Keep Going Forward

You can only control what you do in life. And even that would be a bit of a stretch. Life is what you make of it. Yet, for so many, life is filled with shortcomings and disappointment. More often than not, not at the fault of their own.

Life is hard. Life beats you down and when you feel like you’ve taken enough and something is about to break, there’s more shit that gets thrown at you. There have been many times in my life when I’ve felt this way. And no matter how much better we are for going through it, it still never prepares you for what comes next.

I’m the product of divorced parents. They divorced when I was a child, and for 25 years, I have no idea what it’s like to have parents who get along. I saw my friends have parties where both parents were there, car rides with friends and their parents talking in the front seat, hanging out at friend’s houses and their parents could be heard laughing from the other room. I have no idea what that’s like. And I never will.

If there was one thing I could want in this world, it would be to know what it was like to have parents who got along and could be in a room with each other for more than 5 minutes without getting annoyed with how the other one was breathing or looked at them. Just to know what it’s like to have the two most important people in the world be a family, even for a few minutes, I’d love to know the feeling.

At no fault of my own, I sadly never will. But I’m better for it. I know that I don’t want to be that. I want to love my wife and get through the hard times not alone, but together. Where if something bad happens, not have one of us take the brunt of it while the other watches. To go through shit together. To trudge through hard times as a family and as two people who can be there for each other every step of the way.

I know there are people in life who were dealt a much worse hand than I could ever imagine. And I praise them for getting through it and getting to where they are today. There is no pause button, or even one that slows life down for just a moment. Every day more and more happens and it’s up to us to continue working and pushing forward, no matter how hard.

The only way we get stronger and can make it easier on ourselves is to keep moving forward. To get through the hard times and dust ourselves off. Everyone says it. “Get knocked down nine times, stand up ten.” But it’s true. There are things that happen that are outside our control that can never be planned for.

Life is hard. It kicks you. It beats you. You never know what’s coming next. And if you prepare for the worst. There’s always something that seems to top it. As my girl, Kelly Clarkson, always said, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” Keep pushing forward, keep working towards something, and always know that the best way forward is, to keep going forward.