Living life can truly be a profound experience, but there are times that it just doesn’t feel that way.

I consider my daily attitude towards people, experiences and life in general to be pretty positive. Of course, there are a million things I wish I could change about myself and I currently have an endless list of endeavors that I am yet to accomplish. But sometimes the only things you can do is work hard and be patient.

Not too long ago, I had fallen into a small pit of pessimism, which I may add that I have successfully (for the most part) crawled out of. At the time, I struggled with the idea of how my life was going. I was wedged between the ideas of contentment and monotony. I was at a point in my life where I wasn’t satisfied with my job, education, or who I was as a person. Instead of embracing my go-getter mentality, I had let myself be transformed into the type of person I previously felt sorry for, a person who didn’t really express a drive or zeal for life.

This period in my life was emotionally exhausting and it wasn’t until a short time later that I let myself breath from the heavy scrutiny I solely was putting on myself. I finally admitted to myself that I was unhappy, but I didn’t exactly know how to change what I thought was inevitable. So, being the Christian that I am, I turned to prayer. I asked God for a sense of peace in my life and although I did not see an answer right away, God revealed to me that He had indeed been guiding me through it all.

Now, I know that not all of you are Christians, and you have the right to believe anything you want. Personally, my faith has given me hope and with this hope I have been able to stay grounded to myself as a human being because I whole-heartily gave my trust to God. Find that thing which gives you hope and don’t ever let it go.

With much reflection, I learned to be inspired by the ordinary. I have noticed myself being uplifted by other people, not necessarily their physical presence, but rather the words they speak. To me, there is just something intriguing about the way people speak; words being an outlet from their brain. I get comfort from the wind on my skin and happiness from the sand under my toes. I have learned to appreciate my natural surroundings and not to fret what I believe is missing in my life.

I have come to understand that life doesn’t have to be strawberries and rainbows all the time in order for it to be worth living. I don’t always need to be surrounded by numerous people or on some grand expedition in order to feel whole.

I now recognize--I hope that you can too--that sadness is temporary and it is required in order to know happiness.

All in all, you should stop every so often and look around you. Purpose is ingrained in EVERYTHING. Fight for the life you want. Ask yourself how you can better yourself, then do it.