Both Beauty And Terror + #MyPostMonday The Week's Best Original Content

Many Americans are living with the perspective that the glass is either half empty or half full. I'm not sure who gave this visual about how to look at life, but it's a classic U.S. philosophy. Of course, it teaches us that we should look at life positively rather than negatively. And it really is a great way to view life...in general. When you're in the midst, though, of something earth-shaking, life- changing, and extremely hard to go through, I'm not sure that the half-full glass visual is what we're going to automatically go to for inspiration, because sometimes life just sucks!

There's no way to sugar coat it, no way to view it for anything than what it is.  As humans we are conditioned to avoid pain and suffering at all costs. But a quick check of the headlines shows that we can't avoid it. Poverty, illness, addiction, corruption, hatred, natural and man made disasters surround us on all sides.

Image - Jana Herzogova

It is easy to look at that, become fearful, and not be willing to take any kind of risks for fear that something bad will happen to you! But what kind of life would that be? 

My choice has always been to live life, have experiences, and take the random consequences of my own actions. Sometimes my risks turned out well and I had amazing and fulfilling adventures. Other times, my choices turned out to be not-so-great and I had to live through the consequences. 

For example, no one forced me to go with a group of experienced 4-wheel riders on my first-ever ride on an ATV. I had lived through enough adventure to know that a possibly really fun time was in store. Unfortunately for me, that ride turned out to be short-lived, as I crashed into a sand mound at a higher speed than what I obviously was able to successfully maneuver. My helmet, which was incorrectly fastened onto my head in the first place, flew off. My head was propelled forward, and my face hit the metal steering column at the same speed I had been initially traveling, about 50 mph, Nose shattered, blood spurting, and me screaming in pain was the result. 

My nose was shattered in multiple places, the skin totally peeled off the face, and unsightly, jagged cuts continued down to just above my mouth. 

I thought I was going to be a freak show for the rest of my life. But time has a way of healing, and most of the time no one even has a clue of the trauma my face went through 10 years ago. 

Granted, I've never gotten back onto a 4-wheeler again, which is probably a weakness on my part, but at least I can say that I've had the experience. 

I feel like I learned so much from just that one experience. I can take that with me and be able to empathize with many people who have gone through the same thing or even worse than what I went through. And I definitely have a sense of gratitude for a brain that wasn't damaged, a face that almost completely recovered, and a nose that is just a tad shorter than what it used to be! Not to mention, greater faith in the power of prayer and giving up control to God and letting Him decide what I might be able to learn through all of this. 

What have you decided to experience, regardless of the outcome and what did you learn as a result? 

Add caption

 Today is "My Post Monday!", a curation of the week's best original content. It's all about posts from Crafts to Camping, Wellness to Wealth, Fashion to Food, and whatever else is on the brain!  I  open up with a post of my own and then follow it up with a linky of the week's top original blog posts! It's all about what the writer thinks, believes, and knows--in other words, they are active, writing blogs. If I happen to find a great original, non-sponsored post, I'll link it up and share it with you here and on Twitter via the #MyPostMonday hashtag!  I can miss some amazing posts, but I don't want to!  So, in addition, if you'd like to link up yourself, you can do that too!  I'll visit your site, comment, promote and publicize(Affiliate links welcome)