It has taken me a long time to come to this point where I love who I am. I love every scar on my body that cancer has left me with, and I have even learned to love the holes in my heart carved by life itself. The disappointments, the sadness, the loss of loved ones, losing people that I once thought was my whole world now only memories I carry quietly within me. We all want to be loved and accepted but first you have to love and accept yourself.  It is not an easy thing to do because the outside world makes it so hard for us to be comfortable with who we are, telling us constantly we are not enough, that we should be different, better, more.  But pause for a moment. Take a deep breath. Look within yourself. You will see what a beautiful creation you truly are.

I have come to believe that every setback arrives with purpose. Nothing happens without reason. The hardest moments, the ones that bring us to our knees are shaping us into who we are meant to become.  Often, we don’t realize it while we are in the midst of the struggle. Life happens. We suffer. We endure. And then one day, we look back and think, I survived that. And somehow, we are not the same anymore. There is a lesson in absolutely everything, we just cannot see it while we are still inside the pain. 

Along life’s path, we meet countless people. Each one carries a lesson. Some are meant to stay, to walk beside us for years or a lifetime. Others arrive briefly, only to teach us something we need to learn before they leave. The ones who are meant to stay never leave you and the ones who pass by only to teach you, eventually go.

I think the most important thing is not to lose yourself as life happens, but to be aware of what life is trying to teach you while its happening and what you can take from it to better yourself.

As difficult as life can be sometimes it is truly an amazing experience. For a long time, I was searching for something, anything, to fill the emptiness inside my heart. I was looking for happiness everywhere except where it had always lived. Inside me. I asked why everything seemed so hard. Why happiness felt so distant. And slowly, quietly, the answers came. Not from the outside world, but from within. 

I realised what a strong person I have become from falling rock bottom so many times. And I learned the secret: never give up. No matter what happens. Even in the darkest moments, there is always something to be learned. Always something good, if you are willing to look for it.

Every day you wake up, you are already blessed, simply by being here. Everything else is a choice. You choose how you move through your day. You can choose misery, or you can choose gratitude. So many people wake up complaining, the rain, the traffic, the work they dislike. But that too is a choice. You can wake up and see the rain as nourishment for the earth. You can sit in traffic and listen to your favorite song, grateful for the simple miracle of being alive. You may not love your job, but you can be thankful you have one.

Things could always be worse, we just need to be grateful for what we have and make the best of every moment and keep focusing on how to better ourselves so we can have a beautiful life.

Nothing is permanent so why waste time being sad. You have a choice. You always have a choice. And the choice is yours. You are the ruler of your own kingdom.

Katerina Avraamides