The journey of life is a journey of experiences. Each experience comes for a purpose and has its own time frame – nothing lasts forever. We find it easy to go through happy experiences, however, when the going gets tough we often find ourselves unable to cope with the situation and in our struggle and sorrow tend to ask the question – Why me?

Our inner narrative influences the outer narrative of our life. When we change the question, interestingly, life starts changing. Reflecting on this shift can release the energy, direction, and motivation we may well be looking for. We need to shift from asking ‘Why me?’ to asking ‘Now what?’.

When in a struggle we ask ‘Why me?’, we tend to get into victim mode and feel that life is being unfair to us. The mind enjoys feeling sorry for itself and dwelling in self-pity. We can only shake ourselves out of our inner negativity when we accept the situation, believe that there is always a way out, and ask ourselves – ‘Now what?’.

‘Why me’ makes it about ourselves and our ego. Changing the question makes it about the solution and options we have that we may not have explored. One blames the outer, the other draws strength and direction from the inner.

We easily ask the question ‘Why me?’ when faced with challenges, but how often have we asked ‘Why me?’ when life showers unexpected blessings on us? When we learn to build gratitude in good times, we build the resilience needed in tough times.

When life changes, we don’t know. Why life changes, we often don’t understand. How much is in our control to change, still puzzles us. But we will be able to live a life of enthused dynamism and unlock the best from within by changing the one thing we have control of – lifting ourselves from asking ‘Why me?’ to asking the potent question ‘Now what?’.

(Picture – Lake Muskoka, Ontario)