Over the past years, sometimes by my own doing, I have had unpleasant days. I caused these days because I would want to make things miserable for myself and others. I would want to throw myself a pity party. I thought my life was terrible. In fact, it really isn’t in many cases. Yes, I have my challenges. Yet, for every challenge, there is a reason to appreciate the good in my life. It is allowing myself to make the best of each day.

My mindset has been changing. I now allow myself to see that challenging times do not outweigh what is the worst thing in the world. It is also knowing that it’s OK if I don’t do things in the way that society expects. It’s OK if others have different expectations. I am a human and a different thinker at that. It is not the end of the world if things differ from the rest of the world. It can be frustrating when things don’t go the way we think they should. But it isn’t the worst thing to happen to us.

For the longest time in my life, I always had the worst outlook on my life. I never thought what was happening to me was fair. I felt disadvantaged because I couldn’t do many things like those of mainstream society. I was always comparing my expectations to what others were doing. While I did have my own personal goals, I expected things that I knew were difficult for me. In turn, I would become frustrated.

I have accepted and understand that being autistic and having other challenges isn’t always easy to bear. I have learned to make the best of it and accept it for what it is. In reality, I can’t change myself to match what others are doing. I am different. Albeit the many things that I have been through, I am in a really good spot, all things considered.

It can be easy to play the woe is me card. I think about everything that is wrong with my life. This leads me to feel sorry for myself. For a long time, I have done that. Doing so has only made me feel more ashamed of myself. It has also made it more difficult to bounce back from those moments. I have felt like nothing ever be the way I wanted it to be. I had to start to accept things as they were. I learned that it was up to me to make the best of each day. Sometimes, I needed to see the smallest of things to improve the situation. This helped me see the things that brought me joy in the process.

Yes, there are going to be days when it seems like the world is against you. You want to hide away and feel bad about yourself, but that will never make you feel good. It will not make things better. It is overcoming those struggles you are facing that makes a difference. Be sure to change your day to be the best it can be. Do this even when it seems there is no reason. In the end, you will close the day in a better spot. There is always the promise of a new day. It will bring to light that there is opportunity on the horizon to make things better.