Dealing with Hardships: Patience, Perseverance, and Compassion

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Several of my close friends that I've talked to recently are dealing with difficult trials. Each own is completely unique, and I would bet that most of us wouldn't want to trade places or exchange our own hardships for the ones on their plates. I want to share some of my favorite quotes/sayings/statements that inspire me and put a spark of hope in my heart when I'm going through particularly rough circumstances.

I definitely have a bad habit of sometimes looking at another person and having a false illusion of how great their situation is, when in reality, they could be going through things I could never handle.  It's easy for me to feel like my load is too much to bear, and wonder, "Why can't I have their life?" 

I will always remember a conversation I had with a coworker at one of my previous jobs. There was another girl we worked with who seemed to have it all: hot husband, great body, incredible looks, sleek luxury car, prestigious roots, etc. My coworker said, "I just want her life." When she said that to me, I found it interesting, because although this girl did, on the surface, seem to have an enviable life, I always sensed an element of sadness about her. Something in her countenance struck me as unhappy or unfulfilled. A couple of years later, in another state, I ran into this girl at a social gathering of mutual friends. I hadn't spoken to her in over a year and a half, and I was curious to see how she was doing. She related to me how her marriage had always been troubled and she had suffered through it for a long time, but finally couldn't deal with pain anymore. I immediately thought about the statement our former colleague had made to me, and in that moment I realized that I really never should judge a book by its cover. 

There will always be situations out there where "the grass seems greener on the other side." No matter how incredible their situation may seem compared to yours, my advice is to have compassion in your heart for them, and be kind. I believe we should heed the advice Atticus Finch gives to his daughter Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird:

"You really never understand a  person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."