In the day-to-day work of being a parent — or of being a kid — it’s easy to lose perspective.
When life isn’t working out exactly as we’d hoped it would, we get frustrated. We lose our tempers. We get down on ourselves or lash out at others. Sometimes we simply don’t know what to do, and it scares us.
And yet we carry on, doing the best we can. We keep our heads above water — barely, sometimes — and sometimes that’s the best we can do.
It’s only with time and maturity that we understand this is how life works. It never turns out exactly as we expect it will, but sometimes it turns out better than we could have predicted.
That’s the frustrating-but-wonderful thing about the human condition. We know how life begins and we know it will eventually end. Everything in between is up for grabs.
In one of his essays, writer Albert Camus uses winter as a illustration of the difficulties we face and summer as an illustration of our ability to overcome them. “In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer,” he wrote. “And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger — something better, pushing right back.”
As we prepare for a literal winter here in Grey/Bruce, my message to you — whether you’re a parent or a kid — is that you are stronger than your circumstances.
There is an invincible summer inside you. Winter doesn’t last forever, and half the battle is knowing this is true.
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