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EMBRACE THE ATTITUDE,
“THIS TOO SHALL PASS”

You may have heard the phrase “This too shall pass.” It’s not just a saying that sounds good in theory. Rather, it’s a phrase worth looking at because if you can embrace it, your day-to-day life will be much easier and less stressful. You also will be able to get through difficult times more gracefully.

It’s been said that the only certainty in life is change. Every day that has ever started has ended. No experience lasts forever. Each thought you’ve ever had is over. So is every breath. We are born, we grow up, we get older. Life is always changing.

You were an infant, now you’re a teen. I was a teen, now I’m almost forty. A school year begins and it ends. We have hardships and they are resolved. You get the flu and then you’re fine. You break your arm, it heals. Something is popular, until it fades. It always does. Music that was “in” five years ago is hardly remembered. You’re sure today’s music will be popular forever, but it won’t be. People fall in love and say, “This feeling will never end,” but it changes. You’re so embarrassed that you can’t show your face, and you think the feeling will last forever. A few days later the embarrassment is totally forgotten and nobody cares. Someone is furious at you—or you at him—until it changes and you’re back together, as if it had never happened.

A team wins the World Series or the Super Bowl, and the fans go wild. The very next year, the same team finishes last. You’ve been in thousands of low moods, and they all went away. You’ve been in great moods too—but eventually they went back down. There are no exceptions. Indeed, everything passes.

You can take great comfort in knowing that everything passes. Since there are no exceptions—none—it means that if you are sad, you won’t always be sad. If you’re angry, the anger will fade. If you fail, you’ll bounce back. If someone has hurt you, that feeling will change. If you lose a love, there will be another. Indeed, there is something very reassuring in knowing that, whatever it is, however hard it seems, it too will pass. You can count on it.

My dear friend Robert and his terrific girlfriend were killed by a drunken driver while driving to my wedding. It was the most painful experience that I had ever been through. I almost had to postpone the wedding. I cried all night and thought the pain would never end. And while, to this day, I still miss him (and say hi to his photo), the pain has long turned to gratitude. I feel fortunate to have known him and to be able to call him my friend. What helped me to get through my pain was the hope that even that amount of pain would eventually go away. This too shall pass, I was told. And it did.

I’ve since learned to trust this wisdom in all aspects of life. It’s a very practical attitude to embrace. When you are absolutely certain that everything will pass, it is much easier to let go of things, especially “small stuff.” This perspective allows you to know that everything will be okay. It gives you hope and confidence that things aren’t as bad as they seem. It makes forgiving and maintaining a sense of humor easier. It helps you to stop sweating the small stuff. Nothing is as aggravating, painful, or difficult when you know that it’s not forever.

Rest assured that whatever you’re going through, big or small, it too shall pass.