“LIFE IS CRUEL AND UNFAIR, MY FRIENDS, AND THAT IS FACT”.

Feeling frightened and distressed by life can feel like standing on the beach as the tide comes in, troubles come at us relentlessly, waves of despair drive us back onto ever higher land. Desperately trying to back away from them makes us stumble, struggling as feet get sucked into sand and even allowing the water to engulf us at times, making us scramble higher and higher onto the rocks. Then just when we are exhausted and losing ground everything starts to calm, the tide will turn and water starts to retreat, leaving behind smooth hard sand, and we can stand firm again. . 

Ralph Waldo Emerson  wrote “We acquire the strength we have overcome” after all if you are alive then you have survived and the thing about survivors is that once they have learnt how to do it they become good at it.

Most of us weather the storm and out run the tide, even though exhausted and worn out by life, we know good times will come again and life will get better. Just as the tide always turns so days will get brighter, warmer, longer, and the winter of our despair will be over. Knowing that, is the secret to survival, no one can survive adversity by thinking this is it, there is no going back, things will never change. Voltaire said “Life is thickly sown with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us”.

 If we are convinced that our troubles will not ebb like the tide then we simply sink under the weight of the water and drown. The turning point is when you discover the core of strength within you that over rides the desire to lie down and give in, that pushes you to break the surface that is threatening to close over you and gulp in life saving air again.

“The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.” Chinese Proverb

Title quote by Stephan Jenkins