‪Finding the light in the dark

It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light. - Aristotle

Finding the light in the dark.

Last week I wrote about not being afraid of the dark, frankly because were too old to be afraid of the dark. Darkness being a struggle, difficult time, or an unknown.

Before you start heading into the dark and truly pushing yourself there, you’ll need to equip yourself with the ability to find some light. We all have darkness and we all need to practice finding the light.

Practice, practice, practice. You’ll need to practice this as much as possible, for if you struggle finding the light in any situation in your current life it’ll be a struggle to step out of your comfort zone to embrace the darkness of the unknown.

I’ll give an example of how I practice finding the light and remind myself weekly.

I write this blog on Monday evenings, probably one of the most hated days of the week for many people. General society dreads Monday’s. Monday means back to work, weekend playtime is over, adult responsibilities take over again, it’s five days until Friday, and everyone is a little more somber and testy on Mondays.... generally. 

So why write and self-reflect on Monday? It is likely my most tired, drained, frustrating time of the week. That’s exactly why I do it, it’s my every day darkness. If I spend the time writing now I really dig into some frustrating moments, some tiredness, and truly spend time finding some light in the day. If I did my deepest self-reflecting during a Friday afternoon, when everyone is happy, the weekend is ahead, and life seems easy, you’d get a useless piece here full of rainbows and sunshine. It would be painted with a different brush and I’d gain nothing positive or lesson learned from it. I’m selfish like that, I want to find a bad situation and set of moments to truly look deep into what made them so bad. The worse the day or moment, the better the time to get real with yourself and force yourself to write, figuring out your anecdote for finding light in the darkness.

This is how I seek constant improvement; dive deep into struggles, straight at vulnerability, accept what’s outside my comfort zone, take on what’s outside my comfort zone, and push myself to learn when you might be thinking of shutting off.

Whether darkness is a difficult child, a stubborn customer, a shaky relationship, a nagging pain, a troublesome employee, or any awful piece of your life. There is always a light there, something at the core of what’s causing this, some clarity to understand the other perspective, and a reason this is happening or some good still surrounding your day and that situation.

It’s tough, trust me it takes lots of work and practice to truly recognize the light or fully hear other perspectives. I practice every week, often many times each week, to constantly remind myself that light exists in all avenues of life...we simply need to find it.

Find your darkest moments, spend time looking inward at how you’re feeling with it and outwards as to how the world might perceive it. Learn how to manage your own ability to find the light and you’ll be much more comfortable, willing, and able to step into the unknown and face any difficulties or struggles that may come. The more often we practice this the more it becomes the norm, it’ll never be perfect but could always be better.

DadBud