YOU ARE EXACTLY WHERE YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE.

Yup, you. I get the knee-jerk reaction to throw up a wall, hit the brakes, and shout back at me, “NO WAY!” Especially if you are smack in the middle of some sucky, not-so-fun, contrast. Bad days, flat tires, stressed out bosses, spouses, kids, pets, bills, and a partridge in a pair tree. Or what about the REALLY heavy stuff? Like, trauma. Yikes. How in the world dare I declare that everybody is exactly where they are supposed to be even in the middle of a traumatic event?! That’s toxic positivity…right?

Well, let’s see. They say Toxic Positivity is, “The pressure and/or expectation to only display positive emptions and suppressing any negative emptions, feelings, reactions, or experiences. This can lead to isolation and unhealthy coping mechanisms.”

FACTS. But take notice to that key word, “suppressing.” Suppressing any emotion is terrible advice! What if we didn’t suppress anything, but instead stood tall in the face of it all. What if we faced our fears and grew stronger?

Nearly 40-years on this planet, and I have yet to meet a single person who is not encountered some form of a traumatic experience, hardship, or life altering challenge. (Myself included.) What if those troubling experiences were nothing more than an OPPORTUNITY for us to rise, to expand our consciousness, and to evolve as a wiser human? Because I’m telling you with every breath in my lungs, locating the silver lining amongst the darkest cloud, is ALWAYS an option. No matter what we have been through, we have the choice on how we are going to respond. We cannot control others and we cannot control the situations that are sometimes placed upon us, but we can choose our response. Every. Single. Time.

We can choose to forgive our abusers, not for their benefit, but for our own. We can strengthen our empathy and compassion for self and for all those that are hurting so badly that they are hurt others. We suppress nothing, and we allow nothing to keep us oppressed. We can choose to view these hardships and traumas like the arrow pulling us back, only to launch us forward. We have the choice to choose our responses and take our power back.

The good things, the bad things, the whatever things…all the things that happen FOR us, not to us. We can cry, scream, and hate what we had to go through. And then…we can stand up, dust off, and choose to see what we can pull from it all. We can choose to give gratitude to every moment of this life that has shaped us into exactly who we are today. And you know what? That person is totally awesome.