Sometimes life sucks. I would be doing you a disservice if I told you otherwise. I could use this blog to tell you that everything is going to be okay always and that we don’t need to worry about bad things happening. But that’s just not true.
At this very moment, I am in the midst of transitions that are extremely difficult. My boss has resigned his position – which in and of itself is difficult as we navigate these new waters. However, my boss and his family have become my own family. Things will be different.
I also currently live more than 3000 miles from my flesh-and-blood family. My nephew was born April 1, 2020 (no joke!!!) and I still have yet to meet him! Covid cancelled my trip to visit my family in May, meaning I haven’t seen my mom since Christmas 2019 and I haven’t seen my dad and one brother and his wife since August 2019. And I haven’t seen my other brother and his wife since Christmas 2018. So to say it’s been difficult would be an understatement.
I could keep going in this vein, explaining all of the issues I’ve faced and the troubles that have torn me down. But that’s not my point. I wrote about those things above to let you know: I’ve been there, I am there, and I’m sure I’ll be there again some day. Life has it’s rocky, feel-terrible, deep underground moments and we ALL face them! No one is left unscathed by the pain of life.
As has kind of become my mantra through these messages of hope, #youarenotalone. Seriously, you’re not alone!
Now for my point: yes, sometimes life is terrible. Sometimes we want to dig a hole, hide ourselves, and never come back again. BUT!!! I’m telling you – there is peace in this life, especially when things are most terrible.
Further down, I’m going to give you some of my go-to things to find peace; however, I want to tell you what peace is before I tell you how to find it. I’m not going to give you a dictionary definition. You can look that up yourself. It never did me a whole lot of good.
How I define peace: that moment when you take a step back from what is going on around you, when you realize that the bad isn’t the only thing happening, and you choose to cling to hope for the future even in the midst of chaos.
Above, I told you some of the negatives of my life. Now I’m going to share some of the positives: even though I haven’t met my nephew, I get to spoil him rotten from 3000 miles away and I get to see pictures of him often (which wasn’t always a thing. You used to have to take pictures with film, take a week to get them printed, and then mail them! Crazy, I know!). The distance from my family has actually helped me grow closer with my brothers. We used to kind of hate each other! But now we connect about so many things. I don’t get to see my parents, but I do get to talk with them. I get to hear about what’s happening in their lives and celebrate alongside them.
Yes, my boss and his family are my friends and my West Coast adopted family, but they are not my only friends. I have an entire network of people who care about me, who keep track of how I’m doing, and who earnestly pray for me as I pray for them in return. These things give a second meaning to #youarenotalone, right? At first I meant that you’re not alone in how you’re feeling. But we also need to remember that we are not alone! There are almost always people around! And if you are struggling and/or suffering and you have no one you can trust or reach out to in person because of circumstances in your life – guess what? I’m here! You can message me ANY TIME.
We don’t have to accept the negative things in life and just sink into the belief that this is the only way things will ever be. Things can and will get better, my friend! You don’t ever have to walk this path alone ever again.
So – how do we get peace, you ask? I’m going to give you some of my best practices and then I will end with the thing that has given me peace, even in life’s darkest pits of despair.
- Shut down as many voices around you as you possibly can!
- Turn off all social media for at least 12 hours (24 if you really want to challenge yourself!) I promise, you’re not going to miss much, and you’ll easily catch up.
- Take some time to sit on your own.
- Journaling is one of my favorite pastimes for alone time in attempting to find peace.
- Find your happy place – and I don’t just mean an imaginary place!
- If you can’t actually go anywhere for the time being, use pictures to create your own secret get-away.
- If you can go somewhere, do it!
- My happy place is beside the water, which is why I shared the picture above. I don’t swim, but sitting by the water… there really is no place I’d rather be here on earth.
- You don’t need to go anywhere for long periods of time unless it is your desire and you have the ability to do so. Just getting out for a short time will help you gain a little peace in your life.
- Friends
- If you have a friend you know you can trust, purge your thoughts to them. Just let all the negative come flooding out. Sometimes we don’t even need anyone to respond; sometimes it’s good to just vent!
- Faith – I’m going to use an entire paragraph to give you my thoughts on this!
Okay, hopefully some of the information above is helpful for you. I’m going to talk about faith. Whether you agree with me or not, I hope you’ll at least read these next words.
I believe that there is a God out there Who created heaven and earth and everything above, on, and below. I believe that He knows me by name and is fully invested in my life. I believe that He loved me so much that He sent His Son to die on the cross and release me from my sins – my wrong choices – and rise from the dead so that I can live with Him for all eternity. Because I have this faith, when the storms of life come rampaging through… when things seem the darkest… when it feels like your whole world is crashing down… we can move forward in full faith, knowing that this bad isn’t the end for us and we can cling to that hope; which, in turn, brings us peace, even in the worst of times.
If you’ve made it this far, bravo! This has been a long post. But I feel everything written here is important.
Don’t live life alone, beloved. There are far better things out there for you than you’ve ever imagined.
Don’t forget to like, comment, subscribe, and share!
Author 