Life can really knock you down sometimes.  Out of the blue you get thrown a curve ball, and suddenly another one comes and then another.  Even things that shouldn’t be that big of deal suddenly are a big deal just because of everything that’s come at you at once.
This has been life for my husband and I for the past few weeks.  As a result, my art was put on hold and my time was taken with other things.  It was hard, especially the part where I felt uninspired and knew that even if I had time, it would be difficult to work feeling like this.
Anyway, enough with the sob story.  We’ve all had moments like this, and that’s ok.  Life is full of ups and downs, which is important because the frustration and sorrow you feel during the downs makes the joy that comes with the ups even more wonderful.
I suppose it’s no surprise that the first piece I’ve been able to finish in a few weeks would be about adversity.
The quote reads- “Adversity is like a strong wind.  It tears from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that we see ourselves as we really are.” -Arthur Golden
Such poignant words. I know that we will go through harder things in the future.  Much harder things.  And that what we have and will suffer will pale in comparison with the things others have suffered, especially as I think of the storm in the Philippines and the devastation that is so prevalent there right now.   How we deal with those things is what matters.  What choices will we make to deal with those hard times?  What will we give up and what will we keep?  Our compassion, our pride, etc.?  I am grateful for the hard times we’ve faced recently, because it gives me an opportunity to face the way I deal with things, and decide how I will face things in the future.  I get to choose the things about my character that I will keep and what I will let go when adversity strikes.  I want to be prepared so that when the hard things hit, no matter how hard, I won’t let fear rob me of my choices.

1 reply
  1. Shauna Brom
    Shauna Brom says:

    Ajuli,
    Believe me when I say that I am much more familiar with adversity and difficult times than I wish I were! My heart goes out to you and your husband during your difficult time. It sounds like you are finding your way through and creativity can help that. Of course, you have to get to the point where you can even be creative, but that does come as you have found through your lovely piece above. I have facilitated groups for women using creativity as a healing method. I totally believe in creativity to connect us with our Higher Power which helps us heal. Thank you, for being real enough to post that you are going through hard times. Sometimes on art blogs everyone seems so “happy, happy” that others think something must be wrong with them if they are having a bad time, feel depressed, etc. By opening up you have essentially given permission to many others to acknowledge their true feelings and hopefully find a way to reach out to someone. You may have thought you were only relating about your personal situation but you have done much, much more than that. The more real we are the more real others can feel free to be. Then people have a much less need to use “masks” that only separate us from one another and damage us further. So thank you, very much. I’m sending you much love & light!

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