My highs and my lows

Over time, riding the ups and downs of life matures the mind. My view of life’s vicissitudes evolved in the last few years to the point that I developed my own definitions for what I call “highs” and “lows,” apart from what onlookers might think.

When you’ve hit rock bottom, the fear of failure dies a permanent death in your life. This is also a time when your eyes are opened to see many opportunities that you just couldn’t see all along, because of the veil of “success” or life’s comforts. My best decisions in life were made at a time when I had hit an all-time low, which makes me question if it is right to call that phase in my life a low. In light of the decisions I made at that time, I had reached new heights, of self-knowledge and self-will.

It was ironic. When most people thought that I was going through a tough time, there I was being hit by epiphany after epiphany; learning so many life lessons. When everything was said to be over, I could only see a chance to start afresh.

I suppose I could have suffered as they expected, had I not resolved to learn from life, make changes and move on. I definitely would have suffered a lot of pain if I had dwelt in that retrospective state that you initially enter after a bad occurrence, in which you think about the “good old days,” instead of working to make the coming days the best days ever.

Nowadays, I consider it a low day when I feel empty or fail to learn anything at all. Admittedly, these days are now few. I feel blessed to wake up in the morning and look forward to my day. I am thankful for work that I love to do, being aware that not too long ago, I yearned to find my own way in life. I constantly asked myself what I would do with my life and angrily searched for answers. The memories of bad times now make me grateful for my lot and make life sweeter than ever before.