Do things get better?

I find a lot of inspiration in music. I love listening to heartfelt songs about life's struggles and joys. I turn to music for encouragement, emotional expression, and healing. I first heard Howard Jones’ music in 2011. I was going through a transition, and I had a lot of fear and anxiety about the future. His song “Things Can Only Get Better,” seemed to be speaking to exactly what I was feeling. Lyrics and song here: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/h/howard+jones/things+can+only+get+better_20066153.html

The line that particularly stood out to me was “And do you feel scared? I do, but I won’t stop and falter.” It was actually this line that prompted me to Google the lyrics and find the song, and led me to other songs of his that I enjoy. They are deliciously 80s style, which is awesome!

Yet, as much as I enjoy the song, I’m not sure that things do, in fact, get better. What I’m thinking instead is that we get better at handling the bad things, the difficult things, and the scary things. By building confidence in our ability to handle the bad things, our lives can get better. We begin to know ourselves, learn what calms us down, find out who to call in a crisis, and have faith that we can handle this bad thing just like we have handled others in the past. For if we’ve been through the situation before, we already know the actions we need to take to resolve it, and are able to implement them more quickly and skillfully than we may have in the past.

What do you think? Do things get better? How have you overcome difficult situations? What got you through?