New Year, New Me.

It's kind of interesting that in the midst of sadness and hard times, the incessant longing for happier times can make the person suffering unable to see some of the positive things that are coming from the changes that caused the initial sadness. Anything that causes profound sadness is likely to also teach you invaluable life lessons. Since you cannot escape feeling sadness from time to time, it is best to just ride it out and rather than get stuck in abyss, try to focus on the lessons you are learning from whatever has caused the pain. In other words: make the best of it. Don't allow yourself to become a victim.

Someone dear to me once told me: "The moment you think your life is perfect means it's probably not."

I think the challenge there is to never get TOO comfortable or settled in any one point in your life, no matter how good it is, and to realize that happiness, like sadness, is transitory. The goal, I think, is to be happy in a moment but recognize it can change and make sure you know how to make yourself happy, separate of any one person or thing. While not easy or foolproof, knowing you have things that fulfill you as an individual will keep you on track when unwanted changes happen in your life.

Sometimes when you suffer it's because you weren't equipped to deal with the situation that has presented itself to you. If you do not let your pain teach you how better deal with such situations, history will repeat itself. If you do, you emerge from the pain, stronger, wiser, and less likely to be as affected by similar situations when they inevitably occur again.