In this short video I’ll share with you an attitude to life that will help you to better deal with the ups and downs that life throws at you. 

If you prefer to read, rather than to watch, you’ll find a transcription below. This is an automatically generated transcript so please excuse any errors.

This video is about beautiful music, and how to get comfortable with the ups and downs of life.

I want to share with you something that I learned recently in the hope that it will be useful to you. Because once I’d learned this, it was so obvious that I can’t believe it took me so many years to figure it out.

Now, I get conflicts in my life the same as everybody else does. And I’m defining a conflict as when we want two different things that both fulfill important values or needs first, but they seem to be opposite. And when that happens, we get this feeling that we can’t have both of them. And that’s what creates the conflict is that classic damned if I do damned if I don’t scenario.

Now somehow, I’d created a belief that as a coach, my life should be completely free of turmoil and self doubt, and that I should resolve each and every conflict as it comes up. But that isn’t real life. Because sometimes things don’t have immediate answers.

So there’s a more empowering belief. And this is a belief that I think is true for everybody. Sometimes, it’s okay for things not to be okay. Sometimes it’s okay to look at your life and say, you know, this part of my life stinks. It’s not what I would choose. And there’s nothing I can do about it right now. But there’s no reflection on me as a person.

And then the real lightbulb moment came when I realized that there’s way more to it than that. Not only is it okay to not be okay. Sometimes it is something that we should welcome and embrace into our lives.

Beautiful music is not beautiful music because the chords and the notes harmonize perfectly all of the time. The moments of perfection happen when the tension and the discord resolve into harmony.

Beautiful paintings are not one color, beautiful paintings of that, that work that way because of the balance of the color. And because of the interplay between the lightness and the shade. And a beautiful life is not a life that’s free from challenge.

Life will continue to give you uncertainty and obstacles. And life becomes beautiful in the moment. When you resolve confusion into clarity. And as you overcome and continue to overcome each and every hurdle that you’re presented with, by your own efforts, your own determination, your own force of will and sheer strength of character. By your own perspiration and determination. You become stronger, you become wiser and you become a more rounded human being.

Embrace your challenges, even if you can’t do anything about them right now. Because if you seek only harmony, you will miss out on the real beauty and the possibility that life has to offer. Every problem has a solution. But some of those solutions take time. So wherever you are in your life right now embrace it, welcome it and love it. Things around you may not always be okay. But you always are!