I Want You to Have It All (Whether Good or Bad)
“I want you to have it all” – an excerpt from the song Have It All by Jason Mraz
I know that the standard way of interpreting these words would be, “I want you to have all the good things in life.” What parent wouldn’t want that for their child? But if I may speak honestly from my own heart, I would want my son to experience both the good and the bad. Though, of course, I’d prefer the bad to be few and far between!
The thing is, looking back at my own life, it was the toughest moments that made me grow as a person. Working through the difficulties gave me the confidence to face other problems. I’ve had to learn that no matter how well you think you understand something in your head, you can’t really understand until you experience it yourself. Empathy and respect for others often arise from personal struggles. It was facing my own demons that allowed me to understand the demons in others.
Sure, it would be ideal to have a perfectly stress free life, but that’s not what we came here for. No matter how great our lives are, we will always find a way to feel stressed about it. We are meant to have it all and grow from it all.