Let’s all take a minute to commemorate all the times in our lives that life was just plain mean to us. Now, let’s all appreciate the fact that we made it through 100 percent of those times and are still living and thriving -- well, hopefully.

Sure, life can just say to you (in the most sarcastic and inconsiderate voice ever) at any moment in time, “Hey, here’s the biggest bowl of lemons I could find. I wanted you to have them all at once,” but it’s not about what life throws at us. It’s about what we do with those lemons. It’s about what we create out of those lemons.

First, we could pick up one at a time, removing each lemon from the bowl separately. But that leaves all the other lemons just sitting there, waiting and waiting for you to remove them from the bowl. Or, you could juggle the lemons, provided you know how to juggle, constantly switching from one lemon to another. But that just leaves you tired and focused on nothing else. That leaves just one more viable option: you could make the best lemonade you’ve ever made in your entire life, or maybe the best you’ve ever made in general, because who actually makes lemonade out of real lemons, anymore?

Life may hand you lemons, maybe even the most bitter and foul-tasting lemons you’ve ever tasted, but there’s plenty more where that came from. Our characters as humans are based off of our responses to the difficult things in life, no matter how severe. Life is simply one big test of resilience, and resilience is key to conquering even the biggest bowl of lemons that life secretly places in our paths even on our most peaceful walks of life.

Life can be pretty mean and serve you some pretty rotten fruit. Embrace the hard times, make something great out of them, and your character and strength as an individual will reap the benefits. After all, even lemons are the color of sunshine.