Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Riding the Wave of Hope

The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be.  –Marcel Pagnol 

I am a natural born cynic.  It took nearly a lifetime to figure that out, and I caused those closest to me a lot of frustration, but fortunately I saw the light and went on to make some dramatic changes.  These positive changes came about as the result of a mid-life crisis that hit around my fortieth birthday.  Over a period of time I had come to believe that being happy was too much trouble and way out of reach.  Some will think I am being too hard on myself, but believe me when I say that some radical alterations in attitude were in order. 

About that mid-life crisis: I didn’t change careers, have an affair, buy a sports car, or even acquire a hair-piece, but I did plummet emotionally, physically, and spiritually.  Many people who know me have been shocked to find out how miserable I was during that time.  Over a six-year period (2000-2006) I lapsed into a state of depression that left me nearly paralyzed with sorrow, anxiety, and despair.  Most days I managed to put up a good front, but inside I was dying.  During those dark days some hard truths had to be confronted: this condition had haunted me for most of my adult life, my negative attitude had nearly wrecked my relationship with my family, and my desire for personal growth had hit rock bottom.   

During the spring of 2006 I experienced a wonderful awakening; a spiritual and emotional breakthrough took place.  Something inside me clicked.  I began waking up in the morning without those dark clouds hovering around me.  Most mornings for the previous six years, the thought of getting up and facing the day had left me wanting to crawl back in bed.  However, that began to change.  Rather than just lay there and do nothing, I decided to ride that wave of hope as far as it would take me.  If you’ve ever seen the movie “The Shawshank Redemption,” you may recall what Andy Dufresne (played by actor Tim Robbins) said about life: “You have two choices: Get busy living, or get busy dying.” I chose the former stance.  With God’s help I began to make some changes and develop strategies for being happy every day. 

I am still riding that wave of hope.  You can too.  If I can make those changes and find out how to be happy every day despite life’s problems, then you can as well.  This blog is dedicated to figuring out how to beat the blues, be happier, and better cope with life’s problems.

You can be happy every day.  Come back each week and allow me to share some insights that I trust will be helpful.   

Hang in there; life is worth living and will get better.   

No comments:

Post a Comment