Life Doesn’t Suck

I’ve seen numerous articles out there on the internet saying “The Key to Happiness is Realising Everything Sucks.” That’s total bullshit – you know it, I know it and I completely and utterly disagree with that stupid statement.

What the hell, man… I mean, seriously, you’re alive, right?  You’re able to read this, right?  Pull your head in!   Life does not suck.  Life is an epic rollercoaster full of highs and lows and yes, at times you will be challenged and life will move at some kinda crazy speed and you’ll be uncomfortable and then, it’ll be super slow and you’ll be batshit bored… Accept it.  Life isn’t all puppy dogs and ice cream.  Life can be a struggle… that’s life, but you know what else… Life is beautiful, too.  Think back and remember the most magical experience you have ever had in your life.  Share it in the comments because I’m sure whatever it is, I’m sure it’ll be an inspiration!

The way I see it, if life was this ‘perfect’ little world, would it be worth living?  Would it put in perspective all the great things you’ve accomplished though countless hours, days and years of hard work… or would you feel empty because it was too easy.  The bad things that happen do give us great insight on how good we really have it.

Ok, so you’re probably asking – Tara, how the heck do you not completely snap when things go wrong.  This is how I deal with it:  Firstly, I’m not some crazy machine or a a Greek Goddess… as much as I’d love super powers I have to admit, I’m human – just like you. I let myself get angry, upset… whatever… I just roll with the punches.  Secondly, I give myself time to feel like crap but, at the same time I also give myself a time limit on it.  I don’t allow myself to wallow in self pity or to think everything is crap.  I make sure to wake up the next day and know that the sun will come up.  Seriously.  Nobody else is gonna look after me if I fall into a heap so I always remember that tomorrow is another day and the sun will come up in the morning; not all hope is lost. 

I look at the situation and I give myself a certain amount of time to ‘grieve’ – be it one hour, one day or one week..  What I’m saying is, it’s ok to be sad, mad or whatever you are but, you just can’t dwell on it.  You gotta wake up, snap out of it, stand up and move on.  Dwelling wont help the situation, it makes things worse and it’s boring.  I mean when was the last time you were excited to dwell on something?

It’s kinda like when you’re stressing out.  Stress doesn’t help unless stress actually gives you answers.  Sometimes, I find stress a good thing because it gives me the fire I need to push myself and make things happen but usually, 9/10 stress wont give you the answers you’re looking for or even need.  So, in the past, I’ve allowed myself to be stressed for a little while and then I’ve said… that’s it – I’ve had enough…  I make sure to tell myself that I won’t let stress rule my life and I move on.

Also, don’t freak out if the people around you don’t understand what you’re going though.  It’s normal.  A lot of people have their own demons, they’re probably fighting some battle they haven’t told you about yet and they’re trying to manage the best way they know how.  So, if friends don’t react the way you want them to, accept it.  It’s ok.

All of these tips really work for me… and you know what I discovered by putting steps in practice?  Beauty.  There’s beauty in everything.  I choose to laugh at things now.  Say a car drives by, hits a pothole full of water and completely soaks me – I take that inconvenient incident and I laugh… I share my story – Why? Because, it’s hilarious!  Or when I got hit by a car on my motorbike.  It scared me to death.. and yes, it completely smashed my bike, but you know what – there weren’t any broken bones, and I didn’t die.  I took from that big life lesson and became much more aware of my surroundings.  I also once accidentally flew to the wrong airport in Germany – I mean, come on – how does that even happen!  I’ve also lost luggage on numerous occasions, been locked in bathrooms at conferences, had my car blow up in 45 degree heat off the Hume Highway in Australia, and I’ve had my heart broken in the most epic way known man… It totally sucked but, I got upset and then I laughed about it –  So my advice, to you is: Worry more about the big things and take these little inconventient crappy life-lessons from everything else and just apply it.  

You need to realise that you have the chance to be the inspiration for the other people that REALLY need it – There are those who aren’t as healthy as the rest of us or are REALLY struggling with some pretty epic stuff.  What I’m saying is: this is your chance to help others by looking for the good in the not so bad everyday things.

Yes, bad things happen to good people but that’s not the point.  The point is, we’re all here on this Earth, together… We’re all here to make this awesome little world of ours a much better place and we have the tools to do it.  So I guess my question for you is… are you in to make the change?