Life Doesn't Happen to You

For all of the negative things that I am dealing with now, I've had what many people have said is a surprisingly good attitude. In the last several years of my life, I have come to realize that everything truly is an opportunity. The end of a relationship is an opportunity for you to face yourself, your patterns, and resentments. The death of a loved one is an opportunity to honor that relationship and continue the legacy of that person's life with your own. The loss of a job in an opportunity to forge a new future and push toward new opportunties, and seeking new opportunities where you didn't know there were opportunities before. The loss of income and even possessions like a house is an opportuntity to change your lifestyle, to humble yourself, and seek help from others.

Jean Paul-Sartre talked about how every situation offers choice which allows for the full expression of free will. He said this was limitless and gave the example of being in a concentrate camp to prove his point... even if you had no way of avoiding getting into the camp, once there you can react in a wide variety of ways, internally and externally. He lived through that, and it certainly made him stronger... for myself, I wish never to endure that kind of human suffering.

Regardless of what I wish will or won't happen to me, my lack of control does not mean that life just happens to me. I am understanding now more than ever with my attitude that life is what you make of it. And there are so many opportunities, in fact, maybe more found in adversity than outside of it.