“You are not required to set yourself on fire to keep others warm.”
We all know that girl. She’s bubbly, happy and doing it all with a smile on her face. When spoken about, people leave you with “isn’t she the greatest!?” [Cue eye roll]. Being the “light” aka the superhuman, conquor-the-world, kind of person isn’t easy. But how do some people figure out how to do it? It can’t be impossible. I think a part of all of us wants to become the light instead of sitting in the tunnel… or to at least get a piece of it.
The first time I heard the word pessimistic I was in high school. It’s what my gym teacher called me after I tried explaining to him why I would never be really good at volleyball (it just wasn’t my strong suit and I didn’t like it, I did cheerleading and gymnastics). I’ve always felt like a realist or a logical person so I get why I may come off as someone who’s stubborn or strong-willed. But pessimistic? I was a bit shocked. But like any hit-the-wall, stop-and-got-me-thinkin’ experience in my life, I decided that it wasn’t the way I was going to let others perceive me. I needed to put my better self out there to others for myself.
“When you can’t find the sunshine, be the sunshine.”
I’m no expert, but there are a few things that do work for me when I find myself looking for the light instead of being it. There is no easy way out, or one size fits all. With all my posts I hope you take with you one thing that helps you light up your own personal tunnel.
how to become the light:
- The darkness you feel can be who you’re surrounding yourself with. Yes, it’s ok to let your friends vent to you, but you don’t have to also be miserable to make them feel better. Adding complaints to the fire will only bring you down. Don’t stay in the tunnel to keep others company.
- Actively work on seeing the cup half full. Again, to me my thoughts were never negative they were realistic. Yet, to this day I catch myself letting my logic interfere with my dreams and that’s a problem. Your dreams should always feel so crazy and hard to attain, don’t let what you think is logical bring you down.
- Remind yourself why you started. So if you’re feeling like you’re stuck in a tunnel think about how you got there. Remember when you were just starting? Think about how much you wanted to be on this journey. What did you lose that is making you feel stuck?
You have to want to be a beam of light. When I’m optimistic, everything seems to go better. For me, I wanted to become the light, I didn’t want to keep walking in a dark tunnel. Everything in life takes time and perseverance, but why should the journey have to be dark?
Shop my look:
Direct link to my sunglasses. They are prescription, but I linked a very similar pair below.
“Tell the negative committee that meets
in your head to sit down and shut up.”
