Keep Breathing

Some days it feels like there isn’t enough air in the world to keep breathing. Every disappointment, every set back feels like it robs you of a little more air until pretty soon, you feel like you’re suffocating. Trying to stay positive, to keep drawing in a deep lungful of air, gets harder and harder with each passing moment…when nothing good seems to be happening. Yeah, you’re alive, you woke up today when a lot of people out there did not, but that doesn’t mean the thousand small let downs and set backs don’t matter. They do…because they matter to you.

What no one ever tells you is this: it’s okay to be sad, to feel let down by the set backs of life. To be heartsick over someone who didn’t want you, or someone who wanted someone else more than they wanted you. It’s okay to mourn for what was lost, even if all that was lost was the possibility of something great. No one can be expected to be happy, smiling, positive and “shiny” all the time. It’s impossible in this world. Reality isn’t built for the happy shiny people.

This world is hard, it’s dark, and it takes every opportunity to break you down. That’s okay though, because the human spirit is stronger than this world we live in. The trick, the key, is to keep breathing. Because as cliché as it sounds, this (whatever is bringing you down) will pass. So, we breathe through the pain and distract ourselves with the mundanity of daily life. Work, school, family, friends, whatever gets you through the day. The important part is to get through the day. Each day brings new challenges, new disappointments, and yes, new promises, new small victories.

So yeah, keep breathing, keep moving through your day, through this world that wants to break you and stand tall. Face this world head on and say, “I may bend, but I won’t break. I will take on this challenge, and that one, and yes, even that one you have hidden behind your back, and I will conquer them all…why? Because I know this is temporary, the good in this world is out there and all I have to do is keep breathing, keep moving forward and I know that this too, shall pass. I will see all these challenges in my rearview mirror one day and I will smile because I will know that I am stronger than I was before and I will continue to get stronger with each challenge, each test, each disappointment you throw my way.”

So, when it feels like you can’t breathe, like the weight of the whole world is resting on your chest and compressing your lungs, it’s okay to take a moment, acknowledge the pain, and then take as deep a breath as you can and one day at a time, move forward.