Above the Clouds

I would encourage you to remember that even when skies are gray and looming overhead, the sun is always shining above them; the warm, glowing light will shine through. 

It always does!  (♥ ya, Amy!)

When Life Hands You Lemons...

The obvious answer is: make lemonade, but I had a very close friend who answered with, "throw them back and say, 'I don't want that shit'".  (I was going through a particularly challenging time in college.)

And even though I couldn't just throw my lemons back at life, it made me laugh, and that was just what I needed.

Life is hard. Anyone who says it isn't is lying. There are ups and downs for everyone. There are good times and bad. Defeat and achievement. Much like the tides of the sea or the rising and setting of the sun there is an ebb and flow in life. Period. No matter who you are, what you do, or where you live you will have your highs and lows throughout your entire life. Sometimes they are easier to deal with, sometimes they are harder. Sometimes they are quick, and sometimes they last so long that you forget what it's like to be on top, but in the end, we all grow stronger.

The important thing is that we continue to grow, we continue to learn from mistakes, that we continue to be inspired, and that we simply continue. One person's struggles may not compare to another, but we are all similar because we all struggle, we all experience defeat and achievement in one way or another. And that's what makes us so uniquely different. We are who we are. We are all individuals, no better or worse than our neighbor but the same.

I am me. I am proud of who I am. I'm taking my lemons, and I'm throwing them back.

Life, I don't want that shit.

If You Never Did, You Should

I am a person that is inspired, that hopes to inspire, that seeks inspiration. I love how inspiration comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Sometimes it comes as a complete surprise. Sometimes it comes from a person. Sometimes it comes from words, written in an article, posted on the oh-so-wonderful world wide web for viewers everywhere to read. That's what happened to me today.

The article I read was titled If You Never Did, You Should, and while it did pose as a tribute to Dr. Suess' quote, it also had an extremely inspiring message written inside of it about fear in life.

Fear is everywhere. There are varying degrees of it, but we are each affected in one way or another, or have been at some point in our lives. Fear is a challenging opponent that holds us back, but if we have the strength to rise above it it can easily be our saving grace, allowing us to discover what we are truly capable of and to remind us of our inner strength. We can learn from our fear, grow from our fear, and more than anything, we can inspire ourselves by accomplishing whatever our fears are holding us back from.

It sounds so simple, and while the premise is, it is much easier said than done. (I've found that most important things in life are.)

The article put it perfectly, so rather than paraphrase, I've got to share what the author wrote word for word:

"...we shouldn’t allow fear to limit us. That we should try to live in such a way that we are open to new experiences; that it is ok to be cautious, and it is ok to have a certain amount of fear or anxiety, but that we can not live our lives dominated by that fear..."

Amen.

Fear is an obstacle on our path to accomplishment. It stares us straight in the eyes, assumes itself as bigger than us, and tries in every possible way to prevent us from continuing on our way, and, usually, the fear is in our own heads. We have to constantly remind ourselves that we are bigger than fear itself, that we will overcome it, and when we do, not only will we be a stronger person, but we will also feel more empowered and ready to tackle the next hurdle.

If you'd like to read the full (short) article, click here.

I hope you are as inspired as I was.