Life Is What You Make It
Someone once told me, “You’re living in a perfect world, Elle!” And that’s not without exasperation.
Well, what’s wrong with that?!
Since the Goth subculture creeped into our consciousness, espousing a dark outlook in life became the epitome of coolness. Teenage angst became a common theme with rock bands, all the more promoting hate, anger, death, you name it. What’s worse, in the context of pop culture, it has been very much romanticized that those who were vulnerable enough to be absorbed into this culture, try to outdo each other in wallowing in self pity and tragedy. For some, it has even become an excuse for weakness.
I have nothing against these emotions, I feel them too. Without these feelings, fear, sorrow, hate, I wouldn’t have come to know, and love, some of the best writers the world has ever known, like Pablo Neruda and Paolo Coelho. And more importantly, I wouldn’t be the person I am now, if not for life’s cruelties and sorrows I had to overcome.
After all, isnt that what life is all about? The triumph of good over evil? It’s not the tragic life we are suffering that we should be proud of. Instead, we should be proud of being able to win over these tragedies that fate throws our way, of being able to stand up after falling, of coming out of the of these challenges even stronger. This is what we should be proud of, not wallowing in quagmire.
We are God’s children. And he made us with tougher stuff than the obstacles we have to face. God loves us, and he will never make us face something he knows we are not strong enough for. As a friend of mine quoted at one of my darkest times, ”That which cannot kill you can only make you stronger.”
In spite of the bruises I have acquired from life’s beatings, I’m happy. And this is what it all boils down to. And that is how I can say that my life is perfect. With all its, imperfections, my life IS perfect.
They say life is not a bed of roses. But mine is. Thorns included, of course. Still, it is a bed of roses.