People have really been having a hard time lately. I mean it. Normally everybody goes through the ups and downs in life at different paces and in different ways, but lately it seems as though everybody's downs have been synchronized.

It isn't just trivial things, although I see a bit of that too. I have noticed many couples breaking up, many people getting poor grades, many children falling terminally ill, many grandparents dying, so much hard work going unnoticed, so much anxiety flaring up, so many insecurities prominently displaying themselves.

I just want you to know that I see you. I know that you feel alone and misunderstood, or maybe you don't. Maybe you have a great support system, cheering you on, but it doesn't help. I know I have been there before.

Maybe you are struggling in your faith. You're trying to pray and you're trying to listen to God, but you just don't hear Him or understand how He is working in your life.

Maybe you are so bogged down with expectations and responsibilities that you have become a ghost of yourself. Everyday you go through the motions, and you are successful, but you are not who you thought you would be.

Maybe you are having girl/boy problems. A long term relationship is crumbling apart, you have feelings for someone who does not reciprocate them, you are underappreciated.

Maybe you aren't doing well in a class (or two, or all). You are putting in the work, and still not understanding. Or maybe you aren't putting in the work. Maybe you are so overwhelmed and hopeless that you have stopped trying, watching your grade sink lower and lower.

Maybe somebody you know is close to death, or is struggling with illness. You are watching them suffer, and you don't want them to suffer, but you still want them to be alive.

Maybe you just feel down in general. Nothing specific is going wrong, but there is a shroud of sadness hanging over you. It's almost as though you are choosing to feel this way, but you aren't. You just want to feel better.

It's okay.

I know how you feel. We all know how you feel.

So often we try to brush these things under a rug, wanting to forget them, wanting to not face them. Other times we scream it to the world, wanting others to jump in and fix it, or at least give you sympathy.

Why don't we just face them head on?

Make the best of what we have. Life isn't always fair, and bad things do happen to good people.

I'm not saying that you should pull yourself up by your boot straps. But I am saying to take the necessary steps toward improvement. These are always the hardest steps, but they are the only way to get better.

Get out of that unhealthy relationship. Ask your professor for help if you are having a hard time. Go talk to a spiritual director or somebody that you respect if you feel lost in your faith.

And if you are just feeling down in general? Think of the most selfless thing you could possibly do, and do it. At least for me, I have found that emptying myself entirely is one of the only ways to feel full.

I'm not saying things will get better right away, and I'm not saying that there is a clean solution to every problem.

Think of the worst case scenario that could come out of whatever is keeping you down. Even if that happens, I promise that life will go on, and you will eventually feel okay again. I can't even begin to count all of the worst case scenarios that became a reality in my life. Yet here I am, still progressing, still breathing, still happy (95% of the time).

Life is up and down, then down and up again. It is hard, but just keep pushing. I promise you will be okay.