We all arrive at a point in our lives when everything seems to be on the verge of oblivion. Jobs fail, families collapse, economies crumble, relationships end, health deteriorates . . . there are many things that may make you feel like your rope is short and you’re at its end. And it is easy, so easy, to give in to the feelings of helplessness–to give up, to conceded. Because giving up is easy. It offers the false comfort of motionlessness, of not having to try, of wallowing in the comfort of melancholy which, in its odd nature, lulls us into a sense of security. But this security is merely us retreating far into our comfort zone, far into ourselves, hiding from all that gave us pain. And this will not do. Because no one can survive there, and no happy life is built from there . . .

What do you do, then, when all else fails? When all seems lost?

There’s the key. The very way we refer to it is flawed, and therein we corner ourselves.

“I’ve tried everything!” we say, shaking out heads. “There’s no way! It’s over! I can’t see a way out!”

But alas, can we not see, that when we can’t see a way out that does not mean there isn’t one. And when all seems lost it doesn’t mean all is lost. All through history people have been faced with the same problem, and yet there have been examples of those overcoming what all would say were impossibilities. Heroism, courage, feats that have enamored humanity through the ages–these are not beyond anyone, they are merely the fruits one reaps when one does not stop looking.

Believe this: there is a way out. There is always a way through the darkness. It is just the darkness’ way of tricking us into thinking there isn’t another way. Just like Plato’s philosophical allegory about the cave, we need not be chained, and we need not keep watching the shadows of what really is. We can turn our heads, we can see the light–and truth.

When there seems to be no other way, look for one. When all seems lost, look for what isn’t. And choose to see it.

You can get through this.