“I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they’re right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.” – Marilyn Monroe 

I have honestly hated the saying “Everything happens for a reason” for most of my life. I never really got it and you tend to only hear it when things are going terrible for you. I think, for that reason, it always angered me because when you are going through tough times, you don’t want to hear that they are happening for good reason.

Well, my thoughts changed when I read this quote by Marilyn Monroe. I just needed some clarification. Things don’t necessarily happen because of any fault of your own or to purposely teach you a lesson, like you’ve done something wrong, but they happen and then we learn from them in the process. Asking the question, ‘Why did that happen and what can I learn from it?” helps us to really dissect and understand a situation. From this analysis of every day occurences and experiences we can continue on in life without repeating our mistakes. If something was wrong, you’ll be able to truly appreciate when it’s right; being lied to really makes you start to trust your instincts and what you know to be true about yourself; and when good things come to end, you have the time and space to move on and begin something better. I truly believe this!

Instead of feeling sorry for ourselves and always wondering, “Why me?” I think we need to use every experience as a text book and learn how to focus on what’s good and how to make it better, rather than focusing on the negative side of things and who was at fault, placing useless blame. LISTEN to what can be taught when you aren’t paying attention!

Just found out about the book: Everything Happens for a Reason: Finding the True Meaning of the Events in Our Lives by Mira Kirshenbaum. (Linked to the picture below.) May have to ask Santa for this for Christmas 😉