Feb 1, 2011

tenacity and perspicacity





So what do you do when things go wrong, bad things happen, times are tough, life rains on your parade? All valid questions with no easy answers.

Life is hard, life is complicated, sometimes, life is defeating. So how do you stay optimistic or inspired when things go awry? It’s not easy, but it’s not impossible, either.

Sometimes it is the difficult things that reveal the greatest beauty in life. The tragedy that makes you stop and appreciate the people you love. Really appreciate them. The horrible day in which everything has gone wrong may offer you the most beautiful of sunsets.

I think the key is staying open, allowing yourself the possibility of possibility. It might just be me, I am quite stubborn. I don’t give up easily on anything. But I’m learning. Sometimes the things to give up on are the things that drive you crazy or make you unhappy or seem insurmountable.

Worry really doesn’t solve anything. I know this, but still, I have the hardest time with that one.

So what to do? I wish I could say that I had the answers. Of course, I don’t. But I do know that time marches forward, and I do know that the sun always rises, and I do know that on the coldest, most frozen of mornings, on those days when the whole world seems to be giving you the cold shoulder, there are flowers lying in wait just below the surface.

Sometimes it takes a lot of tears to thaw them enough, water them enough, to allow them to grow. It takes time, and patience. It takes resiliency, and it takes tenacity. And sometimes, even then, it all still seems impossible.

But hang in there. Hold onto something, anything, that comforts you. Let time move you to a slightly different place, one minute at a time.

Breathe. Give your life a hug. Allow it to be flawed. Give yourself a hug. Allow yourself to be human. Give someone you love a hug. And while you’re at it, lean on them, just a little.

Let your heart open up just one tiny crack and see what comes pouring in, or flooding out.

Melt.


10 comments:

Jem said...

I couldn't agree with you more. As someone who has had a rough few months with one thing and another - nothing made me feel better than just keeping in mind that there could be all manner of wonderful things around the corner and that although life felt difficult that was alright because I'm only human and can't have it together all the time :-)

Kathryn Dyche said...

January is always a tough month for me because it was the month that my father passed away. Even though he's been gone several years now I still feel his loss as though it were yesterday.

It was this tragedy that make me stop and appreciate the people that I love and started me on my artistic journey.

Marcie said...

It's true - that out of the worst..often comes the best. Sitting with it. Being with it. Simply accepting and going with it certainly helps.
So beautifully penned!!!

d smith kaich jones said...

so hard to not second guess oneself - to think we should be doing this, not that. so hard to not look around and think we should be doing what everyone else is doing. so hard to do nothing when our bodies & minds tell us to slow down, to, as you said, breath. allow the flaws. i go a step further and embrace the flaws. it is always the quirks and crazies and the not-perfects that i love best in others, so why not in myself also?

:) working on that.

i bow to your wisdom, dear kelly.

Lindy and Paul said...

I love this one, and the image of the icicle. I'm keeping this in my gems/inspiration folder! :)

Unknown said...

Sometimes it is the difficult things that reveal the greatest beauty in life. You said that so beautifully. I love it.

Jamie said...

How did you know I was having a bad day and needed an attitude adjustment? I needed this post today!

Anna said...

Great post! I'm always glad to have the love and support of family and friends to carry me through life's difficult times.

ELK said...

i am holding my breath .. you have helped today .. leaning is a good thing!

Prairie Girl Studio said...

when i was 19, one of my brothers was taken from us suddenly in an automobile accident ... my world went dark ... i thought the sun would never shine again.
i had never ever felt so lost and scared and sad and mad. but i knew i couldn't stay in that place ... i knew my brother, who lived life to the fullest wouldn't want me to. i learned acceptance ... i held onto the memories ... i allowed his love for me and for life to warm my heart ~ to thaw what could have remained frozen and numb ... i learned to turn energy that robs into energy that thrives...
in time i did feel the sun on my face again ...
and it was more glorious than i had remembered ... because now it was more precious than ever ...
because we never know when this moment might be taken from us ...

i really, really love and believe so much in what you have shared with us, kelly ... you are so right ... there are flowers lying in wait just below the surface ... oh, yes there is ... : )

xoxo
prairiegirl