There are times when even I seem to struggle with finding the Sunny Side. Of course, if I truly stop and think about it, every day does have a sunny side, merely because we happen to be on the sunny side of dirt. But still, we humans are often faced with life circumstances that seem to drain us of all sense of optimism. There are some literary heavyweights who express these things better than I can. “These are the times that try men’s souls,” Thomas Paine famously said in “The American Crisis.” In his classic book, “A Tale of Two Cities,” Charles Dickens described the times as being “the worst of times” and “the best of times.” I know that Chuck Dickens was talking about some folks having it very good, while at the same time, others have it really bad. That could be said of just about any day, even in our modern times. But couldn’t we take a look at that from a different angle? What if the struggles we think we are experiencing are actually just what is needed to make us better?
I enjoy going to the gym every chance I have. Recently, those chances have limited themselves to Saturdays, but I have been rather faithful in making my Saturday workouts. The actual process of the gym workout is difficult. It’s meant to be that way. However, the results can be very positive. I think I am starting to look at least a little better in the mirror. Maybe the gym workouts could be seen as the “worst of times” because of the struggle and, at the same time, “the best of times” because of the positive result that comes because of that struggle. Maybe that’s something to keep in mind as we feel we are going through “the worst of times.”