Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Trying Yet Rewarding Times


I was getting kind of down this morning, well I was more discouraged than anything, after a disappointing conversation with my boss at the bookstore. The conversation itself wasn't necessarily what discouraged me but it made me realizes that my goals and the plan I had in mind to achieve through my return to Howard weren't coming to fruit. Then it started to make me think about how none of my goals I had set for myself on graduating from Chinquapin have yet to be achieved and they seem to be more distant as the days pass. When I allow myself to be in this discouraged mindset it's so easy to just focus on the negatives in my life. But I refuse to trap myself in a discouraged mindset, I refuse to lose faith in God and myself that through hard work everything will turnout beautifully. So this morning in order to re-energize myself I intentionally started looking and focusing on the positives of my situation. For instance because my current job is lacking organization I get the opportunity to search for another job, one that I would actually enjoy working at. So far, I'm applying for a paid internship at the Human Rights Campaign here in D.C.. If I get this position the job pays almost $200 more a week than what I get paid at the bookstore. Now the truth is I might not get it but I know for a fact that this search for another job will lead to a better more appropriate job for me.

What's more important, however, is that this is not just a trying time for me, this whole country is going through a trying time. Millions of people are without electricity in Texas because of Hurricane Ike, everywhere you look another major corporation is being balled out by the government, and we're fed even more negative news everyday about our own personal lives. If we were to just look at the surface of everything it would be easy to grow disappointed and be consumed with negativity. But we must also recognize the miracles that happen in our lives, the blessings, situations that are encouraging and inspires hope. For instance our country is actually awake now, non-profit organizations, donations, and other types of good will towards mankind as a whole has never been higher and more popular than now. Even in politics, sometimes the most discouraging factor in our society, we're experiencing miracles. No matter who you are going to support this election, no matter who wins we will have elected someone who has historically been neglected, oppressed and thought of as objects. Both parties are more in touch with the actual lives of the American people than man have seen in a very long time, now they both have different solutions to our problems but they're focusing on them. We have so much freedom to turn our lives around, to improve them we just have to have faith and trust that even when we're experiencing troubling times that we're going to be better off in the long run and to never focus solely on the negatives that are in our lives because that prevents us from seeing what is also good.

That's just what's been on my mind these past couple of days while trying to get things in order with my school work, definitely my job, and within my own personal life..... don't ever let yourself get discouraged, we have to stay strong, we have to stay focused, we have to continue believing...

6 comments:

Diana said...

I totally agree with you. It's so hard to stay positive sometimes...it's weird because things can seem completely shitty one second and then the next, be totally alright. It's amazing how deceiving our mindset can be. Although, who's to say that our minds aren't being deceived when we think everything's okay...maybe the default condition of reality is actually crappy.

MCWJR. said...

Girl you got all philosophical on me, so now I'm all lost! Default condition of reality is actually crappy? Explain further please....

Diana said...

Well, I was trying to say that it may be wrong for us to think that reality is always good and we simply go through moments of deception/weakness/whatever, and perceive it as bad (but it's actually good without us knowing).

I was saying that MAYBE the true state of reality is actually bad, and we are fooling ourselves when we are happy or having a good day, and perceive it as good (because it's actually bad). You see what I'm saying? It's not a very optimistic view, I'm just saying it's an alternative.

MCWJR. said...

Omg that's depressing to think about lol...but I guess I would say it comes down to faith. You have to have faith that our situation will turn out good and have something positive in it. Even though we may not see it with our own eyes there is a bigger picture that our limited imagination and mindset can fully grasp.

I'm not saying we should ignore anything negative that happens but we should not let it prevent us from seeing the positives in the situation too. Basically, nothing is 100% negative, at least I have faith that it's not...

Now if you don't have faith or don't believe in a God then you're screwed! JK! Idk how you'll work that out though... how do you work that out?

Diana said...

Well, I guess you can have some kind of faith, just not the religious kind. When I'm feeling really sad or messed up, I think about all the things out there in the world that I don't know and may never know and realize that there should never be a point in my life when I decide to throw in the towel. Because even if I feel like it's hopeless, there's bound to be something out there in infinite space that can open up my eyes and in an instance, revolutionize my thinking. Like, even if you're 80 years old and every single instant of your life has sucked up until that point, it's not a logical impossibility that on your 81st birthday, you'll discover something that made all of those years of suffering worth it and just completely transform you and your reality.

MCWJR. said...

O damn that's deep. I actually see your point too... well said... I feel comfortable agreeing with that...