This I Believe
Everyone has to overcome an obstacle in their life that may seem like the end of the world. They may lose their job, have an awful breakup, or even have to overcome an illness.  What I have learned, is that nothing is the end of the world, something better is always on the horizon and ready to come, even if it seems like it is miles away.
I have never had to go through intense hardships in my life, like losing a parent of  not having a home or hot meal for the night, but I have had experiences that have lead me to ask why certain things have happened to me or other people I know.
Over the course of high school, I have lost many friendships due to the fact they were no longer the person I had known all throughout elementary school and junior high. Losing a friend is never easy, so the question I always come back to is: Why? Over the time, I have learned that I have been able to grow and mature into the person that I want to be, while they have not. I have found achievements that I know I had no chance of getting if I remained friend with those certain people. So now when I ask the question: Why did I lose those friends? I know the answer is that I am able to go so much farther without them instead of with them, which is an answer that I am happy to live with.
After wasting five years of my life thinking I was doing something that I loved, I ended up hating and resenting. I put in hours and hours or working hard and trying to be the best I could be, to have that stripped and unrecognized. It was no longer something that I wanted to deal with anymore, I was about to reach my mental and emotional breaking point, so I decided that there were better things out there for me. I was so angry though, I put in all this work and effort for nothing. I used to love what I was doing and now I absolutely hated it. How could my feeling change that fast?  Over time, I realized that it wasn’t wasted and those years led me to become a stronger person, as well as giving me amazing friendships and memories along the way. Those things alone have overpowered the resentment and negativity that I had before.
I have also wondered why bad things happen to other people. Like the student who applied to their dream school, but didn’t get accepted. I have hope that something better will come for them wherever they end up. Whether finding a major that they love, or having an amazing experience somewhere that they thought they would never have. Everyone is going to dwell on the negatives in their life, and people have the right to, but eventually, they are going to have to look for the silver lining in what has happened.
So what about the student athlete who has their entire future figured out, but suffers a major injury that changes everything? How is that fair? For once they have to fear the unknown and wonder what will happen next. They might not be able to go to college now, or never be able to play sports ever again. Even in a situation like this, there just needs to be faith that there is a plan in the long run that will make this all worthwhile, and they will discover what their faith was for them all along.
Believe it or not, but the world is not out to get you like most people think it is. It comes with amazing experiences and hardships, but in the end it will all make you stronger. You may not find whatever reason you are looking for right away, it might takes months or years, but it will be worth it in the long run when you are able to discover the beauty of everything working itself out.
Having faith teaches you to overcome hardship and become stronger as a person. It gives reason to try to find the good throughout all the bad and have hope that things will get better no matter how bad they seem. I have discovered that letting worry and regret take over does nothing, whatever happens is meant to be. Everything happens for a reason. This I believe.