You can run, but you can't hide!

I have this terrible tendency of when feeling overwhelmed wanting to run away to an imaginary world, hoping that things will magically sort themselves out. With time, and with much last-minute stress, I have come to realise that is far from the truth.

When I was seven, before moving to the UK, I vividly remember telling my mum how happy I was to be moving away, as in the UK no mean people existed. Little did I know that when I came here, I would encounter just as many challenging, disrespectful and rude people.

But despite the distress it caused me, I realised that everywhere I would go mean people would exist. Not because the world is full of horrible and nasty people, but because I had to learn my lesson. I had to learn to be strong, to face them, to believe in myself. This road was a challenging one, but it taught me a big life lesson (well, two).

First: you can run but you can't hide.
Sure, I ran away from the girl who stole my boyfriend (I was seven and severely distressed by this!) and her nasty comments. But I couldn't hide from every nasty person on this planet. Until I learnt to defend myself, this lesson shaped itself in a variety of people and life experiences. So, no matter how much I ran, the 'problem' followed me.

Second: the problem is always us - not others
When we point one finger at someone, we are pointing three fingers at ourselves. This one took me a long time to digest. How can I be the problem when the other person was disrespectful?

It isn't so much that you are the problem, it is that you gave this person the power to disrespect you. Take this with a pinch of salt. Of course the other person is accountable for their actions, but the effect that they have in your life is decided by you. You have the power to decide whether it upsets you or not.

Each one of us has the 'freedom of choice'. We are free to decide our actions, and equally, we are free to decide how we will react to a problem/situation. The moment we stop blaming others for how we feel, accept the fact we feel that way, the words the other person expresses loose their weight and you can stop running.

So, next time you pretend everything is alright and mask the pain, face it. Every problem has a solution, we just have to decide to accept it (which, obivously means not running away!)

Always easier said than done, of course, but that's with all in life.

A little bit of humour!