What I know for sure . . .

 

Life is full of ups and downs, wins and losses, sweet and sour, dark and light. You don't get to be my age without having learned a few truths. This is some of what I know for sure  . . .

 

Life is hard.  Its not meant to be easy, but what I know for sure is this.  IT IS WORTH ALL THE PAIN AND THE STRUGGLE.  Morning always follows night.  There is light at the end of every tunnel. 

 We are living in a world where Suicide is at epidemic proportions.  I do not want to demean people's feelings. I know how real they are and how very painful. I have been there.  I have been in that place where I did not want to be here for one more minute, where I couldn't see any hope, when the struggle didn't seem worth it . . . I have been to the bottom.  I have felt totally and utterly alone.  I have felt unloved and unwanted and worthless.

I have felt like the choice to stay was the cowardly one to make.

But at the age of 63, I am grateful I was a coward,

and that I chose to stay.

 

All of those kids who called me names when I was at school, who made my days utter misery, who made me feel like a piece of garbage . . .  they have not mattered in a very long time.  The struggle made me stronger, more compassionate, more caring.  I learnt to never treat another human being that way that I was treated.  I have learnt that it was more about them and their weaknesses than it ever was about me.  I have learnt that I never was garbage and never will be. 

All those things I thought I had failed at?  I learned that sometimes the greatest lessons come in failing. That even our failures have great worth and that sometimes the greatest growth comes in our "Failures," and that really, there is no such thing as failure.  Failure only comes in life when you decide to give up. Failure is in not trying. 

 

I learned that we are never, ever . . .  truly alone, no matter how alone we might feel at any given time. There is always someone who will listen.  But they can't listen unless we let them know that we need to be heard, that we are hurting, that we are at the bottom of what seems like a very deep hole.  We need to learn to reach out to the helping hand, the listening ear, the caring heart, no matter how much of a struggle it might feel like in doing so.  Those words "Nobody cares" are the lies of the great deceiver.  Someone always cares, and they are waiting for us to open up to them, to share, to unburden ourselves, to listen, and yes . . .  to help.  One of life's great universal truths it that there is ALWAYS someone who cares, about you  and about how you are feeling. You. Are. Never. Alone.  Just be brave enough to reach out.  Just take every speck of courage you have in your soul and reach out. To your family if that is possible. To your Pastor. To your teachers. To your family Doctor. To your friends. To strangers.  If you will reach out, I promise you someone will grab your hand and hold on and try to help you to reach that safe place, that maybe you can't see right now, but that I can promise you is there.  You are NOT alone, no matter how alone you might feel.

 

 Just keep moving forward, never giving up, hoping and believing that there will be an end to the way you are feeling right now, the light at the end of the tunnel, and end to the darkness and it doesn't come by giving up.  It comes from moving forward, from taking even just the tiniest glimmer of hope and holding onto it. Please, please, please oh please don't think that this, right now, is all that there is in this life for you, or all that life holds for you.  Just have the courage to hang on and work your way through whatever it is that is dragging you down.  Courage is not in giving up and lying down. THAT is the cowards way . . .  Courage truly is that quiet voice at the end of the day that says . . .  I will try again tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow and however many tomorrows it takes.

Because YOU truly IS loved, and I know for a fact

that the bad times are not forever.  Just have the courage to hang on

for a little while longer and to reach out your hand.

I promise you someone will grab it.

You will get through this.

The way you are feeling right now.  It matters.

YOU matter.

Give life and the people around you the time

to prove it to you. 

 

I have learned that the pain that others cause me, says much more about them than it does about me, and I accept that.  That doesn't mean that things don't still hurt. There are some things in my life that will always hurt.  But I can live with them, even if I don't  understand them now. I have faith that I will one day.  There is help out there to help you find that faith also.  Where there is faith there is always hope, and where there is hope, there is a tomorrow, and it can be much brighter than you can imagine.  It doesn't mean that I still don't fall or fail or have days when I feel worthless, or even unloved. When I feel those things, I reach out and help always comes . . .  I pray, I believe, I hope.

 

A thought to carry with you  . . . 

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *.˛.Success if not final, failure is not fatal,

it is the courage to continue that counts.

~Winston Churchill •。★★ 。* 。 

 

In the kitchen today  . . .  Boiled Dinner.  One of my favourite things.  

I wish for each of you a lovely Wednesday.  Be positive and don't forget!

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And I do too!