4 Quotes That Will Make You Look at Life Differently

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Does anyone have a “Live, Laugh, Love” family member or someone you know who has a home filled with millions of sayings? Like “Home is where the heart is” or those types of sayings and all the quotes fill the space with constant reminders that we should say to ourselves.

I know someone who believes those quotes don’t work for them, they are cheesy, tacky and they said that it was not the motivation for them. But for my birthday they gave me a “Choose Happy” sign. Funny, right? I still have it to this day because it was a gift but now it sits in my kitchen as I type away.

I also have an aunt who is a part of this “community of a million sayings.” She does it quite nicely but I am reminded that the reason she has all of these cheesy quotes is to keep her sane. Along the walls in her house, wherever she looks up she has a constant reminder that “There will always be a rainbow after the storm.”

While I don’t have these quotes or sayings plastered all over my apartment, I have them in a gallery along the sides of my brain. Here are a few that help me get through the hard days when I need to remind myself to keep going.

1- “What if everything you’re going through right now, is preparing you for what you asked for?”

There are times when I feel like the world is ending. Especially, with COVID-19 it feels like that often but there was a time before all of this where I couldn’t see how my future would be.

When I started journaling, I was letting all my worries hit the paper. My journal was where I could get my frustrations, worries, and doubts out. But my journal was also a place where I could reflect on all the good things that were happening in my life. It’s a safe space to talk about all the positive and even the negative parts of my life.

Now that I look back on it, what I was going through has helped me in the present. Even what I feel now is preparing me in some way for my future. I have to know that I will be ready for the storms that will come my way but also be ready for the sun that will shine afterward.

2- “A bad chapter doesn’t mean a bad book.”

When working with children, I had one student get off the bus, stomp into the classroom, and said “Ms. Sadia, I’m having a bad day.” As she huffed with her arms closed, I proceeded to ask her what happened to make her feel this way, and just a few moments ago, one of the students kept talking to her and he was being annoying but I also found out that something happened between the two earlier in school.

As she explained and got her emotions out I told her “Just because one bad thing happened does not mean you’re having a bad day, you still have the rest of the day with me and I can make it as fun as I can. You still have time to find one thing that can make you happy today.”

I have had some bad chapters and bad things happen in the book I call my life, but I also have so many chapters ahead. Who knows how amazing they will be? One thing does not define your entire life experience, so cut yourself a little slack.

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3- “As long as you keep going, you’ll get better, And as you get better you gain more confidence. That alone is a success.”

“Just keep swimming” is what I think about when seeing this quote. Just keep moving forward. Staying in the past will not help, and beating yourself up will only make you feel crazy. Trying to be perfect only left me in tears and sleepless nights, and I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to quit and just stop.

But each day I kept going, even on my worst days. I now know that things will not be the way that they are forever. I may not succeed on the first try but if I keep going I know that I will eventually succeed, even when it’s something small. Small wins are still wins.

4- “Nothing beats a failure but a try”

I can’t tell you how many times I have heard this phrase in my life. My mom would say this to me almost every day, when I felt like I couldn't do something, or when I failed a test. She would say “at least you tried, right?”

You always fail when you don’t try, and that goes into life in general. When you don’t try new things because you are afraid you won’t be good at it or because you don’t know how to, that’s the biggest disservice you can do for yourself.

So what if you are not good at it at first? You tried and it won’t hurt to do it again and learn from it. I started saying this to the kids I worked with and I wanted it to stick to them as it stuck to me. Hopefully, it may do the same for you.

Maybe I’ll hang these up to be a reminder for me, but for now, they are written on the walls of my brain for me to remember.

Sadia Wells is a recent graduate student with a BS in Journalism and Mass Communication with a concentration in Mass Media Production from North Carolina A&T State University. She currently resides in Charlotte, NC.