Tomorrow's History

What happens today becomes the history of tomorrow.  When recorded, we can learn a lot through the wins, loses, and thoughts of others.  These days, many of us may not regularly write in a diary or a journal - but likely use social media as not only a way to connect, but a way to vent.  Venting can be important, especially in such hard times as we are going through now.  However, when the venting becomes complaints, and the complaints get the best of us, those complaints become the history we project into the world, and complaint alone never solved any problems.  At the very least, everything we say or do becomes an influence to someone,somewhere.

I find that when I'm going through a hard time, it helps if I'm able to shift my perspective.  What better way to shift perspective than to see history through someone else's eyes - and learn from how that someone else handled a situation similar to that of our own.

I was recently reminded of the story of Anne Frank.  Likely, you are familiar with her story as well.  Anne, a young Jewish teen tells her story of hiding from the Nazis during World War II in her diary.  She was only 13 years old when she started writing in her diary, and went through a very scary, horrible time being trapped in a small room with 7 other humans for over two years in hiding.  

Here's a small excerpt from historynet.com (full link at the end) detailing a small amount of what they went through:

"Living in hiding meant the group also lived in constant fear of being discovered—they were unable to go outside, had to be quiet, conceal any lights used after sunset, and keep the curtains and windows closed during the day. They lived in extremely close quarters with each other and were completely dependent on Miep Gies, Johannes Kleiman, Victor Kugler, and Bep Voskuijl, Otto’s employees, for food, supplies, and moral support."

If you feel like you are trapped in your house during this quarantine, and find it difficult to see any good out of the situation - just remember Anne Frank had it much worse, but she managed to stay very positive.  When you are tempted to feel your mood slip - and I get it - remember Anne Frank's life and maybe your perspective will shift just a little bit.

A few Anne Frank quotes  --

"Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy."

"I don’t think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains."

"Those who have courage and faith shall never perish in misery."

"There’s only one rule you need to remember: laugh at everything and forget everybody else! It sound egotistical, but it’s actually the only cure for those suffering from self-pity."

"The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature and God."

Bibliography:

1. https://www.historynet.com/anne-frank

2. https://www.goalcast.com/2018/02/27/25-anne-frank-quotes/