"They say stay in the lines, but there's always something better on the other side." — John Mayer

When faced with a difficult, hard, or disheartening situation in life, we as people have two main options:

1. Let it consume you, and become numb to life around you

Numb defined: become deprived of all sensation

2. Use it to wake you up, and become more a part of life around you

I think, whether it was tiny or huge, we've all chosen one of the two options to deal with a certain situation that occurred in our personal lifetime.

Personally, I'll tell you the easy option. The easy option is to just sit back and let life happen while you are busy dwelling on this situation which changed you for probably the worse. Whether it was the loss of a loved one, not getting accepted into your dream school, being fired from a career or anything else that caused personal distress — the easiest way out would be giving up.

To self-pity yourself to the point where you'd rather feel nothing than this personal distress again in the future. I've been there; honestly, I think we all have. There're things that occur while we're living on this Earth that are repulsive and may cause one to lose faith in any kind of a future in their own life. However, how empowering if we changed all these feelings of disparity to feelings of aspiration.

What if, instead of taking the easy way out, one decides that they want more out of life than they've ever previously imagined?

What if, instead of removing yourself from human interaction, one decides to insert themselves in every interaction they possibly can?

At the time of this hard situation, it may sound nearly impossible. At this point, your future may be completely warped in your mind or not even exist at all after dealing with something unbearably disheartening specifically. It's important to feel everything fully whatever it is, and not disregard the severity of the situation. Only once you've completely felt everything fully, this is the moment where you can decide you want more than a life of being numb to everything.

Choosing option number 2 isn't going to come naturally or easy for that matter, it'll be difficult to find the inspiration to come to terms with the fact maybe the rest of your life isn't how you always pictured it.

But, this is the exact moment as well where you can decide to pave the way for those around you. This is the exact moment which defines what kind of impact you'll leave on people living at the same time as you.

Take this hard situation and let it shape you into who you always wanted to be. Someone who either pours themselves into people around them, learning from each new encounter they have with another person. Or become one step closer to being someone who creates satisfaction from their personal work.

Become awake and realize this is your chance to finally create your journey versus staying in the lines and trying to make everything perfect for whatever future you thought was meant for you.

Maybe this specific situation has curved your mindset a bit, but it doesn't need to make it for the worse. Allow this situation to make you want more in life than simply living, and you'll feel more alive than previously you thought was imaginable.