‘Have courage and be kind.’ … More like have courage and kick ass.
When it comes to taking life into your own hands and making what you want of it, I have only one cue: do it yourself.
When life throws things at you and you feel like it won’t ever get better, it’s important to remember that you shouldn’t wait for it to change. Easily said then done? Well, great things always come with a little challenge, and your happiness is definitely something fighting for.
I have been thinking about resilience recently, what it means and why it is actually a skill we should all master. The last couple weeks of 2017 have been quite tough on my side, although you won’t hear me talk about it. I spent half of those days with a heavy heart, in fact it was so heavy that I had some of these moments where I thought, ‘this will never go away.’
And then, I remembered that I am stronger than that. I remembered that I am healthy, I am surrounded by people who love me, and even more important – I love myself and know that I can only do better.
2018 is starting off as a challenging year too. My teacher training is bound to become even harder than it has been the past few months, the troubles that have been bothering me these past weeks haven’t been resolved and probably won’t be any time soon, and I miss my boyfriend terribly. (Long-distance relationships suck.) But in the middle of all that, I know that I will be okay. Because I want to. Because I know that I can do it – even though I’m not exactly sure how yet.
Only you can carry yourself through. You can rely on other people, but feel like crap whenever you’re alone; you can wait for things to change, but feel awful for months on end; you can say ‘I will do it later, I will try later,’ but never get the opportunity you’re dreaming of.
Or, you can make a move. Be strong and feel strong. Work hard to get where you want to be. Don’t find excuses to be passive. How many people complain about how unhappy they are, about how unfulfilling their lives are, how their jobs are shit, their relationships are shit… And they slowly sink into more complaints, more frustration, more sadness. This is not how you want to live your life. So if you’re feeling like things aren’t right, move your butt and work on it. It will take time, it might feel like ages before things start lighting up, but this is where resilience comes into play.
Be resilient. Tell yourself that you will get through it. Tell yourself that you’re worth more, and keep working on it so that when you look back, you see how far you’ve come – see the good things that have happened thanks to your perseverance. Soon, you’ll forget about where you started and only see where you are – and this will give you motivation to go even further.
I truly believe that only you can make the changes that you want. And to start with, you have to be brave and believe that you can. Then take action. And remember that you can be awesome as you’d like, if you only try.
Dear 2018, this year I will be even more resilient than ever. Because no one else can do it for me.
What do you do when you face a challenge? What’s your word for 2018?
Lots of love,
Julia x
