UNDER-APPRECIATED: STATEMENT #1

10 Things I Believe to be Under-Appreciated - UPDATED

I believe that it is difficult to truly appreciate advice
from someone who has been through really tough times,
until we are challenged by a genuinely demanding experience of our own.

Tough times are a matter of perspective. There are numerous points in life wherein we feel as if we’re in the midst of unfair difficulty and want nothing more than for the moment to pass, but these are not tough times. The moment passes and the challenge is soon forgotten, perhaps even looked upon as trivial. These are not tough times.

Tough times stand on their own and they are not forgotten. They leave marks. They leave scars. They take a piece of our soul and leave etchings behind on the walls of the now empty cave.

The remnants of burnt logs and the fleeting scent of smoke give life to the memory of a time when all hope seemed foolish and the smallest warmth of campfire embers were the one thing that brought comfort.

Tough times are pain – deep, emotional pain that pushes us well beyond what we thought was our own limitation of endurance.

Tough times are silent emotional agony. The overwhelming emptiness is most often felt in solitude.

Tough times do not fall upon everyone. They fall upon the chosen. They fall upon those who have the inner strength to persevere just a little longer.

Tough times change lives.

Whatever the lesson, whatever the reason; those who shoulder tough times can hear the faint whisper. They can see the flickering light in the distance. They and they alone can make sense of the turmoil. They know and they are forever grafted to others who know.

Advice from someone who has wrestled with tough times is not so much direction, as it is comfort that there are other footprints in the path. It is reassurance that the path is not an aimless wander for those are lost in the way.

Tough times have purpose. And, only those who have been through really tough times comprehend what those who have not could never understand.

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