It is very hard to accept life with all of its twists and turns. And trust me, I’ve had more than a few. Just this week I got into an accident right after my organic midterm… yeah, I know. I sure am lucky.
But no, I actually am.
Ever since I was young, the only way I could cope with the unexpected cards of life was to play the game. In all fairness, I think the reason people are so quick to throw their arms in the air and sulk is because it feels good to pity yourself. And if we’re being really honest? Yeah, sometimes I really do question the trajectory of my life because of how comical it ends up being.
In almost its own repeating seminar, I have yet to learn every lesson from my daily decisions. The guy I figured I’d give a chance to this past summer? Yup. Never doing that again. But this continuous cycle of learning is what allowed me to change the mental state I once had: Why does this keep happening to me? Oh, why me? And whatever other self-deprecating dialogue I probably picked up from teenagers on tiktok.
The reality behind it, behind the consequences, behind the plain and simple “oh well” moments of life, is what keeps me living each day. Because regardless of how the day ends, I am still lucky. If the world will have me, I will be allowed to try again tomorrow.
The mental shift from “damn, I have to do this all over again” to “I get to try again” gave me the clarity to finally give myself grace.
I’m not perfect. And I’m sorry to tell you this, but you aren’t either.
This shift didn’t happen overnight. It came down to one simple principle: I allow others grace, so why shouldn’t I give it to myself? In a way, I think self-deprecating is another form of hating yourself.
My advice to conquer this is simple: recognize that you only have one life, and you live it one day at a time. You use past days to guide future ones, but when the knowledge runs out, you’re bound to make mistakes, And so is everyone else.
Live every day as if you’re already lucky.
Because truthfully, you already are.