There are times in life when it becomes difficult to believe that things will get better.
You may be going through a rough phase. You may feel anxious, sad, lonely, disappointed or unhappy. Perhaps your career is not going the way you wanted, a relationship has ended, you are struggling to find your direction, or you simply feel that life has not turned out the way you imagined. The circumstances may feel difficult to deal with.
During such times, it is very easy to believe that this is how life is going to remain. That things will never improve.
But what if we choose to believe something different?
Times change. Things change. Circumstances change. People change. And our lives change too.
That is why, even when life is not going well, we need to hold on to one simple belief: the best is yet to come.
Your present is not your complete story
One of the biggest mistakes we make during difficult times is judging our future by our present.
If nothing seems to be working today, we start thinking that nothing will work tomorrow either. If we have been unhappy for a long time, we begin to believe that happiness has somehow left our lives. If we have experienced failure, we may start believing that success is not meant for us.
But the present is only a moment in a much larger story. It is just a tiny part of the complete story.
Think about your own life. There have probably been difficult periods that once felt like they would never end. Yet they did. Things changed. You changed. Somehow, you moved forward.
The same can happen again.
Maybe you cannot see it today, but your life still has many experiences waiting for you.
Believe that good times will come
The idea of believing that the best is yet to come is not about ignoring reality. It does not mean closing our eyes to our problems and simply telling ourselves that everything will magically become better.
It means having faith while we work through what is difficult.
Believe that you will meet the right people.
Believe that you will experience peace.
Believe that you will find meaningful relationships.
Believe that you can succeed, even if you have failed before.
Believe that there can be happiness after a period of sadness.
Sometimes, we need to hold on to this belief most when there is no evidence that things will get better, when there is no sign of light ahead. That is what faith is.
As Eckhart Tolle puts it,
"Always say 'yes' to the present moment… Surrender to what is."
Accepting the present does not mean giving up on the future. It simply means accepting where you are today without believing that you will always remain there.
You can accept that life is difficult right now and still believe that it can become better. You can surrender to the present without surrendering your hope.
Our mind follows what we repeatedly believe
There is something important about the beliefs we carry every day.
Our subconscious mind is influenced by the thoughts and beliefs we repeatedly give it. When we tell ourselves something again and again, we gradually begin to accept it. And once a belief becomes deeply rooted, it can influence the way we see the world, what we notice and the choices we make.
If you keep telling yourself, “Nothing good is going to happen to me,” you start looking at life through that lens. You notice the disappointments and overlook the possibilities.
But if you begin to believe, “The best is yet to come,” you leave some room for hope.
You become willing to try again. You become more open to people and opportunities. You stop treating today's difficulties as a permanent prediction of your future.
This does not mean that positive thinking alone will change your life. We still have to act, make decisions, learn, work and sometimes start all over again.
We need to accept the situation we are in, do what we can, and keep moving forward.
And hope gives us a reason to keep going.
Bad times do not last forever
There is a beautiful quote by Charlie Chaplin,
“Nothing is permanent in this wicked world, not even our troubles.”
There is a lot of wisdom in those words.
We often understand that good times will eventually change, but we forget that the same is true of difficult times. Nothing stays exactly the same forever.
Life comes in phases. We may have a phase of struggle, followed by growth. A phase of loneliness may be followed by meaningful relationships. Years of uncertainty may eventually lead us towards clarity. Failure may prepare us for a success we were not ready for earlier.
We do not get all the good things in life at once. They come at different times, in different forms and often when we least expect them.
So when you are going through a bad phase, do not assume that life has decided to stay there.
Perhaps this phase is testing your patience.
Perhaps it is testing your ability to keep believing when there is no immediate reason to believe.
And perhaps, when you look back one day, you will realise that this difficult period was only one part of your journey.
The best chapter may still be ahead
You may feel that your best days are behind you. You may look at your past and think that the happiness you once experienced will never return.
But who says the future cannot be better than the past?
There are people you have not met yet. There are friendships you have not made, places you have not visited, opportunities you have not discovered and experiences you cannot even imagine today.
There is still time.
Time for success. Time for love. Time for peace. Time for healing. Time to start again.
So, whatever you are going through today, don't make the mistake of thinking that today is forever.
It isn't.
Times change. Life moves forward. New chapters begin.
Keep doing what you can. Keep moving forward. Keep your faith alive.
And when life feels particularly difficult, remind yourself,
This is not the end of my story.
The best is yet to come.
