When Life Hands You a Lemon

Good morning and happy Friday ... the past 3 weeks have gone by way too fast!!

As promised, today I want to let you in on some of the things I've learned about facing hardship head-on and how to use your challenges as stepping stones instead of allowing them to hinder you from being your best creative self.

CO-EXISTING WITH DIFFICULTY

Years ago I read a book called, "You Gotta Keep Dancing", by author Tim Hansel. On a hiking trip with friends, he fell off a cliff and severely injured his back. After months of chronic pain and emotional anguish, he came to accept his situation and even learned to "lean into the trial".

In my opinion, trials can be our best teachers. We can learn and grow from them or resort to bitterness and despair. I've experienced both of these emotions at times but am learning to yield to the things in my life that I can't change. I'm a fighter and my natural tendency is to put up my fists to ward away difficulty. It takes a moment by moment decision on my (our) part to choose to accept what life hands us (the good, the bad, and the ugly) instead of fighting it.

EXPERIENCING YOUR EMOTIONS

It's o.k. and even healthy to allow ourselves to experience all of the emotions that come with loss and hardship. Anger, grief, sadness, and guilt are inevitable companions during difficult times. At times I argue with my feelings instead of accepting them for what they are....natural and healthy. I think we just work against ourselves when we battle our feelings, don't you?


ACCEPTING YOUR LIMITATIONS

Due to my physical limitations, I might not be able to spend hours drawing or painting and do to our financial restrictions I might not have the means to purchase the highest quality art supplies or photography equipment. But I can draw and paint for short spans of time, take my simple point and shoot camera with me on country drives, and come home and edit my photos using a free editing program.

You can almost always find alternatives/solutions when you're faced with limitations. If plan A doesn't work, try plan B. If plan B doesn't work, try plan C. When we convince ourselves that there aren't any answers to our dilemma, that's when we begin to feel hopeless and stuck. It might not be possible to have your first choice of materials right now, but know that there are always other options. As you all know, most of my photos were shot with a point and shoot Samsung Digimax camera and I edited all of them using the program Picnik.com. It was difficult at times when I was approached by a couple of publishing companies and my photos were too small for them to use, but it was just something I had to accept until I was able to figure out a plan for purchasing my first DSLR camera (finally!).

REMEMBERING THAT GOOD THINGS CAN COME OUT OF HARDSHIP

I never would have thought that beautiful things could have come out of the most difficult times in my life. When you're going through hardship, it's a struggle at times to imagine that the sun will ever shine again in your part of the world, but I promise you it will. If you are going through a valley right now, my heart goes out to you. I want to encourage you to hang on to hope and try to remember that the dark days won't last forever. And, remember too, that many of your most creative ideas and projects often come about during difficult times. Also (and this might go without saying) art and creativity can be a HUGE source of healing!

And, here's some food for thought. What things in your life would not have transpired except for your difficult situations? If it weren't for my chronic health issues, I don't think I would have discovered blogging or photography. I would not have met beautiful people from around the world, and I definitely would not be teaching an e-course on creativity!


IT'S A GREAT BIG WORLD

You can feel pretty alone when you're not feeling well or when one stressful situation builds on top of the next. Your world can feel awfully small and your troubles appear much larger. During these times it helps me to remember that it's a big world and that I'm not alone in my experiences. Somehow it comforts me to realize that the world continues to turn even when mine feels like it's at a dead halt: children play, bakers bake, singers sing, flowers bloom, seasons change .... life goes on.

KEEPING A SENSE OF HUMOR

I should have put this one first! Without a good sense of humor, circumstances can appear hopeless and it's easy to despair. We see life through shaded glasses and forget the beauty in our world. One thing I'm thankful for is my ability to find humor in a situation and I cherish the times with my husband, kids, and friends when we laugh until our sides ache at the funny scenarios we dream up.

I imagine that you have a great laugh and a beautiful smile and I'm sure they light up a room. I know that it's a struggle to smile when you're hurting, but I want to encourage you to surround yourself with the people, books, comics, movies and things that make you laugh. Doing this will help you make it through the rough times a lot more smoothly. And, in my opinion, there is nothing more healing than laughter (with the exception of the warm hugs from a child).

VIEWING YOUR LIFE AS A STORY

If someone were to write a biography about your life, it would be pretty interesting, wouldn't it? Most of our lives would make for a very intriguing novel! It helps me to think of my life as a book with different chapters. One chapter may be sweet and beautiful, the next might be filled with adventure and intrigue, and the next with heartache. This life with all it's challenges and obstacles, is my life ..... a crazy, difficult, beautiful one. :)

CONCLUSION

To summarize, let's do our best not to allow obstacles to "trip us up". Instead, let's use them to become better and stronger individuals and to motivate us to live more meaningful creative lives.

On Monday we'll have Rachel Follett here to talk to us about designing your blog and Nikki (yes, our Nikki from this session of Raining Umbrellas) will offer some suggestions of her own!  It's a fun lesson and I always look forward to this one.  :)




DISCUSSION PROMPT - If someone wrote a story about your life, would it be a drama, adventure, or comedy?