I’m having a pretty difficult day today. As one of my friends mentioned to me a few days ago, I’ve really had a bad month. Truth is, it isn’t me that has had a bad month, but those around me in the things that have happened, but I guess it has really taken a deeper toll on me than I thought.
Today, in spite of getting my work done, I find that there isn’t much else I feel like doing. I don’t want to do anything but cry and I’ve shed quite a few tears. I haven’t eaten a bite of food, drank a drop of water or even coffee, and as most of you know, that’s a staple in my diet.
As I was browsing my new email, I came across this little article from SparkPeople, and it couldn’ have come at a better time. It’s just what I needed to see and hear, and I think when I finish this, I’m going to lie across the bed and reflect on it for a while.
“Suffering is the tuition one pays for a character degree.”– Richard M. Rayner, M.D.,
What You Really Learn from Hardships
“Perhaps you think this isn’t very ‘positive’ sounding, but I find it helps people (patients and friends) put hardship, which is inevitable, to good use,” says Richard. “People can use their suffering either to gain character or become bitter. The ones who choose bitterness live a long, slow death. The ones who choose character truly live.”
Richard is right on the money. Happiness and sadness don’t happen to us–they come from within. The story of your life will be written with or without your help. The next chapter is happening while you read this. Will you wait to see what it says later, or will you help write it?