Life is a series of peaks and valleys. Sometimes you’re up, sometimes you’re down. Facing difficulties is all part of life often feel like we face endless challenges instead of happy endings. When we overcome one challenge, another one rears its ugly head. Some people I know grew stronger through these challenges, some became weaker.
I’m a firm believer that it’s how you respond in your moments of defeat that really defines the type of person you are. When you can improve your ability to navigate the difficult times, you are not only living a happier life, but you also growing as a person.
Many of us are going through hard times, many of us are doing odd jobs just to get food on the table, many have laboured so hard that they are tired of living, many of us have been rejected in different and many ways, many of us are tired of crossing bridges of hope and faith because we are not sure of what await us at the last end but we are still moving. Staying positive and living a good life.
Staying Positive.
“Life is not the way it’s supposed to be, it’s the way it is. The way you cope is what makes the difference.” – Virginia Satir
Now I know this may sound cliche, but the thing about cliches is that they’re typically true. Staying positive is only a small part in getting through the difficult times, but it’s an important part. When you stay positive, you’re putting yourself in the best position possible to not only make it through those bad times, but become a better person in the process. You can do one of two things when life takes a turn for the worst.
You can remain positive and remind yourself that there really is a light at the end of the tunnel and that you’ll make it through, or you can curl up in the fetal position and relegate yourself to being nothing more than a victim of circumstance.
I’m not saying that you can never have a bad day, or get a little discouraged, or shed a tear. But I am saying you have to eventually pick up the pieces and start moving forward.
Oprah Winfrey is one of the most influential person in Africa and in the world with the most challenging story behind her smile.
Behind Oprah Winfrey’s €2bn net worth are stories of pain, sorrow, hardship, struggle and eventually triumph. She stayed positive all through her adversity and she made herself what she is today. (being positive pays).
She was born into rural poverty in 1954 in Mississippi, to a teenage single mother, Vernita Lee, a housemaid. Until the age of six, Oprah lived with her grandmother, who was reportedly so poor that Oprah was sent to school wearing dresses made of potato sacks. She was later sent to live with her father, Vernon Winfrey, a coal miner in Nashville, Tennessee. Her childhood was marred by more than poverty and rootlessness, however. ‘I was raped at nine years old by a cousin, then again by another family member, and another family member,’ Oprah admitted, first opening up about the subject on her show in 1986. She became pregnant at 14, as a result of the sexual abuse, but her son was born prematurely and died shortly after birth. her sister was adopted, her brother died of HIV/AIDs Yet at school, she flourished, excelling particularly in speech and drama, and won a full scholarship to Tennessee State University.
Challenges knocked Winfrey down to fault, but over it all she chose Life, she chose to live the good life, she chose to stay positive all through her adversity. Becoming a prostitute, selling herself to men to survive, becoming a thief to stay alive, that she didn’t fall for. she chose to rise above her circumstances and live a life of fulfillment.
She faced major heart breaks, disappointment, setbacks, but she didn’t quit the good life, she didn’t let go of her positive mind and fought her way through in life with a good heart and a selfless spirit.
What are you in for?
I tell myself everyday as I open my eyes from sleep that, I won’t live a life of reproach, a life of regret, a life of shame, a life that won’t challenge other…
I chose life.
I represent positivity
I Stand for humanity
I stand for good life
What do you choose??
