“I Don’t Think Of All The Misery, But Of The Beauty That Still Remains.” – Anne Frank
This next quote comes from one of the most influential young girls in history: the lovely, intelligent, and hopeful, Miss Anne Frank. As a writer and young girl, Anne Frank has inspired me for a long time and although she has many words of wisdom in her diary, I chose this particular quote because it has resonated with me a lot in the last year.
As human beings who go through ups and downs on a daily basis, it’s so easy to focus on what is going wrong rather than what is going right. Although most of us already know that we should focus more on the positive rather than the negative, we still have a natural instinct to do the exact opposite. It doesn’t matter what caused us to think this way. There could be various reasons (how we grew up, traumatic events etc.) for automatically putting negative things on a pedestal while brushing off positive things. Although it’s important to see if you can find out why you think the way you do, what’s more important is retraining your brain to think a different way.
I’ve heard many people who are fueled by negativity give the same excuse for why they cannot and will not change their way of thinking. They simply say that some people are born with depressing tendencies and some aren’t. The ones who do not have depression in their family are the “lucky ones” and that’s just the way it is. I disagree.
I would be lying if I said I didn’t also think this way at some point in my life, but finding my voice and finding out who I am and who I want to be has allowed me to thankfully think otherwise. I truly believe that despite whether or not depression is hidden somewhere in your DNA, anyone can train themselves to, as Anne puts it, focus on the beauty rather than the misery in life. I am in no way undermining the struggle of depression. As it so happens, depression runs in my own family and yes, I have struggled and still struggle with it, but there came a point in my life – as with anyone suffering from some form of a mental health and/or addiction issue – when I decided I wasn’t going to let depression define me or be in control of my thoughts and decisions. My heart was going to do that instead.
If anyone had a right to give into depression and misery, it was Anne Frank, but instead of choosing to focus on the negativity all around her she chose to focus on the positivity she couldn’t yet see. Her optimism and raw hope which some may call naivety, is what makes her inspirational and it’s the main reason her book became so successful. She didn’t sit there and write about how miserable she was and how her life might as well be over. Although she did express her natural fear many times in her diary, she expressed love and beauty even more. In times of severe distress, she poured out her soul and trained her mind to speak from her heart. She is part of a group of influential people in history because of it, and every single day she helps a human being somewhere in the world to better their mind and in turn, their heart. She certainly did that for me.
It may take therapy and it may take reciting positive phrases to yourself over and over again for days, months, or years, but no matter what it takes, it is possible to focus on the beauty of life instead of the misery. You can find beauty in every single bad situation if you look for it. Every story and occurrence comes with a lesson and a chance for inspiration. Anne Frank’s story has done that for so many people and although she was just a young girl at the time she spoke these words and thought this way, that is the exact reason her words remain so true. It is said that we are only truly ourselves when we are children and carefree without society’s rules and judgment affecting us. She was a child and every single person on this Earth still has that child inside of them that can allow them to feel how they really feel and love how they really love. It’s purity and it’s innocence and it’s exactly who you should turn to when you need to remain hopeful.
Things are going to happen in life you don’t like and can’t control, but if you focus on the beauty that’s left and the beauty that is sure to be in your future, you are truly living. Anne Frank knew that every single hour she was in that annex and now, I know it too. For that, I thank her. Glow & shine bright! xo