I took this picture in New Zealand on the way to Te Anau where Faith and I were basing ourselves for our adventures in Fiordland National Park. I really loved the contrast of the vivid green pastures and the stormy skies, broken up by the mountains. of course, my photography skills don't depict it as accurately as my eyes saw it, but you get the idea.
We'd left Queenstown headed south for the 171 kilometre drive turning northwest at Lowther towards Te Anau. It was a leisurely and completely enjoyable drive through some of the richest-looking pasture land I've seen; Typical of New Zealand really.
I came across this image today whilst looking for something else and was struck at how a part of this photo mirrors my current mood quite well; The stormy part.
My wife and I are dealing with some fairly complicated and serious matters of a health nature currently and at times things look bleak, grey and stormy and the future forecast is more of the same. It's a natural way to feel I guess although I believe it is also very important to keep in mind that things change, time moves and a situation that may seem bleak, stressful and troublesome may not always be that way - And that attitude, maintaining a good positive attitude, is a key to unlocking a more confident path forward, and also a better as is position in the here and now.
If asked, most would probably say they would prefer lush green pastures and blue skies; I mean, a happy trouble-free life. It's preferable over storm clouds, adversity and turmoil, and Faith and I are no different. But life tends not to play along sometimes and it can lean one way or the other more often than being comfortably balanced or weighted towards the good.
I don't know of a single adult person who has not suffered adversity and most have had the opposite also; Happy times and moments of success. I believe it's difficult to balance life and so I see it more as a pendulum swinging between both...Is that as good as we can expect from life? I think it is.
Life moves in one direction but along the way swings between the scale of success and failure, good and bad, happy and sad. Sometimes it lingers in one sector for longer and is sometimes constantly in motion. All we can do is live it the best we can, make use of each moment we're given and be the best versions of ourselves as possible, in good bad times.
That's what the phrase at the end of my posts relates to:
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default
It reminds me that a design and create ethos in respect to my life, and myself within it, is the only way to ensure I don't waste time, time that has an indistinct end-point. It reminds me that attitude is critical and that I'm responsible for how I feel and act. It's about ownership.
It is with this in mind that my wife and I are operating right now and whilst we rarely forget our troubles, and that the road ahead will be very difficult, we work hard at togetherness, at nurturing our relationship and picking at our problems little by little with the view to move them forward to a satisfactory resolution.
How about you? Have you faced adversity and dealt with it in a particular manner? Have you strategised a path forward and deployed it perfectly, or floundered around? I'd like to hear from you guys, how have you, or do you, deal with adversity, turmoil and stress and how do you work towards getting the pendulum to slow down in the good time sector of it's swing?
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised.
Be well
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