I hear this expression a lot. Push through, tough it out, ride out the wave, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
Like maybe sometimes the hardships in between a tough spot and a bad place make you a more solid and resilient person. And for a long time, I listened. Maybe they’re right, I thought.
In certain situations that is sometimes the case. When there are no other courses of actions and the only way out is through. Those are the experiences that shape you; since the only way out is through it will mold you into a version of yourself that only this certain experience could provide.
But in a lot of cases – this isn’t true.
You have options, you have paths, you have different ways that you can make this life your own. Because in a pandemic or not it still is yours.
This year put a lot of perspective into me. Strength is sometimes acknowledgement that a situation isn’t right for you and moving past – it not through it.
A class, a school, a friendship, a physical place, a feeling in your heart, a way of living. These are things you can change.
Because in between toughing it out and riding out the wave you are also riding out time in your life that there isn’t amount of toughing it out you’ll get back.
There are certain things in life that just you acknowledging it isn’t for you – is enough toughing it out. And your future self will thank you for it.