Shine On: We Are All Broken, That's How The Light Gets In

Most people are broken. How do I know? Because most people tell me they’re broken. It’s rather impressive really – only two decades ago, it was taboo to admit we had significant issues to overcome. Two decades ago, and for all time before that, we did our best to keep our demons private.

The majority of us still do so today. Yet, more and more people I come across open up rather quickly about the difficulties they are finding in living life. We may finally be making progress. Admitting to having a problem is the first step after all.

We all have our own demons, our own secrets, our own cracks. We are all broken in one way or another. It’s what makes us the unique and beautiful individuals we are. We go through life living in a world that manages to disappoint us consistently.

We imagine, we experience, we get disappointed. Our expectations are rarely met – not just the expectations we have for others and the world around us, but also the expectations we have for ourselves and the life we were supposed to lead.

With each disappointment comes a blow. Some are only glancing hits. Others knock the wind out of us. Some hit us so hard, they change us forever, creating cracks in our souls – cracks that never really heal.

Most leave scars and even the shallowest of cracks leaves the memory of pain long lingering behind. People are like clay that gets beat up and molded by time and circumstance into individuals, which only on rare occasion, resemble their original forms.

One thing you should come to accept is that time and circumstance are not the sculptors; they are only the tools of the artist. The sculptor is the one who decides how each blow, each stroke of hammer and chisel, affects the individual piece.

We are not made of stone and do have the ability to move, anticipate and react to the forces acting upon us. We may not be able to dodge everything that life throws at us, but we are able to choose how we receive each blow, as well as what we take from the experience.

In life, you will get hurt. You will suffer. You will be forced to change. Remember that – in the end – you alone decide the person you are. You decide how to interpret each and every life experience, as well as the lesson you learn from them.

Every second of every day, you actively decide the kind of person you are. Blaming it on the cracks, on your history, on how damaged you are isn’t fair.

Everybody in the world is cracked, bruised and broken. Every single person. And those who aren’t are only too young to be, and will surely one day get broken like the rest of us. It’s an inevitability.

It’s a necessary part of life. Why? Because we are all destined to be born as one individual and to die as another. We are destined to live several lives throughout a single life. We are destined to change over and over and over again until we become the final individuals we are meant to become.

We live in a world governed by space and time, a reality in which cause causes effect. We have no choice but to live by the rules already outlined by our reality.

We can’t stop the pain, stop the misfortune, stop the loss, indefinitely. But what we can do is learn from it all and do our best to contribute to the maximization of the wellbeing of the human race as a whole.

What we can do is decide we are the ones in control – maybe not in control of the world, maybe not in control of others, maybe not even in control of our lives… But we can decide we are in control of ourselves. This is where it all has to start: self-control.

Mold yourself into the person you wish to become and the rest will hopefully follow. Will it definitely follow? No. Nothing in life is guaranteed other than death. I hate to come off morbid, but these are truths we would all be better off accepting.

The only one thing in this world you even have a shot of having complete control over is yourself. Everything else has a high variable of probability that basically determines the outcome.

You have the power to take a look at your dents and cracks and decide they aren’t enough to kill you, they aren’t enough to stop you or even slow you down. You have the ability to use those cracks as fuel for your brilliance.

Each crevice only pays homage to your strength. You’re bruised, broken, torn, cracked, bleeding, crying, screaming, but still standing. Still breathing. Still fighting.

Life will beat you until you prove there is literally nothing the universe can do to make you give up.

You’re going to keep pursuing your dreams. You’re going to find your passions, find that one person who loves you for each and every scar, and create the life of your dreams because you now know you are strong enough.

You just went punch-for-punch with life itself, and came out with your head held high. The trick's on it, really… it beat you, bruised you, cut you -- and the only thing it managed to do is create cracks that allow your inner light to shine through. Now, blind them.

Photo Courtesy: We Heart It

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