I'll wait till the sun is shining.

It’s a classic solution to wait for the good thing in life to fall into place and that way we temporarily forget that the rain will fall again, and when it does, we feel more lost than ever. All because we waited for it to be good again.

Putting in place strategies and how to deal with bad times, when you’re in that bad headspace, is sometimes an unreasonable ask. In the depths of anxiety or depression, or panic attacks the LAST thing we can fathom is the ability to think of a way to calm ourselves that hasn’t been a tried and tested formula.

So it requires when the ‘sun’ is out. When we feel our best, that’s when we have to start to develop the workings of effort to develop the things that will help us get out of those negative headspaces. Yep, it’s a lot easier said than done.

So what do I do? Well, when I am feeling happy. I really indulge in that feeling. I grasp on to everything and anything that gives me the slightest bit of joy. I don’t hold back. I don’t tell myself ‘that’s silly’. I don’t judge myself or think I’m simple by liking pretty much every part of my day; when the sun is shining that is.

So, with that same mindset, I find it challenging when the rain starts in my world. Challenging, yet not impossible. Challenging but I try my hardest, and it works (sometimes). Mainly because I know that I really can appreciate anything and everything and I don’t feel silly for it.

Being optimistic is a state of mind that is APPLIED to what we see. It’s the glasses we choose to wear. Now can you be depressed and optimistic? Can that even work? I say yes. We may not like it. We may really push ourselves to the verge of frustration to think all it takes is just smiling at the sun or laughing at the rain. The sunshine times of life is when we MUST look around and go, ‘I am living in a happy time right now’; we have to experience those moments. Rain will eventually hit the ground, the rain of our headspace that will have clouds and clouds of heavy raindrops, yet we know, from our sunshine, the rain does not stick around, and we can bring warmth to our world quicker, when in the sunshine we practise our sense of gratuity, calmness and appreciation. All traits that are best to work on in the sun, and use in practise for the rainy days.

Don’t wait for rain to hit to feel like you need to change something, do it in the warmth and healing powers of the sun.