If you had a crystal ball that would allow you to see the future, you could plan for every hour of your life and create a preemptive strategy that would ensure success in all areas. Absent that crystal ball, you are forced to take life as it comes, the good with the bad. In other words, take life one day at a time.

In this reality, you should always prepare for the worst but always expect the best. This way, you will have some form of protection against the many obstacles that life must produce. Yes, hard times will come, but your preparations will determine how you are affected or how much you are set back by those trials.

With a crystal ball, you would be ahead of the game and avoid all of the pitfalls in your life’s journey. But where is the fun in that? The hard times we face are what helps us to grow and develop. Remember the saying, “experience is the best teacher.” That is one hundred percent true. Anything that you go through, be it good or bad, has a lesson in it that prepares you to move forward into your future with confidence.

Besides, the unexpected experiences of life are what life is all about. It is like reading a book; you won’t skip pages or chapters to get to the end quickly. You should not want to miss a phase or episode of your life because the journey is just as important as the destination. In some circumstances, the experiences gained during the journey are more important than the destination.

The journey of life can be referenced as a refining process. You have to go through different stages of change to remove unnecessary attributes and hone your positive qualities. This process prepares you for your destination. It ensures that you will be better positioned to succeed and mentally capable of handling that success.

There will be times during the many challenges where you will feel like the only way out is to give up, but don’t. You have to keep moving forward by any means necessary, find a way to motivate yourself, seek help or advice from family, friends, or a professional, and you will overcome any obstacle. Great things take time. Everything worth anything did not pop up in a minute, it takes time and work.