What life has taught me so far.

“Life moves on, whether we act as cowards or heroes. Life has no other discipline to impose, if we would but realize it, than to accept life unquestioningly. Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate or despise, serves to defeat us in the end. What seems nasty, painful, evil, can become a source of beauty, joy, and strength, if faced with an open mind. Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such”

― Henry Miller

If there is one thing in life I have learned as a young adult is that life moves on. You're not going be sad forever, nor are you going to be happy forever. Struggles come and go, happy moments come and go. Life truly is a roller-coaster (or a bike ride, actually). For me to be able to enjoy the downhill, I have to suffer and struggle to go up the hill. It hurts, it's painful, you want to give up. But you don't, you keep going because you'll get the view from the top of the mountain. You'll be able to take a deep breath and smile and feel accomplished because you're at the top, and you get to enjoy the ride down. Life sometimes may seem slow, but you can't spring uphill - you have to put yourself in a lower gear and pedal hard. Sometimes you have to be humble and realize that right now you might not be doing that great in some aspects in life, but you have to start slow today to be fast tomorrow. 

When I am feeling discouraged, I often look back in my life and remember where I was in life. I was much more insecure, really didn't have a direction to go in life, and didn't have a lot figured out. Even though currently I don't have everything in place, I know what I want and how to get there. Half of battle is fought.

Another thing that I have realized in the past 6 months is that my outlook on life affects how I live my life and how I deal with the dark times. If I am constantly discouraged and thinking negative things, I will keep finding myself defeated and beaten. If I have confidence in me and know that I can do this, I will. Someone yesterday told me "I don't know how you can always be so energetic". Hey, guess what. Most of the times I feel exhausted, but I tell my body to keep going, and I smile. I am not going to be dwelling on the little things in life that tire me or bring me down.

It takes courage to become what you really are and what you're destined to be. I choose to live a life I am proud of, I choose to be me and face all the fears and bumps on the road. It's much easier to be me, instead of daydreaming about being some perfected version of a person that doesn't exist. The past and the struggles are building me up to be the strongest I can be, and I am thankful for that.