Human beings are built on resilience. I read this once, in one of my favorite books by Elin Hinderbrand. I remember the words resonating in my mind in a way that stood apart. “Human beings are resilient,” I read quietly in my head. It’s an unavoidable fact. And this novel had captured its essence so perfectly. Human beings are naturally resilient—we all share a common instinct to overcome, achieve, and resist, to fight back. It’s innate in us to push when the world shoves us around. I like to call this The Fight.

The Fight is what we all share, something that connects us as people and unites us as a species. The Fight is what we are left to choose sometimes, when life hands us unfavorable and seemingly undoubtable circumstances. We have no choice but to fight back, to resist the pain we face and try to better ourselves as people. It’s not like we can lay down and die. No matter how difficult the obstacles are that are placed in front of us, we know that we’re luckier than the person six feet under the ground, not experiencing life and all of its evolving. The Fight is sometimes what saves us, what brings us back to the most essential and important things in life we often forget. You cannot grow if you cannot struggle. And you will not. The most amazing thing about The Fight is that every human is facing it; in only a trillion different ways.

Everybody’s fight is different. We’re always told that somebody out there has it worse than we are, and this is supposed to relieve the pain of your problems and open your mind to gratefulness; well sure, sometimes this works for me. But it is not to say that somebody’s worse problems create a lesser effect on my own. And somebody’s lesser happiness does not build up my own. Your problems are your problems, they’re unique to you and the life you have lived thus far. Nobody’s problems make yours any better or worse. But we should appreciate our problems because as I said, they’re unique to us and our lives, which means we are given them because we can handle them. We are dealt the hand we are in life because each of us has the ability to bend and mold ourselves around our problems, to give them the adequate attention they need but also the distance we need. Your problems do not define your life; your life is not contingent or revolving around them, and the sooner you accept this, the happier you will be. See, I’ve learned it’s possible to be happy and live with my problems. They’re almost that of an unwelcome guest—I understand they’re here, but do they deter me from my day to day growth and overall happiness? Hell to the no! Because that is when we was people maximize our problems. When we give into them, and let them absorb and integrate their way into every part of our day. But eventually, after days of discontentment and sheer boredom of their undying problematic thoughts, these people figure it out. They figure out that their only option left is to take on The Fight.

Whatever 2015 had brought you, it’s over. That Fight is over. It’s time to begin again, to reconcile and accept the events of our lives and their inevitable effects. But it’s also time to live. Wake up every day appreciating the small things. I appreciate the sunlight peeking in through my blinds in the morning. I appreciate walking downstairs to see my sister sleeping beautifully and peacefully. I appreciate the sound of my mother’s voice as she’s on the phone, working as hard as she can to provide for me. I appreciate the simple taste of chai tea, I appreciate the long and scenic drive from downtown to my new home, I appreciate the way my earbuds fit perfectly in my drums and I appreciate the way my body can move and bend when I’m working out. I appreciate these things because if I don’t, my life will surely pass me by.

Happy 2016 everyone. Xo