OK, UNIVERSE

The phrase 'TGIF' just got realer than ever for me. 

I couldn't make up the circumstances that happened this week—every. single. day. In the moment, it felt like I had entered a drama-filled movie where I was the main character. 

I'm not someone who likes the victim mentality, and I am very much aware of my actions and reactions. And lets not forget, I had just written a post about emotional resilience, but it was almost like the universe was telling me something or possibly preparing me for what I was about to deal with. 

So why am I telling you this? 

I think social media has given us a great to tool to communicate, to document life and to launch businesses, brands, etc. Of course the things we choose to post on our social media is up to us and lets be real, we usually choose the photo that makes us look skinny, happy or successful—or whatever it may be. So when we constantly see people filtering out their faults, it's easy to start the compare and contrast game with the people we see on the screen. 

All of a sudden we start to feel like a stranger in our own lives. We're constantly striving for more—money happiness, friends, love, etc. Then when the universe starts throwing legit curveballs at you, we find ourselves in the middle of the ocean trying to stay afloat. 

This week was no exception to this scenario. It was a domino effect at its finest, and I really was just focused on breathing and surviving the week. 

In every aspect of my life—personal and professional—things we're keeping me on my toes and draining me emotionally, physically and mentally. And the minute I thought that I had gotten through one thing, the next thing came knocking on my door.

That fun game of lining up the dominos in a pattern and knocking them down, quickly turned into a relatable metaphor for what I experienced this week.

I found myself thinking about every situation and replaying them back in my mind—could I have done something different? Is this a result of something else I experienced this week? Is this exhaustion? Am I seriously just failing at life? Am I not cut out for this? Is this karma from a previous moment in my life? Like the list went on and on, and honestly, kept getting more ridiculous, but in the moment I was just ready to live off the grid and be a hermit. 

(Disclaimer: my coping mechanism with everything is sarcasm. So in the first few moments of frustration, it may seem like I don't care, but I have to get out the sarcasm before I can really step back and evaluate the situation.)

If only we could say in moments of stress, that we are experiencing a rough day/week and my response to things may be distorted and my well-being is hanging on by a thread, so all I am asking for is to be understanding. Wouldn't that be a great, honest approach to asking for compassion? No special treatment, just being understanding and considerate toward other peoples struggles.

What I am saying is we don't know what people are dealing with even if they seem like they have it all together. I mean, of course it's easy to compare your ugly details with the wins of someone else, but we're all human.

We make mistakes, we fall short, we feel stuck, we have low self-esteem, even moments of self-hate—it's an uphill battle mentally, physically and emotionally. But those unexpected moments of frustration, make us more appreciative of the good moments, and it allows us to grow. 

We all have things to work on, but we also have things to celebrate. 

Tomorrow is a new day.