Life Through My Rose-Colored Glasses

          Life, it’s this complicated, all encompassing word. No one really knows what it means or, even how it’s supposed to work. It’s just this word we’re theoretically supposed to transform into a verb but, to live is to what exactly? There are so many different ways you can look at life, through rose-colored glasses, or with a viewpoint that’s tinged less with rose and more with an overwhelming dose of realism. There’s always something you can take away from an experience, you gather insight and experience and then you modify it into some sort of resolution, hopefully one that’s benefiting you in someway, whether it be emotionally or, something a little more material.

Life is complicated to say the least but, there are numerous ways in which you can choose to look at it. As you ascend into adulthood you assume a stance, a theme that you exude in the decisions you make about your life. There are many paths you can take but, positivity is the one I feel is the most rewarding. You are literally taking something that’s negative and completely transforming it, you learn from it. To me people that can do this exude another level of strength that sometimes feels unobtainable. 

            I’ve always been a sucker for a good human-interest story, some people might just think it’s a cliché but I think that stories are amazing and something to be learned from. Maybe I took fables to heart but finding the moral of the story was always my favorite thing as a kid. You take something that’s completely ordinary and you turn it into this adventure, this storyline, with a beginning, middle, and an end. Within this narrative you find a character, someone you identify with and you watch them grow, you watch them overcome adversity. You watch them find this inner-strength no one knew they had and you root for them, the underdog, who made it against all odds.

            There are so many instances in life that are deemed as “negative,” frankly I find this to be false. When my brother was diagnosed with autism 20 years ago my parents could have done so many things. They could have sat around for the rest of their lives and been depressed and sad. They could have put Carson away and been ashamed of who he is. They did the exact opposite of these things, they did what I’m sure was extremely difficult; they accepted him for who he is, not what he isn’t. Not only that but, they taught me, their daughter who society deemed “normal” that, “normal” isn’t a word you can apply to your child. Carson gave me this glimpse into empathy that I can’t seem to fully explain, he opened up an entirely different world that so many people will never have the opportunity to experience.

            Life, it’s this thing that I want to categorize. I want to take every single part and put everything in these neat little boxes. I want to line them up in perfect rows, with perfect symmetry but, that’s not what life’s about. It’s about growth, and strength, and most of all it’s about me. It’s about making memories, and cherishing the people I love, it’s about turning the negative experiences into moments that I can learn from, it’s about achieving everything I’ve ever dreamed of. It’s about feeling weak but coming out on the other side stronger than I’ve ever been. It’s a continuous and conflicted dichotomy, life is my story and positivity is the theme I’ve chosen.