:: “One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.” -Sigmund Freud

Struggle is a part of life. If you are facing troubles and have termed it as the “struggling phase of life”, you have to remember; most of us are! We are all struggling in one way or another. Some of us say it out loud; some keep it within and fight it out themselves.

The capability, smartness or someone’s caliber or even the advantages one can have on a particular situation does not determine how easy or difficult a challenge is going to be. Without struggle, hard work, blood, sweat and tears nothing worthwhile can be accomplished. The way you confront and overcome these challenges is what will make you proud of your journey.

The challenges you face are not entirely what you hope for or expect, but it is up to you how you choose to react to them. You can use your talents and personality traits that are unique to you to react to circumstances that seem unfair. When you take courage to deal with your own struggles; what once seemed meaningless becomes meaningful because the way you chose to deal with it; your attitude infuses it with meaning.

Think for example of an extremely difficult workout. The pain you go through makes you want to give up, all of it feels too painful, but if you set your mind to it and keep working towards your set goals what you feel is absolute pride, a sense of accomplishment and the desire to make future workouts challenging too. This time however, you are your own competition.

Sometimes taking risks, the leap of faith is exciting too. If everything you wished for had to come your way easy and smooth sailing, where is the fun? How will you feel that sense of achievement? How will you make yourself proud? Don’t shy away from the struggle; it is the fastest way to self-actualize. With a mindful attitude you can determine if what you are going through is too far above your tolerance level. We all need a little help sometime. Use it when you require it the most. Most of us are capable of handling way more than we believe we can, we can know how much we are capable of only when we give in everything we have.

Why me? What did I do to deserve this? Are questions that will constantly bring you down. Do not compare your struggles with that of others, you probably don’t know what they are going through.

So keep the negative self-talk aside and focus on overcoming your struggles. You will only be helping yourself when you accept the circumstances you face and consider them to be yours and yours alone.

All you have to do is; take heart, clear your head, refocus, and keep going. The joy and satisfaction you will find for yourself when you face and overcome these constant challenges is priceless. Years from now you may look back on this time as the most beautiful time of your life.

Love Ophelia,

XOXO