I love being a Lifer because I like feeling like I’m a part of something to make the world a better place. You don’t have to tell me that the world isn’t always a welcoming and pleasant place. I’ve always believed that being positive and striving to find the silver lining in all things is the make it or break it for certain situations. You can’t always control what happens to you, but you can control how you react to the things that happen to you.
Throughout my life, I’ve had the fortunate experience to step outside my initial comfort zone and involve myself with experiences that allowed me to gain insightful views on my own culture and my own life. While I learned many different things, both good and bad, the one that stuck out to me the most was the strength of the human spirit.
The human spirit is an incredibly powerful force which is often our biggest source of strength and guidance through our most difficult moments. It is what allowed Vietnam veterans to survive harsh prison camps. It is what allowed Nelson Mandela to endure decades of being a political prisoner. The human spirit lives in all of us and has the nearly unlimited capacity to compel us to do good things and thrive around the good things we do.
I was once told that life isn’t about the big events, but rather the small moments. Those little intimate moments that happen to normal people every day, the tiny moments of joy that sadly, often get overlooked for the more negative, soul-crushing aspects of life.
Life is very big, very fast and at times, very tiring. It has the potential to wear us down and in the end, make us negative people who do negative things. However, no one makes the decision to start the day out with the intention of being a downer, we all want that positive news in our lives and we all want to be happy.
Again, this is why I love being a Lifer. I get to indulge in those little happy moments. I get to interact with the human spirit on a daily basis.
Being a Lifer has allowed me to see the best in people, it has allowed me to see the possibilities rather than the roadblocks. It has been said that the people who see the good in life, who see potential and not the fear can live a very satisfying life.
Every day is a day to think positive, surround myself around people who think positively and share the stories of people who think positive. It has allowed me to fight back against those who say that the world is full of pessimistic, bitter people. It has given me what I need to discover that there are good people. These are the people you want to be around. These are the people you want to run to when you need help. These are the people who are bursting with energy and potential.