Most of life’s pain comes from how we thought it should be or that it didn’t work out as planned.

But what if it actually did?

Sometimes we can be the worst judge of a situation when we are in the moment but when we step back away from it, as time goes on, we begin to realize it was a moment that changed us for the better.

We become grateful for the uncomfortable and painful moments because they are actually what we needed to grow.

It’s all a shift in mindset. It’s not easy. Of course, it’s not easy.

But our mindset controls everything. We have a positive mindset when things are going our way, so why can’t we take that same perspective when they aren’t?

I know why. Because it battles every part of our being that was instilled as a child. We have to be upset, get emotional, or feel depressed when anything goes against what we thought should happen. We witnessed this countless times in our life. It has been programmed. It’s on autopilot now.

But that’s not how it has to be.

We have one life. One very complex weird ever-changing life where we happened to get into this body. We are conscious beings and one of the downsides of that can be that we feel deep emotions, attachments, memories, or aspirations. It can work in our favor or not. We choose.

We can remember the past and project into the future.

But all that matters is now. All that matters is how we handle the situation we are in now. The future will take care of itself when we get there.

So, for now, instead of losing our shit in one situation or another it might be helpful to remember that we’ve been wrong a lot about bad moments. Out of that despair came a new opportunity, a new relationship, and new learning. All positives are on the backside of a bad situation.

It happens to us countless times but our old way of thinking forgets. It only remembers that bad moment’s equal depression and struggle. It rarely remembers that there is hope and opportunity from all of it.

That’s the mindset we need to take into it.

Is it going to be hard? You bet.

Is it going to be painful? You’re damn right.

Is it going to test us? Fuck yea.

But our positive perspective will dig us out of it much faster and with newfound hope for tomorrow.

It’s not about being easy, life isn’t easy.

It’s about being hard, and managing our way to a better spot.

We grow in the moments that test us most.

Embrace them.