Dealing With The Hardest Things In Life

Image courtesy of mrpuen / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 
Forgiveness
At one time, it was really difficult for me to forgive someone who had wronged me. I always held people to high standards and wanted my friends to be the kind of friend to me that I was to them. If things didn't work out, I would simply take that person out of the equation and keep moving forward. Needless to say, by removing every imperfect person in your life, you eventually find yourself very lonely.  However, as I get older, God challenges me by placing people in my path that I cannot simply remove- I'm forced to deal with them. So in a nutshell, having the ability to forgive comes with growth. No one is perfect, including myself. I started to lower my standards for people in my life and I stopped expecting them to behave and respond to things as I would. I no longer throw away relationships because someone makes a mistake because no one is the same person all of the time. People tend to act out of character depending on what they are going through in life. At present, I try my best to forgive and move on and that has allowed me to have more stable and longer lasting relationships.

Adaptability
Just when I thought I was becoming a "big girl" as I got this forgiveness thing down, I realized something else was keeping me from growing. Change. My Chinese astrological element is water. In other words, I can take the shape of any container that I'm poured into. I think this is a good way to be, but it isn't always the case with me. Sometimes I am so stubborn that I refuse to go along with the new...whatever it may be. What I'm doing is causing myself a headache by not having adaptability. Sure, it's easy to adapt to changes at work, but not always in your personal life. Especially for people, like myself, who must have complete control over their surroundings and like to have everything planned out to a T, this can be challenging. I've found that having adaptability is so much easier and being stubborn requires so much energy.
 

Acceptance
After I stopped being so stubborn and adapted to change, I had to start accepting new things. Believe me when I say that this is the hardest thing in life. Acceptance began when I realized that I had no control over the transitions- so I started to submit. At first, I was accepting the shifts...but with a slight attitude; therefore, I knew my growth process needed work. After there was full acceptance over change in my life, I knew because of the inner peace that engulfed me. Things didn't bother me as much and smiling didn't take much effort at all. Sure there are good days and bad; the bad mostly come from me over thinking things. During these times, I find ways to occupy my mind- so I get busy with something constructive and just fully surrender to the new additions and allow peace to take over. I surprise myself.