If life is what we make it then our joyfulness depends on the amount of effort we put into it. There is nothing more tiring than life itself, being beaten down every day by stress, worry and self doubt can be exhausting. Life will never be any different though; I mean your circumstances may change but there will always be stress and negativity and hardships somewhere in your life. It's just not possible to live a life of complete happiness because happiness can not exist without its opposite, sadness, to define it. We cannot be happy without being sad, just as we cannot have the good days without he bad days. If every day was perfect then it would cease to be perfect and it would just become routine and regular. That excitement and joy that comes with the good days, with the hard earned achievements, exists because we have felt the lows of the bad days. Without those lows we wouldn't have any highs.
So if life is always full of ups and downs the best way to stay on top is to push ahead always looking up. Never give up, the only way to lose at all of this is to give up and cut yourself out of a race in which everyone has the chance to win. Keep yourself busy, the more active you are, whether in mind or body, the better you are going to feel. A lot of times depression tends to sneak in when we aren't paying any attention and we allow ourselves to just take advantage of the down time and do nothing. Don't get me wrong, vegging out and just relaxing sometimes is exactly what we need, but we can't let ourselves fall into that pattern. Which is not very easy to do. I've fallen many times. When we allow our minds to slack off it makes it easy for those thoughts to creep in. It's always a good idea to start getting active when you can feel the black wave looming overhead. Start small by starting back up the things that bring you joy and make you happy. Grab a new book, a blank journal, a coloring book, an easel and paint - anything. Just express yourself and be creative. Go join a book club or explore that city park down the block. Go to the zoo one afternoon and walk around or go in search of a new restaurant you've never been to. Make life exciting, make some adventures. In fact, don't ever stop making adventures. We only live once after all, right? One chance at this thing called life.
Finding projects and getting involved in the things that bring you joy helps keep you going when the sun gets blocked out by storm clouds. They not only give you the joy that powers you through life but also that sense of accomplishment. Like you contributed in a positive way to the world around you. Not just something you did at work, even though that too may be positive, but something for you. By you. We all have our own talents, hobbies, obsessions, ideas, creativity and on and on. With all of us being different in our own unique ways it's easy to see how there could literally be millions of ways to finding what brings you joy. The key is to never give up. Never stop challenging yourself. When I first moved to Los Angeles about five years ago I was an RN at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. It was a great job and I learned a lot, but on top of working full time nights I applied for and got a fellowship to conduct research in my unit of the hospital and then present my findings to hospital leadership with recommendations and policy guidelines. It was a lot, but it was a blast and I loved every second. Do you know what prompted me to even respond to that initial inquiry email regarding the application process? My first thought after reading it was that I wouldn't ever be able to do it. Then I stopped myself. I was going to do it. And I did. Last month the hospice that I consult for as Designee Director of Nursing closed which meant I lost some income. Today one of my friends messaged me and asked if I wanted to pick up a couple patients on the weekend once a month up in Palmdale for a little bit of money. My first thought - hell no. I'd be too tired, it's too far, it's too much work, blah blah blah. I stopped myself right there and texted her that instant that I would be able to do some visits for her hospice. It would bring me some of that lost income back and it would make me feel more like a real nurse again. And I will have proven to myself once more that I am capable of great things if I just let myself try.
With the craziness of life that constantly swarms around us it is our responsibility to turn things around when they get too gritty to bear. Take that extra challenge, push yourself to your limits and see what you are capable of. Your dreams are the only things that are the limit, anything is possible if you decide you want to do something. The quote above is one I found the other day while I was walking in Studio City along the LA River. There are three parts to the quote: 1 - Another downpour or hard times are here, 2 - tiny drops of water fall and collect over time, building up from individual droplets and giving it 3 - the power over time to build into the mighty force of a river. Do you know what formed the most-awesome and awe-inspiring Grand Canyon? The Colorado River. It's a nice little reminder that those hard times give us back the power to eventually carve our own existence, our own way out of the darkness and back into the light. Don't ever forget that even in the darkest night the answer is only one decision away. You can turn anything around - just never quit working, or hoping or trying.
