You’ve seen them before. It’s always this time of year as New Year’s Eve approaches.
People posting on social media saying stuff like: “2019 was just the worst! Can’t wait for next year to be better!” or posts like “Got nothing but bad cards dealt to me this year. C’mon 2020, give me good things.”
I get it. Bad things happen to everyone. And, sometimes (or even most of the time) they are out of your control.
Life is hard.
One of the motivational speakers I listen to is Les Brown. His story of perseverance is remarkable. If you’re unfamiliar with him, I encourage you to go check him out and watch his videos.
Anyway, in one of his speeches Les Brown talks about the difficulties of life.
He said, “Because things happen to ya in life, that you can never ever anticipate. And many times when those things happen, you wanna give up! Easy is not an option. It’s hard living! Life is hard… It’s hard handling just the tragedies of life. It’s hard!”
The part of that that hits me so hard is that “easy” is not an option. I have found that this is absolutely true.
I’ve gone through the ringer in the past. A decade ago was a tough time for sure. But, 2019 was the hardest year for me in quite awhile. Close friends dealing with tragic situations, tough decisions at work, more turnover than usual, ups and downs, feeling far from God and having a hard stretch personally where I just struggled to be me.
It was a hard year. A lot more pain than I’ve dealt with in a really long time.
Ultimately, I got to a point where I had to face it. All of it. I had to face my part in it and take responsibility for making things better.
That’s the aspect of those posts I referenced above that I can’t get my head around. No matter what happens in your life, even if it’s out of your control — the future being different isn’t about getting dealt better cards or the universe just magically sending good things your way.
That’s just not how it works.
If you want your life to change, it’s up to you. You have to make changes. You have to figure out what you need to do differently to get to where you want to be in life. Make a plan and work your plan.
That’s what I am trying to do. And I’m glad to say it’s been working. I know you can too. Bring on 2020! Let’s make it great!
