“Weaknesses are just strengths in the wrong environment.”
We usually beat ourselves up for our weaknesses. Meanwhile, we celebrate our strengths. But what if we’re able to celebrate our weaknesses just as much as we celebrate what we’re good at? This quote, by Marianne Cantwell, challenges us to stop referring to our weaknesses as such. We can actually think of them as strengths. Things we may conventionally consider a weakness, like being slow, loud, soft spoken, spontaneous, or overly caution are not bad in and of themselves. They just need to be placed in an environment where they are valuable traits. So we can stop beating ourselves up for our weaknesses and know that it’s all a matter…
“Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.”
Sometimes we expect joy to come and go as our life experiences dictate. It’s either there or it’s not depending if something good happens or if we experience a stroke of bad luck or unfortunate event. However, joy isn’t that simple. For instance, a great thing can happen, but that doesn’t mean joy automatically follows suit if you aren’t feeling grateful. On the flip side, something horrible can happen, but you find the silver lining, and joy emerges from the pain. This quote, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, reminds us that joy doesn’t just happen to us. While it’s not always easy, we can and should always make the effort to…
“Giving up doesn’t always mean you are weak; sometimes it means that you are strong enough to let go.”
In life, we’re conditioned to believe that giving up is a sign of weakness. If you’re giving up on something, it must automatically mean you’re not capable or strong enough to do that thing. However, this quote, from the book Crossing Tinker’s Knob by Inglath Cooper, turns this thinking upside-down. Sometimes giving up means we’re strong enough to let go. Sometimes it’s actually harder to give up than to keep going. Knowing when it’s time to end one course in favor of an other not only requires an incredible amount of discernment but also strength in humility.
Work hard in silence, let your success be your noise.
There are a lot of people out there who like to make a lot of noise tooting their own horn. They go out of the way to appear smarter, better, superior… This quote, by Frank Ocean, is a reminder to humble ourselves. Because at the end of the day, it is our good work that speaks louder than the loudest display of self-aggrandization. So if you tend to work hard in silence, keep in mind that it’s by no means a reflection of lesser value in what you’re doing. Don’t ever allow the cacophony of boasters around you to cause you to doubt your worth or undervalue your efforts.
The difference between treating a physical vs. an emotional wound is that one heals faster when it’s covered and the other doesn’t
There’s a common misconception that it’s better to leave wounds exposed to let them air out–dry up and heal. Forget the bandaid. But…WRONG. Covering up wounds and keeping them moist, not dry, is what actually promotes healing. However, the opposite rule applies to emotional wounds. While covering up physical wounds promotes faster healing, doing the same with emotional ones only causes them to fester. Instead, it’s best to air out the emotional wounds. Don’t cover them up or avoid them. Face them. Lift them up in prayer. Talk about them with those you can trust, and talk about them with yourself through self-reflection. Because that is how those kinds of…
Keep it Simple
Keeping things simple sounds like something that would be simple to do. But not quite. We’re more inclined to overcomplicate our lives. For instance, we jampack our schedules, ending up with little personal time. Or, we overcomplicate what we eat, following restrictive diets with a laundry list of guidelines. We may even overcomplicate our relationships. There’s this perception that the more faceted, elaborate, or belabored things are, the better. However, not necessarily. There’s definitely a point where things get overcomplicated, causing us even greater distress. So, we should always be mindful of our overcomplications–remembering that we can do ourselves a big favor by just keeping things simple.
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“If you work on something a little bit every day, you end up with something that is massive.”
“If you know you are on the right track, if you have this inner knowledge, then nobody can turn you off… no matter what they say.”
“Lighten up on yourself. No one is perfect. Gently accept your humanness.”
Necessity: The Mother of Invention AND Introspection
They say necessity is the mother of invention. It’s true. Sometimes a situation sucks. But in the midst of the struggle, we’re forced to look at things differently. We have to break away from old ways of thinking that we’ve gotten used to, and we suddenly consider solutions and ideas that either never occurred to us, or we never gave much consideration. This happened to me recently. Lately, I’ve been doing more to prioritize another writing project. So, I’ve found it more and more difficult to balance my time. It occurred to me that I simply can’t afford to be going to work with just four hours of sleep almost…
Depression Part 3: Finding the Cause and Working Toward the Solution
How is depression caused? What can you do about it? Those are two big questions, and it would take a whole book to cover both of them–each. So attempting to do that in a single blog post is quite a challenge. But, through this attempt, we get a short yet comprehensive summary that can hopefully lead to reflection and appropriate action. Causes First of all, it can’t be emphasized enough that depression is a very complicated condition that can have not just one but multiple causes. The key thing to note is that whatever the cause(s), they ultimately alter a person’s brain chemistry. Similar to how someone who goes through…
Depression Part 2: What is it? How and Why You Should Know
In Depression Part 1, we talked about the stigma that exists around depression. That was an important step because we’re not going to get anywhere if we’re too afraid to talk about it in the first place. But what exactly is it? Understanding what depression actually means is another step that’s often overlooked. But it turns out that there are specific signs and behaviors that signify depression. They include: Signs & Symptoms of Depression Sadness and hopelessness that never seems to go away or occurs very frequently (i.e. an overall depressed mood that lasts longer than two weeks) AND Loss of interest in things you normally enjoy Frequent feeling of…
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“Those who matter don’t mind and those who mind don’t matter.”
“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along’.”
“Don’t live the same year 75 times and call it a life.”
Depression Part 1: Eliminating the Stigma
There’s been a series on anxiety and self-esteem. There’s even been one on motivation. It’s about time we take a closer look at depression—the other category under “Mind.” Not surprisingly, Part 1 of this Depression series is solely about eliminating the stigma that surrounds talking about it in the first place. But there shouldn’t be any stigma. If you were to research depression online, you’ll realize three things 1. Depression is a disability with many unfortunate side effects, 2. It’s more widespread than you probably thought, and 3. It’s on the rise. According to the World Health Organization, depression increased by 18.4% from 2005 to 2015 (1). That’s almost 20%…
