You may have heard this quotation before. Albert Einstein once said, "Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving." I think it's sage advice, one of the best ones I've ever heard in my life.
I think about the people around me, in my school, outside of school, at home, in the UK, the US, Canada, Australia and the Philippines. It seems like everybody carries some grudge, some trauma, some burden. It's sad because all of this resentment, sadness and worry simply remain there unceasingly. People carry with them their deep, dark secrets for months, years and entire lifetimes. I find it interesting how every single little thing that you do can change the final outcome of your life. There are an infinite number of places I could be tomorrow, several billion people in this world I could meet this year, an insurmountable number of ways I could die at any point.
What astounds me is how one hug, from one person, at one particular time, in one specific place, can make you feel more loved than you ever have. I find it strange how one petty crime can cause your expulsion from school, how one careless mistake can land you in a juvenile prison, how one relationship with a boy can cause a girl several months of great distress, how one name can change your entire social life, how one insignificant argument can escalate to a divorce, how one book can change your life perspective, how one person's words can motivate you, and how one life well-lived can change millions of others. In a split second, your life could end if it had not been for one special circumstance, or one other person, or if it had been a second later. Life is absolutely crazy.
But you pick yourself up after heartbreak, after tragedy, after all the fretting. You shed your embarrassment, your anguish, your melancholy, and you focus on what you can do to turn things around, implement change, and make things better.
'Life is too short to be lived miserably' is the perfect quotation to epitomize this message. You can't wait for the clouds to subside, you can't expect too much from the Sun. If you want a brighter life, one that's more balanced, then that's your right and your responsibility. Keep your chin up and smile.
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9 comments:
I'm going to be cynical here and tell you a story...
I called a brother to come over today to mail a package for another brother's business. Mom is out of state and I don't drive. The 1st brother didn't show up for 3 hours and it affected my entire day (and attitude) because I had to wait for him.
It's not always about what you can do to improve your life. Other people can cause you aggravation through no fault of your own.
Stepping off my soapbox...
Michael, your maturity is showing.
JJ, I have a brother and a sister. Neither is dependable, never have been. They only aggravate me when I forget that. I have come to learn that they aren't really the cause of the aggravation, I am.... because I expected them to not be themselves.
there's a delicate balance between looking on the bright side of light, and repressing feelings you don't like (and inevitably projecting them onto other people).
i'm still trying to achieve it ;) spiritual people will tell you - focus on the present moment, because nothing else is real. and i believe that, but it's hard to do! thinking about happy times, instead of replaying bad memories, or "what if's" is a good alternative for those of us who arent enlightened ;)
ps. "one life well-lived can change millions of others" beautiful and inspiring quote from michael rivera :)
Douglas,
I don't believe in the 'I let people get to me' mentality.
He IS the cause. I'm disabled and he says, "Call me if you need anything." I do and he does whatever the hell he wants. Man up and back up your words with action!
J.J.: My father is a cynic, and he tells me that it's very rare for people to give you anything but shit. Even gifts are tainted with hidden incentives, the word 'love' denotes a vast number of things (lust, for instance), and advice is given to feed their own egos, or to enhance the 'good side' of their moral balance (not exactly the right intention). What I'm saying is... try to keep your chin up when others put you down.
Douglas: True, our expectations are always to blame.
Yolanda: Yes, the past is the past and the future isn't here yet. I know exactly what you mean. I think I have that approach to life down pretty well, my father has advised me to from a very young age.
Good thoughts and advice. Probably hard for all those people you mention to implement in life, but good stuff. Alan
Your blog posts make me so happy :]
and I have definitely found this post incredibly inspiring! I love it! You are so right about how one person or one thing can change many things in another life. And any of those little things that can change how we feel or put us through unnecessary bull shit (heart breaks, deaths, feelings of loss, anger, failure, shitty work, and things of the like) helps us build character, and in the end we are much better off. :]
Alan: Not easy, but not impossible either.
iDork: Yes, yes, :)
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