I’d be lying if I told you I was always happy.
Just like you, I have my periods of ups and downs.
No one walks around with smiles all the time. Not even the most optimistic are able to keep their heads high day and night.
Sometimes great things happen to us and we’re ecstatic as wave after wave of good luck favor us. They bring us higher. They give us that funny weightless feeling and we laugh easier.
Then an unruly wave comes along and pushes us under and it’s harder to get back to the surface.
The Dilemma
When you’re happy, it doesn’t last forever. You search for the next “high.”
When you’re sad, it feels like it’ll last a lifetime. You forget the last time you were in a bout of sadness and floated back to the top.
Sadness is like a riptide that pulls you from the shore with great strength and you’ll rarely see it coming.
How to Stay Afloat
But you keep swimming. Whether you decide to swim parallel to the shore or lie on your back and wait until it’s over, you’ve got to keep at it.
If you want to move on then keep swimming. Trust is what it takes. Believe that you’ll be alright, just like last time.
Save your energy though. Don’t use it all in a last ditch effort to escape. There will be even more punishing waves and riptides ahead.
Life can be long and difficult, so you’ll need all the fight you can get. Just keep reminding yourself that this too shall pass.
Enjoy the moments where you’re the one riding the waves. And don’t waver when you’re the one buried under.
The riptide will end soon and you’ll be able to get back to the shore. Just like last time.
Duck under the waves Vincent! There is calm on the other side.
But what if it’s a riptide? 😛
“don’t waver when you’re the one buried under”. So true. Our hopes and dreams are worth too much for us to waver when things get tough
Thank You Vincent
Not a problem, Sal. 🙂
Cool photo Vincent.
“Keep at it” is almost an universal advice for everything 😉
The problem with sadness, depression and other negative emotions is that they rob you from the will of moving on.
My 2 cents: in the “good times” establish uplifting habits, like gratitude journaling. When strong enough such habit can take you through the darkest times. I know one gal who stayed afloat after her boyfriend sudden death, because of keeping the gratitude journal for more than a year.
Love the idea of creating uplifting habits that carry over to even your darker hours. Right now I’m journaling but there’s really no theme surrounding the writing, such as writing about what I’m grateful for. That could change starting tomorrow morning!
Great article, Vincent! As always. Idk why but wherever I see your name I remember the character Vincent from the Collateral movie with Tom Cruise. He was also kinda teacher in his own ways. I remember just how strong and confident his character Vincent was and how miserable at the same time. Coin, as always, has two sides to it. The best and the worst always work together. Language plays tricks on us, life is more complex, we better invent a new more reality-based word like “borst” or “werst”, maybe. So what you’ve said in the article is very true. Up or down, no matter, just live life as best as you can, because, as the other Vincent put it, “Someday my dream will come. One night you’ll wake up and you’ll discover it never happened. It’s all turned around on you and it never will. Suddenly you are old, didn’t happened and it never will, ’cause you were never going to do it anyway.” we better avoid that gnawing feeling at all cost ’cause life full of regret is the most miserable one. Whatever happened, let it go and go on, the only right way is forward. Thank you for your encouragement. Keep it up that way.
Just Googled the film. So I remind you of a contract killer, huh? 🙂
A simple and quick reminder that life is full of up and downs. To remember is the key to getting through the down times. : D Thanks for the reminder Vincent.
And thanks for reading!
The best teachers are destroyers, they bring shock to our lives, shake life to the ground to rebuild it and transform it. I want my teachers to destroy the negative parts of myself instead of just saying “that’s the right way, now good luck, bye”. For me a teacher is a killer in some way (no matter how weird it may sound) and life itself is the greatest teacher because it’s the greatest killer (there are more than 7.000.000.000 people in the world now and they are ALL going to die, be they accomplished in the eyes of the world or not, this is the ultimate lesson worth all other lessons altogether). I recommend you the movie, it’s worth it. The killer teaches the taxist Max about the limits of life, its true worth, that it can be taken away any moment in the most rediculous and crazy circumstances and you don’t know where it’s gonna happen so be alive while there’s still time left).
Heh, I was a bit confused until I remembered that you’re talking about the movie! 🙂
Riptides are tough. I once fell into trance on a raft just beyond the breakers. When awareness finally returned I was over 200 yards out and 1/4 mile from where I had been, on my way to Cuba. Good bye dear hearts. Good bye all I’ve known. The current not only ripped me apart but ripped me off.
I’d fallen in love with the prettiest and brightest girl at school. I’d known her for years. Suddenly she returned my affections. The blood flowed hot that spring. Summer came and we had to move. My heart and my love were dashed to pieces. It took the rest of the summer to start to live again. But life was never quite the same after that.
And you’re stronger because of it, I bet!
I am learning to embrace both the ups and the downs, rather than clinging to one and resisting the other. Yes easier said than done but it’s something I am practicing. When you embrace the downs you are telling the Universe that you trust the process and that ultimately all is well. Eric
Nice, Eric! 🙂
Sometimes the best we can do is just keep putting one foot in front of another, but we gotta keep at it. You’re so right.
Yup! Keep on marchin’!
Good morning Vincent,
I have found one of the many articles that you wrote and I have been saving this in my email folder. I re- read one that you wrote about moving on. I am currently experiencing difficulties in my life, and I kept staying afloat with this big waves. Coming to this new country and being far away from my family is really difficult. Anyways, I just wanted to say, Thank you, for helping me with my journey.
Kind regards,
Leila
Hey Leila,
Welcome to your new home. You’re going to build a wonderful life here, regardless of how foreign it feels right now.
Soon, it won’t feel so foreign anymore and you’ll forget you’re in a new country. For it will only be referred to as “home” from now on.
Vincent