Life has a way of testing your commitment to a certain cause, principle, or even person. They are called obstacles. Setbacks. Things not going according to plan.

You mustn’t lose faith.

I repeat: you mustn’t lose faith.

What is that, you ask?

The ability to walk through fire, knowing that you’ll come out the other side alive. Burnt, maybe, but alive.

This is required of you is you are ever to achieve anything of importance.

Give up when the obstacles seem insurmontable and you fail. You lose confidence, self-esteem, self-worth.

It is rather simple, isn’t it?

The choice is yours. You must decide each time life tests you, if you are stronger than the test or not, if you wish to continued and succeed or not, if you have the guts, the strength, and the brains to go on, inspite numerous challenges and setbacks.

Life does not compute to a plan, a recipe, or a step-by-step guide. Life is unpredictable, mysterious, and unless you expect that, you’ll get your heart crushed and broked on an almost daily basis.

Expect the obstacles, expect this: that whatever is is you’ll do, you’ll kind of fail at it at least a few times. It is going to be more difficult than you expect, but never as difficult as to not be worth trying at all. And giving your best.

Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let pain make you hate. Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness. Take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place. – Kurt Vonnegut
Have you ever met someone who could have done a lot more with their lives but something happened, some tragedy and they never recovered? Have you met people whose dreams have been broken beyond repair? Their hope fractured, their will gone. People who have been defeated by life…

Life had happened to them and turned them into exactly who they said the’d never become.

This is life. Beautiful and terrible things happen. You need to feel them all. You have to. There’s no other way.

But this doesn’t mean that you have to become everything the world wants you to be. What others would like you to be, or need you to be.

You can be anything you want to be. You can believe, despite it all, that the world is a beautiful place, that the world is worth fighting for. That you are worth fighting for.

But this is what it’s all about. The battle. The fight. The struggle. Against it all. Despite…

Nothing worthwile is easy…

So being kind to those who are unkind to you is not easy.

But I’ll tell you what’s easy. Being the same as everyone else. Being cynical and selfish and mean and…

The world is going to pull at you in all kinds of direction, but it’s still your life. You have the responsibility to live a life you are proud of. Not one your parents, your friends, your teachers, you boss, or anyone else will approve of.

And this requires a certain softness of the heart. The courage to display such a fragile organ to the world. The ability to get your heart bent and broken into all kinds of shapes.

And keep on going.

And keep on believing.

And keep on fighting for what you want.

And keep on loving.

And keep on smiling.

For the world is as beautiful and as ugly as you think it is.

One of the most important lessons life teaches us all is that your struggles develop your strengths. It is the only way to go about it, actually.
Strengths develop over time, they develop by you overcoming obstacles and solving problems.

Which begs the question: why do people run away from their problems? Why not face them? Why deny they exist? Why put the blame on other people?

Well, for once: it can be a frustrating process.

I remember when I first started writing. Fourteen years old, I thought I was phenomenal. Most folks who read my stuff said I was either a retard or fourteen years old. I was both. Kinda.

The truth of the matter is that I had to overcome this obstacle: what people thought of my writing.

And I had to keep writing…

And I had to do the work when I didn’t feel like it, or it felt as if the story wasn’t going anywhere. I wrote during the bad days, when I thought that at best I’ll be mediocre, and at worst, I’ll be complete failure.

We are works in progress.

I cannot stress this enough.

Write it down. Put it against a wall. On your fridge.

You are a verb, not a noun.

You can overcome struggles and become stronger than you used to be.

Anything is survivable, as long as your heart beats…

That is the right mindset to have when going through life.

Will it be easy?

No.

Will it be worth it?

Like few other things in life.

For there is no greater satisfaction than being able to do what previously was impossible.

There are two ways to be happy: change the situation, or change your mindset towards it.

Today’s society is obsessed with happiness. We want instant gratification, success, fame, soulmates that never die…

We grow complacent with people and ideas. We grow cold and bitter because we want what we want and we want it now, and sadly the Universe doesn’t work like this.

We don’t fight for what we want. We don’t have the patience to wait for the good things in life. And we certainly don’t want to put in the effort required to cultivate the necessary perspective for happiness.

Yes, that’s right. Happiness is simply a way of looking at things. A matter of perspective. It’s not a destination, but a way of travel.

It’s deciding to be who you want to be inspite of everyone else telling you to be something else. It’s liking who you are, being proud of who you’ve become.

It’s embracing all that you are (and are not).

It’s not about what you get in life, but about what you become by getting what you want.

It’s not about possession, but about acceptance and gratitude.

“If the world was free of problems, paradise would lose its value.” – Mufti Menk

Biggest problem people have? Their belief that they shouldn’t have problems. That they are entitled to eternal happiness. Well, that’s not how this thing works.

Happiness is never a right. It is earned and fought for through blood and tears, and even then we all can slip and fall right back to where we started. There is no such thing as eternal happiness.

There is no such thing as the pursuit of happiness…

Happiness is simply the by-product of a life lived well. Happiness is progress. Happiness is choosing optimism and hope, day after day after day; it’s choosing to be aware of oneself and those around him.

We’re all human. We’re all flawed. But we do have it in ourselves to cultivate the proper habits to be happy.

Here’s the thing about being human: you are given a lot of crutches in life, but they are double edged swords. They make you feel better for a while, but you’ve got to give up your power…
Put the blame on someone else or something else…

Fate, some god, the economy, other people, society, or your parents…

Yeah…they make you feel better…

It is easy to call talented those who worked harder than you in order to be better than you…

It is easy to sit on your couch and wait for your soulmate to find you… Because that’s what all the fairytales told you it’s going to happen.

It’s easy to put the blame somewhere else, and forever give up on the responsibility to change yourself for the better…

But you know what’s not easy?

To realize that you’re your own master…

The captain of your fate.

The one and only person who is ever going to give you what you want.

But you’ve got to cut the crap. You’ve got to stop believing in fairytales…

You’ve got to face reality…

This is your life, and you only get one, and it in your power to make it be anything you want.

You only have to reach within for the stamina to do so.

Few people are ever capable of such a level of commitment.

Because it is not easy…

Don’t give up your power.

Don’t be lazy.

Don’t give up on yourself.

Fight on.

No matter what.

You can do what you want and be anything you want.

You just have to be determined to achieve what you want, no matter what.