No untroubled day has ever dawned for me.

No untroubled day has ever dawned for me. – Seneca

Is this really trouble, or does it just look that way? Is it something you can change, or do you simply have to face it and do the best that you can?

What does that mean?
This is a classic bit of wisdom. Who has ever had a day completely free of troubles? It might be statistically possible, but typically, they are rare at best.

And how do you define ‘troubles’? Could something you enjoy be a trouble for someone else? And it goes the other way, too, right? Your troubles might be something that another would love to have, right?

This quote, then, is about what you do with a troubled day. Sometimes we may simply want to crawl back in bed or under a rock. However, that won’t make the day any better, will it? And everything which needs to be done will remain undone, right?

So, by inference, the quote is telling us to face the day, to take what comes, and make the best of it. And that is really all we can do, isn’t it? Other than run and hide, but that doesn’t usually work out well.

Why is facing your troubles important?  
We all have bad days. Sometimes they come at us in waves. Weeks, months, and even (it may seem) years go by without a break from troubles. To me, that’s OK. No one promised me a perfect world, just an opportunity to try to enjoy some of my time here.

I suppose it all comes down to expectations. If you seriously expect the world to be all great all the time, you can be severely disappointed by reality. Similarly, if you expect nothing but trouble, you’re going to be looking for the flaws in the better days, right?

To me, the best response is to face whatever life sends you way, and deal with it the best you can. There are some things in life we can change, and others which we cannot. Hiding or fighting the things we can’t change does us no good, right?

Instead, I believe we need to focus on changing what we can change, and accepting what we cannot. Troubles will be many, but many can be changed. The rest, we simply must face and deal with as best as we can.

Where can I apply this in my life?
That depends. Do you have any troubles in your life? If not, please leave a comment, because I’d like to discuss your incredible good fortune, or your incredibly good attitude. For the rest of us, there are troubles in our lives. Somewhere, somehow, at some time, trouble will visit, right?

So, we will go forward with the presumption that we have troubles in our lives from time to time. The question bcomes “How do we deal with these troubles?” There are basically two paths, one for those over which we have influence, and those which we cannot change.

Trying to change something that is unchangeable may seem a noble effort, it is futile by definition. So that implies that we should probably put some time into determining to which of these two classes our troubles belong. That means we have to be able to get things figured out, right?

How do you determine what you can change and what you cannot? If you’re looking to add an extra two ours to your day, you certainly won’t do it by changing the rotation of the Earth, right? But can you get some help from someone else, or cut out two hours of other activity? That might get you the same result, right?

Sometimes it’s just a matter of how you look at a situation that makes it a problem instead of an opportunity. Sometimes it’s just a matter of how you look at a situation that makes it an unchangable thing, rather than something we can change, right?

At one point in time, people thought that slavery was unchangable, that it would be part of the natural order forever. However, some people looked at it differently, and found a way to start making changes. Every day was troubled for them, and many died in their efforts to change the way things work.

Today, slavery is nearly eradcated from the planet. Their willingness to face, and deal with, the troubles of their day, allow us to live without that trouble in our lives. I mention this to give you a sense of scale and a sense of time. Does it have to change today to be worth facing?

The world is full of troubles. Sometimes we can change them just by how we react to them or view them. There are some which are not going to change on their own, and might not change in our lifetime. It is one thing to tilt at windmills, but another entirely if you do it with a plan and some help.

Look forward to your troubles, and to facing them. There is a great thrill in overcoming an obstacle, in completing a task despite of the difficulties.

There will always be troubles in your life. Learn to classify them, and then tackle the ones which can be changed. And look forward to tomorrow and the next trouble on the horizon.

From: Twitter, @philo_quotes
confirmed at : http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/l/luciusanna154987.html
Photo by Joselito Tagarao

Related articles

• Weekly Photo Challenge: Carefree – Fakeer in Lahore (ibnbattutatrail.wordpress.com)
• There’s Trouble (weaslefan.wordpress.com)
• 7 Quotes for Finding Yourself (lorensworld.com)
• To change and to improve are two different things (philosiblog.com)