It gets better with time...If you let it

I'm not sure I'd be as bold as to say that time heals all wounds but I know I can speak with authority when I say everything gets better with time...if we allow it to. The truth is that adversities - big and small - are the lot of every human being. They are not hand-picked for the less fortunate, the uneducated, minorities or  you...... And trust me, nobody's out to get you. Your troubles are no more horrendous than your neighbours', your misfortunes no less tragic. It's called life. It wasn't meant to be easy. It's important that we keep reminding ourselves of this fact; important that we fight the urge to succumb to the victim syndrome; important that we understand that life's but a cyclical process. that whatever happens to us happens to everybody, and that this too shall pass.

Without a doubt, what makes adversity so hard to accept, and to deal with, is the fact that it always seems to hit us on the blind-side.....right out of the blue, when you least expect it. Relationship problems, life-changing health issues, accidents, financial reverses, job-loss  - very real issues that have the ability to leave you reeling. Right in that moment, in the poignant gloom of the present, the future has no power to inspire or attract. Pretty soon your only meaningful (though painful) occupation is seeking answers to the question 'Why?' or worse yet, 'Why me?'

The truth is that most of us have, at one time or another, have found ourselves in that uncanny position asking those same questions. The wiser among us eventually get to the place where they realize that asking 'Why not me?' yields better results. They come to the place where they affirm that bad things happen to good, and bad, people. They make the discovery that life has more to do with how we respond to adversity than the adversity itself. They recognize that though they can't control the winds or the seas that toss them about, they can adjust the sails of their vessels. They accept the challenges as teachers, the pain as a purifier....and as difficult as it may be, they open themselves for the hope of the future.

And it gets better with time.....well, that's if you ever get to the place where you allow it to. Yes......if you allow it to make you better and not bitter; if you release the hurt enough to learn to dance in the rain, to smile through the storm; to overcome your adversity in such a way as to inspire others so affected to endure and overcome like you did. When all is said and done, it's your life and though the difficulties you face are often not of your making, it's still your lot. Still your life - and it's up to you to decide whether it gets better with time.