“There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness.”

This quote appears in The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. It reminds us that happiness and misery are not always black and white. They’re relative. For instance, when someone who always gets what they want gets something, they are happy. However, their happiness would pale in comparison to someone else getting the exact same thing after many years of patience and hard work.

So yes–grief, pain, and sadness are not things we embrace. To live life with positivity, it’s better to have as little of these things in it as possible.

But when these emotions and experiences do occur, there is a silver lining…Our deepest woes help us to fully take in and appreciate the things that are good in our lives. Perhaps we don’t celebrate our hardships, but they make celebrating our joys even sweeter.