All Sorrow is Sorrow, All Hardship is Hardship!

Many people have this thing that when you tell them about your hardship or what is meant to be a sad happening, they tell you about theirs or someone else's sad story in turn. And some times, it's difficult to tell whether they are being empathetic with you or trying to make hardship seem like child's play.

Mark Twain said that, "Nothing that grieves us can be called little: by the eternal laws or proportion, a child's loss of a doll and a King's loss of a crown are events of the same size." ~ Which was the Dream?

So next time someone tells you about an unfortunate event that happened to them, first of all, Listen. Don't be quick to dismiss their claims, console them. By all means, don't laugh unless you know them well enough to know it's laughable. Give them some time to dwell on it. If you think it's time to move on, then share your story. The goal is not to depress or belittle anyone, you share in another to encourage and give another perspective to the solution. Take note, not just the problem, but also the solution.

If you reason it's time to move on, ask them what is next. Often times, people know what should and must be done. If they say they don't know and ask for your advice, then instruct out of kindness. Don't stop caring for them when it appears they didn't take your advice. Don't forget about them, till you confirm they are okay.

And as for you, yes you, don't belittle your hardships or difficulties. Yes, others are also going through the same thing or going through much worse, but they are not you. This is your time through the gales and storms. And you have to walk through this bravely.

Learn from every season. Take life in strides, don't live too seriously, cause in 5 years you'll look back and wonder what all that fuss was about. In your difficult times, don't doubt your self. Take the advice of others with a pinch of salt. Remember they are not you. Yes, we are all running the same race, but in different lanes. Where you have to take a bend is different from when they take their bend and your slope might be more slippery than theirs and vice versa.

All sorrow, all hardship is for your own good. To become a well rounded human, we all need to go through the different phases of life. You can't choose in what order to go through the different phases and seasons of your life, but you can decide how you handle it, you can become a master of your self in each and every one of them.  You can't get happy times to last forever and you can't stop sad times from coming. The aim is to never lose your essence no matter what life throws at you.

Oswald Chambers wrote, "It is mastery in circumstances that is needed, not mastery over them"

All in all, when hardships come knocking, don't get bitter, get better. You must get better! I'm rooting for you.