Life Lesson #1 - Life isn't Fair!

"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me... It is the most-requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:”
~ Regina Brett

I’ve decided to switch things up a bit for the next little while. As much as I would love to continue with the quotes I think what I would like to do is take the lessons of this fine women , Regina Brett, who is 90 years old and a columnist for the Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Ohio. I think she has life figured out and I am hoping I can add my two cents to it so here it goes.

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.


So often, when something is presented to us, a level of trust resides within that just accepts what is being told as truth and that effort is never needed for that truth to be whole. We live in the belief that because it was said, it is, and we have no responsibility to make it so. Maturity eventually teaches you that what you put into it can make or break the statement.

I remember growing up in this culture that taught the success of life was that marrying a returned missionary was the solution, the Disney version of a happily ever after Mormon life. You could absolutely know and have a fantastic marriage, even when you only knew each other a short time, because the stamp of an RM made it so. Where the reality is that this scenario is not always so and coming to terms with the fact that I may have misunderstood or maybe even been misled with the sentimentality of all of this may lead to the conclusion that in fact “Life isn’t Fair”. I did it all right and still ended up alone. Go figure.

Here’s the place where many LDS singles get caught; the unfairness of it all. You know these types. The never ending stories, the weariness, the complaints. This mind process is overwhelming and oppressive and can get you caught in a cycle that can, if left unattended, be virtually impossible to remove yourself from.

Stop, let go and move on!

I remember vividly the day I woke up and the “unfairness”, though still very real to me, had let go to the reality of gratitude. I didn’t have the anxiety, the abuse, and the fatigue of an unhappy life and more often than not, life is very good. The smile returned to my continence and the laughing began, the shear exhilaration of a contented life reappeared and I was, for the first time in a long time, whole. That was worth all the pain.

Time and healing will bring you to this truth. It is real; “Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good”. Knowing and understanding this concept of our purpose here on earth is what will allow it to complete you. When you understand God’s purpose for you and know that it has essential meaning, you will also understand personal inner peace. Wow, what an amazing state of heart! I’d be hard-pressed to let this one go.