truths-we-tend-to-forget-in-hard-times/#more-7399
by Angel Chernoff
You know how you can hear or read something dozens of times
in various ways before it finally sinks in? The truths listed below fall firmly
into that category — timeless lessons that many of us probably learned a long
time ago, and have been reminded of year after year, yet for whatever reason we
tend to forget in the heat of the moment.
This, my friends, is my attempt at helping all of us, myself
included, “get it” and “remember it” once and for all…
1. Life is relatively short and nothing is guaranteed.
We know deep down that life is short, and that death will
happen to all of us eventually, and yet we are infinitely surprised when it
happens to someone we know. It’s like walking up a flight of stairs with a
distracted mind, and misjudging the final step. You expected there to be one
more stair than there is, and so you find yourself off balance for a moment,
before your mind shifts back to reality and how the world really is.
So let that reminder be a wake-up call to truly live your
life today! Don’t ignore death, but don’t be afraid of life either. Be afraid
of a life you never lived because you were too afraid to take positive action.
Death is not the greatest loss in life, and neither is injury. The greatest
loss is what dies inside you while you’re still alive and capable.
So even when life gets messy, be bold, be courageous, be a
scared to death, and then take the next step anyway. Invest your heart and soul
into whatever you have right in front of you. Bring passion into otherwise
ordinary moments… Love what you do, until you can do what you love. Love where
you are, until you can be where you love. Love the people you’re with, until
you can be with the people you love most. This is the way we find more
happiness, opportunity, and peace on the average day.
2. Everything will change again soon.
Embrace change and realize that it’s necessary. It won’t
always be obvious at first, but in the end most forms of change are worthwhile
because they force us to grow. So keep yourself in check right now…
What you have today may become what you had by tomorrow. You
never know. Things change, often spontaneously. People and circumstances come
and go. Life doesn’t stop for anybody. It moves rapidly and rushes from calm to
chaos in a matter of seconds, and happens like this to people every day. It’s
likely happening to someone nearby right now.
Sometimes the shortest split second in time changes the
direction of our lives. A seemingly innocuous decision rattles our whole world
like a meteorite striking Earth. Entire lives have been swiveled and flipped
upside down, for better or worse, on the strength of an unpredictable event.
And these events are always happening — like all the senseless violence and
drama we see in our world today.
So just remember, however good or bad a situation is now, it
will change. That’s the one thing you can count on. Accept it. Breathe. Be
where you are. You’re where you need to be right now. There’s a time and place
for everything, and every hard step is necessary. Just keep doing your best,
and don’t force what’s not yet supposed to fit into your life. When it’s meant
to be, it will be.
3. Changing your response is what puts you back in control.
Have patience with everything that remains imperfect or
unfinished in your head and heart. And realize that patience is not about
waiting, but the ability to keep a good attitude while working hard to stay
true to your intuition and values. This is your life, and it is governed by
your choices. May your actions speak louder than your words. May your daily
choices preach louder than your lips. May your inner sense of satisfaction be
your noise in the end.
And if your present life only teaches you one thing, let it
be that taking a passionate leap is always worth it. Even if you have no idea
where you’re going to land — even when there are so many unknowns — be brave
enough to stand up and listen to your intuition. Remember that the most
powerful moments in life happen when you find the courage to let go of what
can’t be changed. Because as Viktor Frankl said, when you are no longer able to
change a situation, you are challenged to change yourself — to grow beyond the
unchangeable. And that changes everything! (Note: Marc and I discuss this in
more detail in the Passion & Growth chapter of “1,000 Little Things Happy,
Successful People Do Differently”.)
4. Life’s storms can be a source of long-term strength.
Hard times are like strong storms that blow against you. And
it’s not just that these storms hold you back from places you are trying to go.
They also tear away from you all but the essential parts of your ego that
cannot be torn, so that you are left only with the foundation of who you really
are.
Ultimately you realize you are here to endure these storms,
to sacrifice your time and risk your heart. You are here to be bruised by life.
And when it happens that you are hurt, or betrayed, or rejected, let yourself
sit quietly with your eyes closed and remember all the good times you had, and
all the sweetness you tasted, and everything you learned. Tell yourself how
amazing it was to live, and then open your eyes and live some more.
Because to never struggle would be to never grow. You must
let go of who you were so you can become who you are. Again, it is within the
depths of the strongest and darkest storms that you often discover within you
an inextinguishable light, and it is this light that illuminates the path
forward.
5. You don’t need all the answers right now.
Accept the feeling of not knowing exactly where you are
going, and train yourself to love and appreciate this sensation of freedom.
Because it is only when you are suspended in the air, with no destination in
sight, that you force your wings to open fully so you can fly. And as you soar
around you still may not know where you’re traveling to. But that’s not what’s
important. What’s important is the opening of your wings. You may not know
where you’re going, but you know that so long as your wings are spread, the
winds will carry you forward.
Truth be told, some of the greatest outcomes that transpire
in your life will be the ones you never even knew you wanted. As long as you
keep your mind open to new perspectives while you’re moving forward, there
really are no totally wrong turns in life, only paths you didn’t know you were
meant to travel. And you never can be certain what’s around the corner.
It could be everything, or it could be nothing. You keep gliding steadily
forward, and then one day you realize you’ve come a long way from where you
started.
All details aside, someday all the pieces will come
together. Unimaginably good outcomes will likely transpire in your life, even
if everything doesn’t turn out exactly the way you had anticipated. And you
will look back at the messy times that have passed, smile, and ask yourself…
“How in the world did I get through all of that?”
Keep coming back. It works if you work it, so WORK IT,
YOU’RE WORTH IT!