it's up to us

I keep hearing people say "everything happens for a reason", and it bothers me. I understand the comfort that can come out of feeling that the universe isn't a random place, but the cold, hard fact is that it's up to us. It's up to us to find meaning out of circumstances, to pull lessons from the world that is happening around us. We shouldn't be passive observers, assuming that there is a grand scheme in place and that eventually the underlying plot will be revealed...we should be stretching our minds, our hearts, ourselves to define a purpose and a meaning and a reason to keep going.

The trouble with this more active way of thinking is that it forces you to take responsibility and culpability for where you are right now. Yes, things happen that are outside our control...but the key is how we respond to those things. We can be the victim, the martyr, the one that feels that they never get a fair shake...and many people are. It's easier. More miserable, perhaps, but definitely easier to sit back and assume that there is nothing you can do. The people I admire most, the ones I am closest to, are the ones that seem to have taken control of their lives, defied their past and made their present more their own. And I try to emulate them...they are good examples to surround myself with.

There is a time for wallowing, no denying that. You have to feel the emotions, experience them, work through them. Then comes the next step: do you lie down, say there's nothing you can do, and just stay there, or do you shake yourself, stand up, and take control of your own life?

It's up to you.