Life.

Life is a string of connected, mundane and very much annoying incidents.

There's no denying it.

But we keep going. Be it for a spiritual or biological reason. Hell, I'd even say there are some esoteric and possibly paranormal reasons why we get up in the morning with the amount of shit we end up dealing with in life.

I don't often quote from the bible, but there once was a man called Job. He was a faithful worshipper of God, and was incredibly happy with his life. Bear in mind this is the Old Testament, so something bad was bound to happen to him sooner or later. God tested Job's faith by raining tragedy, after tragedy, disaster after disaster, down upon him. Job lost his home, family (And from what I remember offhand, there were a lot of people in that family. Job was a "Bizzay" man.), and his life to the tests from God Almighty.

He never gave up. And God rewarded him for it. He went through the pain, suffering and sorrow, believing absolutely in God and his mercy, stating the equivilent of "God has a plan."

Is this why we never give up? Our faith in the unseen forces?

I say not. Don't get me wrong, I'm not an Atheist, all power to you if you belive or don't believe. I'm an agnostic. Covering the bases. Not really satisfied with believing in anything until I see what'a there for myself. If I were to die, and be stood at the pearly gates - I'd be severely impressed, give ol' St. Pete a nod and go wherever he sends me.

It's all too easy to be swept away with life, as if it were some demented, never-ending rapid river. We try to keep up with the flow, taking control of the pace so we can get along fine.

I say, go with that flow. Concentrate on keeping yourself on the surface, not with exhausting yourself in the current, getting sucked under for trying.

Anyway, to get back to the subject. these disaster often happen around each other - Negativity breeds negativity, opens us up to every minor annoyance, and magnified into a grand scale attack against our fibre. We break under the strain more often than not.

Once you're down, it takes such a long time to get back up. All the energy is gone from your body, you just want to hide away from the world and all of the trouble it could bring you. You want to be safe.

You can do that, sure.

But not forever.

You could even be one of these people who seeks physical pain to cope with the pressures of life. And I can say - All power to you. It's your body.

Your body, your choice. [EDIT - I was being hypocritical to try and condemn self-harm or physical release and then say "Your body, your choice".]

And sure, giving in to emotions and/or hurting yourself may be a quick fix, but it's just that: a quick fix. those boughs will break again soon enough, moreso due to how badly you get back together. And down will come rock-a-by, baby and all.

So, what do you do?

Get up.

Simple as. I've advocated this to many people in the past, and it's never done me wrong.

Get up and walk.

You'll never get anywhere sitting around feeling sorry for yourself. Sure, take time out, sit a spell, analyse what made you so sad, angry or depressed. But you have to be strong.

Be strong. Pervererant. Temperant.

Get up and face the problems you have head on. You have to deal with problems before they grow, breeding secrets and lies.

It may seem dark now.

Very dark.

But beyond the darkness is a subtler shade of black, or white, or grey.

Things are going to get better. And you knows things may get worse.

You need to get up and walk through it. Deal with it the way you know how. If the path is broken before you - Jump, or go around again. If there is a wall in front of you - Break it down, with your own hands.

You need to wake up, get up, and go!

Go and live the life you want! Wherever, whatever, whoever, however you want it to be.

Take the reins by letting it all go. Go with the flow until you find your way.

Your human way.