Stronger

Have you ever wished you were someone else? It might be nice to be that girl standing over there, the hub of the conversation. Or for one day to be that guy, whose confidence makes us believe every word he says. Or perhaps it's that girl who's found her true love, or our friend who's so smart. Or maybe even that lazy cat dozing in the sun that doesn't worry about anything.

I mean, who doesn’t want to be someone else at some point? Wear someone else's shoes for a second, and see what it’s like. Escape our problems, our fears. Be someone else - someone we want to be - whether that's the great writer, or the scientist with the cure, the courageous fireman, or the famous politician. It would be so fun to be able to escape our own personal life.

Yet, sometimes we forget that everyone has problems and terrible things happen to them – not just us. All those people who look so great – who we’d like to be - they have problems just like us. In fact, if we saw what it was really like to be them, we would probably want to go back to our own lives in an instant. Sometimes we forget that people are simply people.

Besides, what happens to us – and the problems we have – is not what separates us from others. Rather, it is how we choose to deal with what comes, or how we decide to face our conflicts. Terrible things happen to people who never deserved them. Awful problems will come our way that we should never have to deal with. But it isn't the things or problems we have that define us; it's how we manage our setbacks that say who we are.

We each have a choice whether to let the bad things take us down, or oppose them because they exist. We can be depressed, slinking in the corner because we got what we didn't deserve. We don't have to care, we don't have to be. If that's what we want.

Or we could be the warriors who face the challenge, and become better for it. Because we have a choice to be that girl in the middle of the conversation, or the girl who avoids people, because they’ll just hurt her. We can choose to be the guy who speaks eloquently, or the guy who’d rather not use his voice because won’t do any good for anyone. That's what inspires the great writer, or makes the courageous fireman. That's what keeps the scientist searching for the cure, or what makes people love the politician.

We have to go past feeling sorry for ourselves, past what hurts us, and turn it into something more, something better. We can be so breakable, but in being broken, choose to become stronger in the healing. It’s like when we trip on concrete and fall on our knees, and blood starts pouring out. But then it heals, and there is a scar, but the skin of the wound is healed stronger than the skin was before. It’s tougher.

And in the end, when it comes down to being someone, no one could ever really be better at being us than ourselves.

{feel free to comment! :)}