Do you ever think about the pressure we put ourselves through? No matter how much we pray and work hard, things just don’t get together. The pressure we put on ourselves – thinking you’re probably not doing enough; whether it is your career, your relationships or even your own sanity – is never enough. Yet we are doing enough but are scared of how the world sees us.

Sometimes I feel like standing on top of the highest roof and telling everyone I am trying. I always think of the saying: “Do your best and He will do the rest.” Yet we find ourselves wondering if our best was enough. The pain of waking up in the morning and realising your situation hasn’t changed from yesterday is too much.

You sit in bed and wonder what it is you haven’t done. The feeling of failure that comes into mind and the reminder from our family and peers that we haven’t moved forward frustrates us. We pretend to be tough. We pretend to have it all together but deep down we’re falling apart. But we have to keep it together because we can’t show what’s really happening inside. How do we become OK with everything that’s happening around us? When our silence speaks so much volume, yet no one seems to hear us?

We live in a society where your competence is determined by how materialistically far you are in life. No one respects you when you have nothing to show. Success is no longer measured by how much you have accomplished but by what you have bought. For me, success is being able to wake up in the morning and realising I’m OK. I don’t have to stress about who’s going to bring me down today or what’s going to keep me from becoming who I’m destined to be. I want that, I badly want that. Where is room for that though, when we live in a society that constantly reminds us of how we’re not worthy of respect when we have nothing to show?

I know I’m not the only person who’s going through this. So today I’m saying to anyone going through this or anything similar, it’s going to be OK. It might not be today or tomorrow or even next year, but it’s going to be OK. Start by forgiving yourself for putting yourself through all the pressure, pain and hurt. It’s going to happen when it’s supposed to happen. You are worthy of everything that you have prayed and worked hard for.

“When you can’t control what’s happening around you, challenge yourself to control the way in which you respond. That is where your true power lies.” – Unknown.

You are not your struggles. You will get through each and everything you’re supposed to. One day you will wake up and realise that you are OK. You’re not the demons that you face behind closed doors. So face up, chin up, you’re going to get through this.

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