A Perspective on Life

by: Bella Richardson

1. When you start loving yourself, life starts loving you too.

Before getting into a relationship and attempting to love another person, you must first learn how to love yourself. Moral of the story is that you can not give love, if you do not have it for yourself. Furthermore, you can not receive love if you don't have it for yourself. A sense of self love and admiration is one of the most vital things in life. It is what keeps us going at the end of each and every day. Ultimately, no one else can fill the void, until you learn how to fill it yourself. Life is the same. If you hate yourself, life is going to hate you too. That's the cold hard truth. Though, when you learn to love yourself, you will feel the pure love that life gives back to you. And that I think is one of the most beautiful things that we as humans are fortunate enough to endure. Life truly is a journey, but there is a monumental difference between surviving and living. Life is all about mindset and how we choose to look at it. Self love causes us to see the world in utter radiance and all its beauty. When you begin to truly love yourself, life really will love you back, and that is nothing short of magnificent after swimming in the ocean for far too long.

2. Life is way more peaceful when you realize that everything happens for a reason.

         No one thing in life happens to you randomly. Every decision you make, every action you take, and every moment you endure both for the better and for the worse happens for a reason. Though, at the time it can sometimes be rather unclear as to why. In life, everything will alway work out and if it doesn't, it's not the end. Every event that you have withstood will lead us to where we need to be and every moment you have experienced makes you the person that you are. Later down the road you will look back and realize why things happened to you in the way that they did and why you went through them in the way that you did. Ultimately, without it, you would not be where you are now or who you are today. Everything happens for a reason, and believing that will bring you an internal peace and guiding comfort like no other.

3. Unfortunately life doesn't wait for you to be okay, get up, and keep going.

         Life keeps on spinning and never stops, not for anything or for anyone. It's like a carousel, constantly turning as we grow, develop, and evolve through the years. It never comes to a halt, not even for a second, no matter how much you may want it to. Every day is a day we will never get back and will never get the privilege to live again. So no matter how dark it may be and how tired you may feel, keep going. You will waste so much of your life fixated on the past, wishing you could go back and change it, and desperately hoping things could be different. But in the meantime life keeps on turning, while you are staying utterly stagnant. All the while, you are missing out on all it has to offer you, including all the opportunities it is presenting to you if only you would choose to look. No matter how sad, depressed, tired, or drained you may be, get up, and keep going for  life is never going to wait for you. The longer you delay, the longer you hurt, the longer you mourn, and the further you drown,  the more of life you are going to miss, the more of your existence you are going to disregard.

4. Every situation in life is temporary. When life is good, make sure to enjoy it. When it's not, remind yourself that better days are ahead.

         Life comes in waves. Sometimes we are drowning and sometimes we are floating, but the ocean is what makes us who we are. The waves are what make us stronger, and the calm is our reminder to keep going. Every single chapter and moment in our lives is temporary, though it may sometimes feel like a century, but in reality it is just a page in our book. Enjoy when life is good, flourish in the beauty, bliss, and happiness it has to offer you. Though,  When it's not, remind yourself that better days are ahead and that even on the hardest of days the sun is always there, just hidden behind some temporary clouds.

5. The beautiful thing about life is that you can always grow, change, and get better. You aren't defined by your past.

         Our past shapes us, but does not define who we are as people. Every single day that we wake up, is a chance to start fresh and be who we want to be. We are lucky enough to be anyone or anything we want to be if we allow ourselves to be. Growth, development, and alteration is only a step away if we are brave enough to take it. Our past is what forms us, giving us our lessons, experiences, and sense of self. But the future, that is ours, a time where we get to craft every aspect of our existence and be exactly who we are meant to be.