You got cheated on and then dumped. Your parents decided to get a divorce. You got fired, lost a loved one, failed a class, or may have had to move away from the ones you care about. With all of these interruptions in life, you probably feel heart broken, alone, desperate, sad, angry, and just flat out ready to give up.
But there are bigger aspects of life that you may not be considering when you are feeling your worst. Like your wedding day, exploring the world, forming new relationships, shaking hands at church, toasting with your friends, falling in love, smelling freshly bloomed flowers, and having the first sip of coffee to start the day. The question for many people who feel like they are in a rut is how can they live life to the fullest to achieve true happiness? The best pieces of advice that I can offer are as follows.
Laugh Often. Laughing often can contribute to a fulfilled life in many ways. It has health benefits, physical and mental, that can help us treasure each moment, and will ultimately make a difference in our lives and the lives of others. Forgive yourself and others. To be able to forgive yourself and others will allow you to expunge hate and grudges from our hearts so there is more room for the positives life has to offer .Come to peace with the way life is. Being able to do this will allow you to be able to accept what life is throwing at you for what it is. If something goes wrong, look at not what is happening, but why it may be happening. Coming to peace with the way things are will help you to bring meaning to what is being handed to, or taken away from you. At first glance we may not see the value in a loss or interruption, but in time, the meaningful value will come to fruition and peace will be restored. Find a passion and pursue it. Do it for yourself. Do it to be able to look back on your life and feel satisfied that you had something so worthwhile it was able to drive your mindset to excite you and give you the energy you never thought you possessed. Out of all of the short pieces of advice I have to offer, the most important one would be to stay humble and kind. In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, we may get caught up in our accomplishments and forget about everyone around us, causing our attitudes and rapport with those around us to be tarnished. With this being said, here is where being humble and kind comes in handy. Spread more joy. We never know what people may be going through, so instead of flaunting your good deeds, celebrate the accomplishments of those around you. Life becomes a whole lot easier when you realize you’re not the only one living it. While being kind to one person may not change the whole world, it could change the world for that one person.
Every single one of us will have our life interrupted, whether it’s by a heartbreak, trauma, family split, someone’s passing, or having to make a big move away from the ones we love. We need to find ways to live in the in-between place, managing whatever body and mind we currently have. Sometimes, all it takes is the ingenuity of a spontaneous car ride or finding that stripped-down kind of meaning in watching a sunset with the ones you love, or that radical, dangerous hope that will push you to live life to the fullest despite life’s interruptions. If you’re able to do that, then you’ve overcome the journey. You’ve achieved what it means to actually be well, which is to say: alive, in the complex, richest, most whole sense.