Happiness- many people chase it, those who have truly found it are sometimes despised for it, it does not come from wealth or social status, relationship status, or anything that can come and go in your life. It comes from within, from living at peace with yourself. With the ups and downs of your life. With the failures and triumphs, with maturity and wisdom.
Several weeks ago, I was thinking about something someone had written to me (I was running at the time, a great time for me to reflect on the human condition). That person said : “I myself was a bitter man and felt like damaged goods after my divorce.” The person in question wrote to me in regards to concern that my husband would choose me as a wife, and I was reminded of how people project their own bitterness and feelings of personal inadequacies and low-self esteem on others. I remembered, as each relationship in life that I had failed, there were one or several people who were bitter themselves, who were bitter for me, who expected (and were angry that I did not choose such) bitterness. After the fall of the major relationships of my life, I have sought impartial, realistic, experienced and educated counseling. It was always natural for me, at the end of something, to analyze it; to think of why it did and did not work, how I might have contributed to it not working, and how to proceed in my life from that point on. I never became bitter, I never became jaded, I never blamed or hated the past experiences of my life. I never felt unworthy of love, I chose happiness, gratefulness, compassion, and hope for the future…
When people move from one phase of their life to the next (especially in the area of relationships), they are expected to follow the socially-accepted schedule. “You need some time to be alone” and “You need some time to get to know each other” (usually said in regards to people “moving too fast”), etc. It’s not that I do not agree in part; time is usually involved in becoming emotionally whole, and if you marry someone you have not known for a long time, it might not work. I will say, however, that a relationship working or not working has much more to do with the emotional “wholeness” of the parties involved than it does with time. For myself, for any of the people I care about, time is not important; what is important is whether or not you dealt with the past and are whole, healthy, and ready to move on. If you do that quickly, great. If you do that over a long period of time, there is nothing wrong with that. There is only wrong if you bring the negatives (such as bitterness and low self-esteem) of your past into your present, if you let it cloud your judgment, make you jaded, make you “bitter…like damaged goods.” If you harbor resentment from past relationships, you cannot move into a new one without the promise of great turmoil.
Coming back to my original point, I am happy. I am EXTREMELY happy. My life is far from perfect, I have worked my butt off for years to have the things that I have, and by many people’s standards I do not have a lot… but by other standards, I have the whole world at my feet, and that continues to bother some people. Some might have more money/a bigger diamond/nicer wedding/ fancier houses and cars, but I have happiness. I have peace. I have joy. I have love, lots of love, in my life. Jay, my husband, brings me great joy; but he could not do that if I was not already full of joy. I have joy in my children, joy in my family, joy in my friends, joy in my health, joy in my faith, joy in my necessary needs being met- everything else is icing on the cake, so to speak.
Whoever you are, make peace with your past- you cannot change it. Have hope for your future, as it is what you make of it. Realize that you will always have problems (as I told a dear friend of mine Saturday, problems will change, but they will always be there), and know that the difference between happiness and unhappiness is not the circumstances of your life, but what you make of them.
Wishing all health, wealth, and happiness!!
Natalie Wilcox
Oh Natalie I'm so glad you have a blog. You are very wise. I agree 100% with what you said: "a relationship working or not working has much more to do with the emotional “wholeness” of the parties involved than it does with time."
ReplyDeleteHappiness can last a lifetime and even eternity. I'm so glad you and jay found each other. You guys were meant to be.