“The words you speak become the house you live in.” — Hafiz

When I was in my lowest place, though I didn’t know it then, the ground I stood on was sacred ground. When I think about how desolate I felt being in that place, it reminds me that I’m a much stronger version of myself only because of the weakness I’ve felt. I show up where I used to hide.

Back then I wondered why life couldn’t be a little bit easier.

Now I think, How can I work with what I have?

If I could go back to every time I felt let down or struck down by life, I’d tell myself that it’s very okay not to know yet. I’d leave it at that, and work with what was given to me, however ugly. (At least I'd try.)

It’s incredible how much of a difference that kind of self-talk can make.

It’s because the words you choose to describe the things that happen to you actually shape your very experience of life in that, and every, moment.

You can fight to hold on and you can fight to let go, but it’s up to you what you do with the time that’s been given to you. Sometimes that’s all we have, that decision.

No, it’s not easy to show up for the parts of life that feel terrible.

It takes a good deal of self-awareness to restructure the way you think and talk about times like that. It takes an open mind. It takes desperation, the need for things to change when there are so many things you can't change.

It takes commitment too, because ultimately it’s not a decision you make once, it’s about how you live moment to moment. It’s deciding to take root in your own resiliency time and again.

Life begins, again and again.

Whatever you’re going through or will go through, may you have the courage, the room, the space to move and live and breathe again. May it bloom from this place.

May these words of strength help you see that you can bloom from nearly anything.

Words of Strength When Things Don't Go Your Way

1. “When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.” — Harriet Beecher Stowe

2. “One day you will tell your story of how you overcame what you went through and it will be someone else’s survival guide.” — Brené Brown

3. “It is not the strength of the body that counts, but the strength of the spirit.” — J.R.R. Tolkien

4. “Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.” — Khalil Gibran

5. “The middle is messy but it’s also where the magic happens.” — Brené Brown

6. “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’” — Eleanor Roosevelt

7. “Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.” — C.S. Lewis

8. “I am slowly learning the things that matter today might not matter a few years from now or even a few hours from now. I am slowly learning how much things change over time. I am slowly learning it’s possible to feel okay again in the future, even though nothing is okay right now.” — Unknown

9. “There is a lot going on, and this is also true: it is okay if you cannot sort through everything tonight.” — Morgan Harper Nichols

10. “There is purpose in your season of waiting.” — Megan Smalley

11. “For after all, the best thing one can do when it is raining is let it rain.” — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

12. “The best piece of advice I got was, ‘Once you accept that many, if not most, of your questions will never be answered, you can start to move forward.’” — Michele Starbeck

13. “Forgiveness is just another name for freedom.” — Byron Katie

14. “I am building a house where the floor is made up of strength, where the walls are crafted of ambition, where the roof is a masterpiece of forgiveness. I am building myself.” — Noor Unnahar

15. “If you get the inside right, the outside will fall into place.” — Eckhart Tolle

16. “We’ve got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen.” — D. H. Lawrence

. . .

Tell me:

Which of these messages did you need the most today?

What would you tell someone else who's going through what you're going through?

Tell me in the comments. Everything you share here helps someone else, more than you might imagine.

Rooting for you,

Jen

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