A Little More Empathy

Life gets better I suppose. I wish it would just get better on its own, I wish we all had all of the answers to everything and everyone was fearless, but we aren’t. We all have fears that hold us back and we all make so many mistakes. As a kid I always thought of adults as Gods. They had an answer for everything and for the sake of our sanity they stayed calm to let us know that we were okay as long as we were with them. I couldn’t wait to grow up and know all the answers some day. To my great disappointment I realized that no one has the answers to anything and that we all live by our own rules.

I could look at that as a disappointment or as another factor of life that keeps things spicy. The only problem with making our own rules and decisions is that most of the time it’s easier to be negative as well as to feel sorry for ourselves, rather than keep our head up with a grin on our face. What we really need is a little more empathy and compassion.

A ton of kids, teens, and even adults struggle with depression, eating disorders, cutting, suicidal thoughts, etc… There are some people who go through the feelings, but never get too caught up in them. E.g. it’s normal to feel depressed sometimes, but when it takes over your life you have let it go too far. This is where people need the most empathy. They don’t need criticism or lectures, maybe just someone to say, “Hey! I see you and your struggles. I want you to know that things will get better.” The only catch is that things will only get better if you decide to make them better.

Therefore empathy is the first step to healing your life. The next step is choose a positive attitude. Not like an ignorant, happy-go-lucky type of positive, but at least an optimistic positive. Just being able to say “Hey, today is going to be better because I am going to make it better by choosing a good attitude,” will assist you in tackling the third and final step; fixing the problem. Having the knowledge that others before you have survived this while also being optimistic will help you conquer the problem head on until it is eradicated from your worries.

It’s okay to feel depressed, hopeless, helpless, sad, or bipolar. Its okay to feel every emotion there is, but in the long run most of us are aiming for happiness so that is what we should practice most often; happiness. I think all we need is a little more empathy.

-Liz:)