Life has its ups and downs, but crises can make you feel like you’ve hit rock bottom. What is a life crisis? Ultimately, it depends on who you ask. For some, it’s a painful time of sorrow wrought with emotion and tears. For others, it’s the sinking feeling that all hope is lost. It’s the desire to go to sleep and never wake up. As intense and terrifying as it may seem, this too shall pass. Here are 13 inspiring quotes to facilitate your inevitable recovery.
1. “The struggle you’re in today is developing the strength you need tomorrow.” – Robert Tew
To know peace and pleasure, you must also know struggle and suffering. You wouldn’t recognize one without the other. When you hit a rough patch, know it’s nothing but life wanting to help you appreciate the good things more.
2. “Ego says: Once everything falls into place, I will find peace. Spirit says: Find peace and everything falls into place.”
The never-ending struggle between the ego and the spirit is a fact of life. When everything seems broken, know hope is not lost. Find solace in the eternal soul of the universe.
3. “Being challenged in life is inevitable. Being defeated is optional.”
Success wouldn’t be so sweet without a challenge. You choose whether to stay down or get up and keep fighting. Don’t let yourself be broken. Keep going when the going gets tough; you will survive if you’ve made it this far.
4. “In times of life crisis, whether wild fires or smoldering stress, the first thing I do is go back to basics… am I eating right, am I getting enough sleep, am I getting some physical and mental exercise every day.” – Edward Albert
I couldn’t resist sharing this because it’s the best possible advice when in the throes of a life crisis. It really says it all. Getting back to basics seems simple and obvious, but it’s the last thing we do when we feel like we’re falling apart.
5. “We all have times when life feels hard; when we’re frustrated and tired and just want to hide away. If that is you right now, don’t worry – every caterpillar has to rest to become a butterfly and you’ll soon find your wings again. In the meantime, let your Angels wrap you in theirs. You are so loved.” – Anna Taylor
People are always changing and adapting to their environments. They never stop learning – and growing. If you’ve stopped learning, that means old age has set in.
6. “I’m actually extremely grateful that some things didn’t work out the way I once wanted them to.”
The best things in our lives follow the worst. If something didn’t pan out like you hoped, believe something even better is coming soon.
7. “You can’t rewrite your past, but you can grab a clean sheet of paper and write your future.”
We often forget that we can move and change. The future is not set in stone. We’re capable of wondrous change if we put our minds to it.
8. “Change the changeable, accept the unchangeable, and remove yourself from the unacceptable.”
You feel desperate during a life crisis, so change for the better may seem like an illusion. Focus on what is changeable and forget all that which is not.
9. “I feel prematurely old. I’m actually having this major belated quarter-life crisis. I’m turning 30 in a couple of weeks. I’ve been thinking a lot about mortality. A lot about what I’m going to do with my life and how to enjoy it. One of the things I’m going to work on is being more spontaneous, letting go, embracing the beauty of come-what-may.” – Chris Pine
A lot of people have felt like this. 30 seems to be a watershed moment. There’s even a movie, “I woke up 30.” What is 30 but a number?
10. “At any given moment you have the power to say: This is not how the story is going to end.”
If you don’t like the situation you’re in, get out of it. Follow your intuition. How? It’s easy – just do what feels right.
11. “As I look back on my life, I realize that every time I thought I was being rejected from something good, I was actually being redirected to something better.” – Steve Maraboli
Failure can be painful, but there’s a lesson to be learned: fate decided that the thing, place, or person wasn’t the best for you, so it guided you to something else that would challenge, uplift, and help you.
12. “It is a sign of great character and strength to be able to lose your attachment to anyone or anything that isn’t good for you.”
If something in your life doesn’t bring you peace or help you grow and learn, it shouldn’t be part of it. Sometimes, it’s hard for us to say goodbye to places or people because we’ve become so used to them. But are they making us feel good?
13. “Always remember that your present situation is not your final destination. The best is yet to come.”
On a final note, you choose your path and you can change it any time you feel stuck. Carve a new way if you don’t like where you’re headed now. The power is all yours.
