The Weather Inside is Frightful

War is coming.  It's always coming for me.  So many days I spend with my mind locked in a battle against itself: the one side aches to drag me down into the depths of depression, while the other side struggles to combat it's aggressor with words of wisdom and optimism.  Some days, though, I find myself in the eye of the storm, as something strikes me and clears the skies; and in those wonderful moments of clarity, I find hope.

It's been some time since I've brought my swirling storm of thoughts to life via the internet, and I must administer my apologies for that.  Adjusting to my new home has take its toll on my passion to write (backwards as that is, as I generally find writing a good release).  Today, though, I have found new inspiration in a beautiful set of words given to me by a dear friend, and I felt the need to write about it.

Like me, my friend has struggled with many emotional difficulties throughout his life, and like any of us, he has encountered situations that left him in an agonizing conflict of emotions.  While recently dealing with one such set of circumstances, in a sea of sadness, he somehow found a drop of hope, and I wanted to share that hope with you:

In so many ways I found this amazing.  There is so much negativity in what he's dealing with, and he's been filled with such sadness that my heart aches for his sake; and yet, he found a way to see the good.  And not only did he see the importance of moving on, but of learning from the situation.  It wasn't just an end to him, it was a means to an end- a tool to help him in his journey through life.

Bad relationships, financial difficulties, food shortage, family feuds: these are just a handful of the myriads of problems that each of us can and do face, and no one can deny the toll these things take on us.  And yet, despite the pain we are enduring, it is an infallible truth that we as humans thrive on positivity.  The question arises, then: how do we find this positivity?

Each day, the sun rises, and the sun sets.  Each day, we have the option of being angry that the day is over, or seeing each end as a new beginning- a chance to start over, while using the day before as a learning tool.  My friend fought for his mind to see this, and we each have that same choice.  And though my friend has had many a difficult day- both before and after he spoke these words- the fact remains that he recognizes the importance of learning from a bad situation, and that is a mindset we all can learn from.