In the dark and lonely moments of despair and total hopelessness when we may even question our very existence, we need to separate ourselves momentarily from our immediate pending problems which may seem insurmountable, and instead reflect upon how far we have managed to travel since our life journey began with our entrance into this world. I believe this reflection will be most crucial in refocusing our attention on 'life' rather than the alternative which will eventually find us in time even if we don't willingly seek it.
From the moment we are born, the struggle to survive against all odds (accidents, neglect, abuse, disease, violence, crime, natural disasters) begins. If we count everything that a baby needs to learn in her/his first year of life, it will be a very long list including learning to suckle, to get attention, to hold the head steady, to control the hand movements, to roll over, to sit up, to crawl, to walk, to try to talk, to hold a bottle or cup, to use a spoon/fork, to understand language, to follow commands, etc. These are just a few of the many things a human baby has to struggle to learn in the first year of life.
Then, we need to add to it all the other basic skills that we have to learn over the years in order to get us ready to start our formal education and our eventual integration into society as an independent self-sufficient being. Think of all the hours, days, weeks, months, and years spent in and out of school learning how to read, write, do math, understand science, play a musical instrument, train our voice, draw, paint, sew, cook, dance, act, debate, play sports and on and on. I am certain that few of these tasks came easy at first to most of us, and we all had to work hard to master some of them over time. We had to overcome many obstacles and setbacks along the way. We had to fail many times in order to learn how to deal with failures in life and to rise and grow stronger every time. In order to rise after a fall, we need to have ‘hope’ and a strong belief that anything is achievable as long as we work hard for it. Without hope, life can be painful and unbearable.
Nobody’s life is perfect. Each and every one of us has had to deal with hardships at some point in our lives, some sooner, and some later; however, the fact remains that we all will undoubtedly experience moments in our lives when we just wish to close our eyes and either have our problems disappear or us! In my opinion, experiencing such moments in life is quite normal, but what is not normal is reacting in a destructive and negative way to such experiences instead of viewing them as temporary bumps on the road of thousand-experiences which is called, ‘Life’!
Had Shahdi thought hard and long about how far she had come in her life journey, she would have realized how much she had already accomplished, and maybe she would not have lost hope and given up on life. I suppose I will never know whether the panic attack she was experiencing that Tuesday afternoon had clouded her judgment and made her want to free herself from that pain, or if she had truly given up on herself. I would like to believe that it was the former because the confident and smart Shahdi that I knew had a fighter spirit and would not have given up hope that easily.
14 weeks today..
From the moment we are born, the struggle to survive against all odds (accidents, neglect, abuse, disease, violence, crime, natural disasters) begins. If we count everything that a baby needs to learn in her/his first year of life, it will be a very long list including learning to suckle, to get attention, to hold the head steady, to control the hand movements, to roll over, to sit up, to crawl, to walk, to try to talk, to hold a bottle or cup, to use a spoon/fork, to understand language, to follow commands, etc. These are just a few of the many things a human baby has to struggle to learn in the first year of life.
Then, we need to add to it all the other basic skills that we have to learn over the years in order to get us ready to start our formal education and our eventual integration into society as an independent self-sufficient being. Think of all the hours, days, weeks, months, and years spent in and out of school learning how to read, write, do math, understand science, play a musical instrument, train our voice, draw, paint, sew, cook, dance, act, debate, play sports and on and on. I am certain that few of these tasks came easy at first to most of us, and we all had to work hard to master some of them over time. We had to overcome many obstacles and setbacks along the way. We had to fail many times in order to learn how to deal with failures in life and to rise and grow stronger every time. In order to rise after a fall, we need to have ‘hope’ and a strong belief that anything is achievable as long as we work hard for it. Without hope, life can be painful and unbearable.
Nobody’s life is perfect. Each and every one of us has had to deal with hardships at some point in our lives, some sooner, and some later; however, the fact remains that we all will undoubtedly experience moments in our lives when we just wish to close our eyes and either have our problems disappear or us! In my opinion, experiencing such moments in life is quite normal, but what is not normal is reacting in a destructive and negative way to such experiences instead of viewing them as temporary bumps on the road of thousand-experiences which is called, ‘Life’!
Had Shahdi thought hard and long about how far she had come in her life journey, she would have realized how much she had already accomplished, and maybe she would not have lost hope and given up on life. I suppose I will never know whether the panic attack she was experiencing that Tuesday afternoon had clouded her judgment and made her want to free herself from that pain, or if she had truly given up on herself. I would like to believe that it was the former because the confident and smart Shahdi that I knew had a fighter spirit and would not have given up hope that easily.
14 weeks today..
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