If I could sum up the past few years of my life into one sentence, it would be “I’m not okay, but I’m fine.”

I spent a lot of time treating my life like it was a problem to be solved — discomfort meant something was wrong and needed to be fixed. I couldn’t let myself be alright if things were not okay. I didn’t see it at the time but I had handed the keys to my contentment over to outside forces.

The reality is that we control so little in life. No matter how much we try to avoid them we will all experience times when things are not okay. And the best thing we can do for ourselves is to learn to accept what we cannot change and focus all our energy on what we can change. But this requires perspective — something that’s hard to have when you’re sitting in the middle of uncomfortable stuff.

Gaining perspective begins with objectively seeing yourself in this moment as well as seeing the trajectory of your life toward something bigger. Because it’s much easier to be okay with being not okay in this moment when you see the potential that exists beyond this moment.

Your life is so much more than just this one moment. This experience will not be the thing that defines your life.

Episode 14 of my GRIT + grace Podcast “See the Big Picture” dropped this morning and I created it to help you gain perspective so you can face whatever you’re currently experiencing with greater strength, clarity, and resilience. Check out it here.

And if you’re loving the podcast, it would mean the world to me if you’d share it on social media (and tag me) or consider showing your support with a monthly donation of $1, $5, or $10 to help me cover the costs of keeping this thing going without having insert ads in the middle of the meditations (awkward!). To support the podcast, go here and click on the “Support” tab.