Bull. Shit. We've all been through a lot. So? What are you doing about it? A person can't justify their behavior by telling me that they've "had a hard life"; just no. No way. So you've had a hard life? And that means you can treat other people like SHITtake mushrooms? Because you've had a troubled or broken or hurtful past? I've been through a LOT of crap too. But I don't go around being a manipulative son of a biscuit to everyone I meet. I don't justify the bad things I do to people by saying my life is hard. Ummm newsflash much? Life is fucking hard. IT IS SO HARD. And life sucks. A lot.
Now that we're on the train to hopelessville....
Your life may have been hard. And it probably wasn't all your fault. More often than not, we're a product of how we were raised. But it seriously gets under my skin when that's as far as it goes. Because I've SEEN people break the cycle. I've SEEN people actually get off their rears and DO something with the hard life they were given. Don't get me wrong, I'm not exactly solving world hunger over here. My life has not at ALL been a walk in the metaphorical Narnian park. And I fail a lot. I do a lot of dumb things. But it's not because my life was so hard. I don't fall down into the dark abyss because I've been through so much. I fail because I choose to. And I fall because I don't look where I'm going.
And, sometimes, I don't want to get back up. Actually, most of the time. And I find myself saying, "Well, it's not really my fault that I'm mean to people. Or that I do sinful things. I mean. I've been through a lot." Yeah, but SO WHAT? What does that mean? Does that mean I get to justify being an awful person to those around me? No. Duh. Having a rough past doesn't give me the ability to wallow in self-pity for the rest of my life, even if that's what I really want to do.
Just keep in mind that you're not the only person having a rough time of it. We're all struggling. We're all sinking. But we're not all blaming our lives. Some of us really do need to blame ourselves. We are the ultimate reason that we fail. I know this is harsh. A lot of people struggle with things beyond their control, emotions they genuinely can't change even though they want to. But we need to stop externalizing everything. If we don't, we won't break the "hard life" cycle, and our decision not to will affect our future generations. Don't let Satan get into your head. Don't let him tell you that there's nothing you can do. Don't let him lie to you and say you're not good enough to change your situation.
Discouragement never comes from God. Don't let it fester. Don't let it take root and manifest itself in the way you treat yourself and others. Don't take the helpless way out. We're all struggling.
But what are you gonna do to change it?
