Staring at bankruptcy in the face, immense debt and my crumbling business I asked the common question …
“Why me Lord?”
When I look back I realize how selfish this question is, well, think about it. Why not me? Who else would I suggest to be in this situation? Who would I want to switch roles with? Let’s look at the base of this reality, this is the kind of question many have asked the heavens while going through depression, disappointment, after being fired or retrenched, just after an accident, I mean we can name many scenarios. The common denominator is usually when we’re feeling unfairly dealt with by other people or just life in general. I am hoping you can relate by now.
Feeling like a victim is one sure recipe for disaster. For one, besides being selfish in nature, It is coming from a foundation of comparison. When I began comparing my peers, friends and colleague’s seemingly successful or progressive lives I felt so left behind. Its like my life wasting away and that is one of the worst feelings ever, i mean in this game of life there are no retakes. You cannot change the channel, its no sitcom outchea so time is waiting for nobody. So the more I juxtaposed my life against that of others I kept developing more of a negative filter towards myself, i kept seeing more things i did and was doing wrong.
If you are following here, you will realize that this negative storm can continue to develop into depression, low self esteem, anger, resentment and even physical ailments. There are two essential things i learnt during my hardship moments and maybe this may help you:
Hardships are Universal!!
Whether you are too young for them, too cool, too wealthy, too skinny, too pretty or even too spiritual for them, i have one truth for you. Your time is coming! It sounds like horribly news like the lyrics of the Northlane song “Scarab” but lets face it dead in the face! Instead lets change our approach, when hard times come through we could take away the focus from ourselves and look at the bigger picture. How about choosing to look at the little we have in those moments, GRATITUDE? How about looking at what we are learning in the process? How about looking forward to how we will be refined as a better version of ourselves when we come out on the other side of our suffering?
Hardships are relative!!
We all have hardships and that’s settled so far, but the size of your hardship is relative to your thought process, capacity as person, status in life and the like. For some people the lack of a vehicle is an absolute catastrophe whereas for others all they need is a bus ticket and they move on. All i am saying here is hardship will bring you face to face with a serious reality check of your perspective. So the next time you feel like asking, “Why me?” just remember, wishing it on someone else is like witchcraft and mourning about it is like screaming at a brick wall. Remember Life is by Dsign!
Life By Design! 