(Five years ago) I had a routine for 17 years of my life, and then one day, everything went a different direction because I started college…. and I didn’t like it. I missed the way my life was before college, and I couldn’t allow myself to accept this change in my life, therefore, I allowed myself to slip into depression. With a major life alteration, and the sudden death of my younger cousin, it was hard for me to be happy. I wasn’t happy at all, and I wasn’t for two years.
I couldn’t help but feel sorry for myself… and that was my problem – I wasn’t allowing myself to move on because I was too busy feeling sorry for myself. I was stuck in the previous chapter of my book, while the next chapter was waiting to be written. It was being written, but the pages were basically blank.
Rather than looking forward to my future, I sat and cried about wanting to go back to the past, but that clearly didn’t do anything. I began reading a devotional book by Joel Osteen called, “Your Best Life Yet,” and that honestly helped me get out of the rut I was in. I read one page, everyday for one year, and during the process, I became a more optimistic person.
Yes, there are days I look back on those two years of depression, and I occasionally will get mad at myself for the time I wasted crying about where I was in my life, but everything that happened was all part of God’s plan to get me to where I am right now, and I am a stronger person because of it.
So as C.S. Lewis wrote, “There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.”
Look forward to your future, and don’t get stuck on the previous chapter of your life. Your future is brighter than you think.
{Quote by: C.S. Lewis ______ Photo taken by: Christian Florin}
