You Can’t Control All That Happens To You In This Life, But You Can Control How You React To It

You can’t control everything that happens to you. And just like you can’t control what happens in your best friend’s life, or your sister’s life, you sometimes, don’t have any say in what happens in your world.

You could be doing a wonderful job at work one day, and the next day you might have to leave because your company is downsizing. You could be in a completely wonderful and loving relationship one day, but the next day, it might end because of long distance or timing. You could have everything you have always dreamed of today, and have it all gone by tomorrow.

You never know what could happen to you. And no matter how on top of everything that you are and no matter how in control you may think you are in the present moment, tomorrow could change everything.

Life hands us all tragedies and losses. Life hands us all trauma and heartbreak that feels like it could truly break us. Life can hand us all of that and more, without asking. And without getting our permission first.

You can’t control your life. You can’t control where you will be in five years. You can’t control where your path will take you tomorrow. I wish you could. I wish we all could. But we can’t. 

We are all just living in the constant unknown. A constant question mark. And in the constant wonderful, beautiful, and terrifying mystery of today and tomorrow.

So, what do we do? What can we do? If we can’t control the viruses that attack our bodies, or the cancerous cells that attack our veins, what can we control? And if we can’t control the country we were born in, the skin color on our bodies, and the dysfunctional family that we grew up in, what can we control?

We can only control one thing. We can try to control our thinking. Our reactions. And our mind. We can try to control how we look at our lives, and how we look at the world. We can try to control how we view our tragedies and hardships. And we can try to hold onto the good things, to the better and brighter things.

We can try to see a brighter tomorrow, when today is melancholy and grey. We can try to daydream today, in order to make all of the pain go away for a minute. We can try to think good thoughts, no matter how fucking terrible our lives seem.

We can try to see the good side of things. We can think about our breathing, and how right now, at this very moment, we are surviving. We can think about what we do have. Our friends, our family, and hopefully a roof over our heads.

We have to see the light. We have to hold onto hope. No matter what. Because honestly? That is all that we have. 

Because while we can’t control the shit that is going on; while we can’t control the fact that Donald Trump is America’s president, while we can’t control our sexual preference or sexual orientation and while we can’t control the type of family that we have been blessed with, we can control something.

We can control our outlook on life and the thoughts that we put into our heads. We can control the hope that we carry within our bones and our bloodstream. And we can try to smile. Despite the sadness, despite the tears, despite the deaths, and despite the tragedies. We can try our hardest, to just keep believing. And to try to be happy, despite the darkness.