The sun is setting. Ribbons of warm hues hug the horizon, inviting in a new age. The heavens are smiling from north to south, their eyes beginning to twinkle in the creeping darkness. This is where it ends - this is where the darkness meets the light.
But the sun is rising. It beckons, calling out with arms of color reaching out for all those wandering and lost. The smile is slight across the land, its ghostly pendant fading into the encroaching light. This is where it begins - this is where the light overwhelms the darkness.
It's all about perspective. Freeze time, take a single frame from a single moment. Say, the moment that the sun perches on the edge of the world - is it falling down or is it rising up? Is the sun setting or is it rising? See the sky. See the land. See the world.
Is this moment an ending or is it a beginning?
Is it both?
You see, that cycle of light and darkness is an inevitable one. Every night the sun will set and the darkness will take over. But every time, there is also a dawn, and the light will prevail once again. The moment that you lose yourself in the darkness and you cut your strand of time in the midst of that night, that is the moment you lose the light.
Life is full of cycles. It's full of recessions and progressions, it's abundant in ups and downs, it can't help but exist as a constant, thrashing roller coaster. And on that coaster, you have to remember that gut-wrenching momentum flinging you downhill will drag you straight back up out of the depths.
Life is about finding ways to cope and to grow. Walk into any biology class across the nation, and they'll show you that all the evidence shows that life evolves. No matter in what capacity, we have evolved and are continuously doing so. Evolution is the revolution of life.
So take your sunsets and your falls. Take them by the throat and use them, no matter how far they drag you down, to pull yourself back up into the light. Use your pain to grow. Use your struggles to become better. Practice may not make perfect, but it sure as hell makers better.
When you see hard times hurling your direction, freeze that frame. Take any step back you can, shift side to side, and find your perspective. Find the best way to look at it. And then turn it back on again. Chances are, you'll get hammered in the chest and your breath will be stolen. You'll hit the ground so hard your head spins, so hard you can't think straight. But remember - it's not about how fast you hit the ground, it's about how fast you get back up and start swinging.
Find your sunrise in the darkness. It'll come. It's just how you approach it.
