Often enough, we find ourselves stuck in a rut. We find ourselves with no direction, the world seems like it's crashing down on us, and we are desperately trying to hold ourselves together with Scotch tape. And that is okay. It's okay to feel like you're falling apart. It's okay to feel like there a piece of yourself missing and you're not entirely sure where you lost it or why it's gone. It's okay to feel broken.

One of my favorite book characters is Anne Shirley. For those of you unfamiliar with the "Anne of Green Gables" stories, Anne is an orphan who eventually gets adopted by an unlikely pair and she makes a lot of mistakes. As in every chapter surrounds a mistake that she has made. Something that her teacher and dear friend, Miss Muriel Stacey, says is that "Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in it yet." As Anne grows up, she starts to make fewer mistakes, but I think we can all learn something from Miss Stacey: today might suck, but tomorrow is still a clean slate.

There are all sorts of songs and stories and phrases that we look to in order to feel better. We can sing "Tomorrow" from Annie until we're blue in the face, we can cry our eyes out until there are no more tears to cry, but something I think we tend to forget is that our "batting average" (for lack of better work) of getting through rough days is 100%. We always get through rough times, but somehow we constantly forget exactly how we did it before.

There is nothing wrong with taking a step back. There is nothing wrong with curling up in your bed with popcorn and Netflix until you feel better. But there is something wrong with giving up. When life gets hard, you have to remember that you won't always feel this way. You won't always be heartbroken, you won't always feel alone, and the homework will eventually end. Pain and crummy days end. Sometimes all it takes is a thirty-second dance party with your best friend, and other times you need something a little stronger, but you will always prevail.

Life is hard. There's not always going to be a participation trophy. But we have something so much better: our friends, our families, our passions and hobbies, our favorite books and movies. There is always a way to get out of a bad day-- no matter how long that day might seem. We just constantly have to remember that we are going to go to bed, wake up, and be in a fresh day with no mistakes in it yet.