Who doesn't have a personal story? No one. No matter where you live, what your background, who you talk to, his or her education, gender, or age, everyone one of us has a story to tell.
Some of these stories seem to have no end; some seem to be the same day after day, while other's stories leap from good to better. Is there a common thread, a common theme in all of these stories? Yes there is. You may not believe it at first, but it is a fact.
The common theme in each of these stories cause some of us to despair, some of us to want to shun that person, some of us to want to leap to their rescue, and some of us to count our blessings.
So what is the common theme? It is crosses. Each of us has "crosses to bear"; challenges in life that weigh on us. These challenges can stem from childhood issues unresolved, birth defect challenges, challenges as a result of having to raise a family alone, by the onset of disease, from struggling with a bleak future in a war torn environment, or challenges from feeling trapped in a never-ending circle of addiction. I'm sure you realize that these examples are not complete. I'm also sure you could add a few of your own, or from stories told to you from others.
Each of us has some challenges; it doesn't matter who we are. The one notable difference is that while everyone has issues some are bigger than others. After listening to other people's stories, we are often glad hearted to learn that our challenges aren't really that big at all. Some of us realize that we were making a proverbial mountain out of a molehill. Once you come to the conclusion that your mountain of challenges is merely a reflection of what seemed to be of major relevance to your life, an all consuming "poor me", life seems to get immediately better. This conclusion, though, doesn't mean that you have to be consumed forever by your challenges.
In reality, for many of us, we have options to exercise, actions that can be taken to overcome or reduce the impact of challenges in our lives or the impact of those issues to those around us. We can all complain, we can all moan, we can all build a negative life based on our issues. What makes us able to reduce the size of our challenges, however, is the option or ability to define the issue, develop actions to help resolve the issues, or, at the very least, seek help from friends, relatives, colleagues or professional organizations to give us guidance to move through and beyond our problems.
Make no mistake. Your life will be full of some type of challenges to bear. Each point in our lives will reveal new concerns. The important point, however, is that there is most likely a way to reduce, change, or alter these challenges down to bite size chunks not mountains that can't be climbed. If you find that you are dwelling far too much on your challenges, one of the most effective ways to reduce to these to minor inconveniences of life is to build a separate mountain composed of all your blessings, all the positive aspects of your life. When you climb out of your "poor me" attitude, your mountain of "blessings" compared to your mountain of "challenges" will allow you to rise above the clouds to a sunnier view of life.
