5 simple reminders for hard times

5 simple reminders for hard times5 simple reminders for hard timesEvery life has chapters. Sometimes our chapters span years. And sometimes it feels like we live an entire year in the passing of a single day.And when the chapter, the day, the year, the timeswhen theyre hard and leave you stressed out of your mind, or emotional as hell, or unsure with how to go forward You know, the really hard days.Well, that can be hard. Not only for those living it, but for those loving those who are in the thick of it.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreTimes are going to be hard. At some point, the good will feel lightyears away and the hard will feel impossibly present. Whatever you do, dont make whats hard any harder than it needs to be. You can do this by allowing, by welcoming the hard.Fighting hard is like fighting a wave. Its going to crash, but how much it hurts depends on where you are when it happens. Heres my own partal reminders for the rough days, which helps the crashing waves crash a little softerIts not happening to youIts happening for you.I didnt say that. Oprah did. And its an important reminder when you feel like everything around you is against you. Like the world is against you. Like this is never going to clear. It is. It will. And while it likely wont make you feel better right now, the person you are becoming will feel better because of those things that happened.Sit in your s**tNo need to go anywhere.Whatever youre feeling. Stay there. Until you have the lesson. Until youre done sitting. Until youre ready. Sitting in it will reveal more than running from it ever could.You are not your feelingsYoure just not. Remember that when the waterfall of shit is falling. You can feel like hell without being hell. But feel free to eat them. Because chocolate, ice cream, and girl scout cookies are so good when youre so struggling.It may not make senseAnd there may be no reason.Because sometimeseverything happens for a reasonisbullshit. And becauseit will all make sense in the endnever comes.Yet other times, it will make sense and there will be a reason. Whatever you do, just trust.Come back to what you do haveGratitude in the darkness might be the brightest light. The only light.Youre a human having a hard time. But youre here. And all that is hard will eventually pass for all that is soft. The softest of which is your love. So come back to that as early and as often as you can when none of these rules do you any good.This article first appeared on MaxieMcCoy.com.