Hardship - Tumblr Posts

Why is it the sweetest rewards only song to us on the other side of hardship.

“We must not wish for the disappearance of our troubles but for the grace to transform them.”

—Simone Weil

If you are going thru hell, keep going.Why would you ever stop in hell!?

Steve Harvey

The absolute worst thing about growing up is, by far, the crippling fear of not knowing where you're going with your life. Coupled with the crippling fear that you're automatically taking the wrong path because it's not the socially acceptable route.

Things I Learned In Kansas

Store your cups in the cupboard upside down

Sprinkle water when you dust or sweep to settle it

Bring a big drill and a jug of water when you go place graveside flowers

Every house is a bar, don't kid yourself

Small town gossip is a force to be reckoned with

The rest of the country doesn't celebrate Pancake Day for some ungodly reason

We don't have much, but Oz and Superman (and the Winchesters, but nobody remembers)

Rainbow flags mean Oz

There is no Westboro Baptist Church in Ba Sing Se

The aesthetic is dead plants. Wheat, sunflowers, rotted grey farmhouses

Sunday Brunch

Turtle Racing

Wheelchair Racing

There are no vegans in Ba Sing Se, and the beef packing plant smells like the aftermath of Taco Tuesday to the tenth power

Windbreaks are awesome

Here Be Windmills

How to fly a kite the entire day and not get bored

Our sovereign overlords are actually the rabbits

Tornado? Eh, I still need groceries

The hail can and will stone you to death

The river(s) are imaginary concepts, except when it flash floods

Horny toads are adorable, change my mind

Hop on down to the OK panhandle if you wanna see people throw cow pies for sport

The most isolated city in the US is Garden City, and the population density of the state is 52.9 people per square mile. Other people's definitions of "small town" confuse me.

Flatland. Just. Go read Flatland by Abbott

Out Of The Dust is required reading, and will drive even the most fervent bibliophile to numb exhaustion and pleas for mercy

Everybody goes to church, none of that liberal nonsense unless you kill babies for Satan

Gender. Roles. Though tomboys are acceptable, when they're young

Fossil hunting except it's a Ford Model T

Yeah, there are snakes, but you're more likely to be mauled by the weeds. No, seriously.

Mountains are a myth perpetuated by people who don't live in Kansas.

The horizon is beautiful

There is beauty in death

Surly and stubborn and ready to socially destroy anyone who hurts your family

You will learn to appreciate country and Christian music or die, I don't make the rules

Chickens are cute and fluffy and delicious, even if it was pretty much a pet

The closest anyone gets to "exotic art" is a tin Kokopelli on the wall, and that's rare.

Go out into the dunes when the sandhill plums are ripe and bring them home

It's not too strange for the neighbor to show up with a bag of tarts or fruit or an entire casserole

How not to die in the dunes

Your options are love or excommunication

Tongues are more dangerous than guns. But we still have a lot of those.

Of all holidays, Memorial Day is both sacred and full of suck.

Distance is no excuse for not keeping in contact.

Redefine "acceptable driving distance".

We live at the mercy of the wind and the brittle earth, with nothing to do but figure out our fellow man. Don't knock it until you hear the story of the wandering gardener hobo who talks to trees and can do genuinely impressive things to your garden for a price, who's still walking after being hit by a train. Don't knock it until you've been hit full-on by a real dust devil and tasted real wildness. Don't knock it until you've clawed yourself out of the sand and been greeted by the vast blue dome of the sky, searing and immaculate. Don't knock it until you've met the dusty sun-worn handshakes of elders older than their town.

Don't knock it until you see why the state motto is a love letter to hard work and the starry sky.

So amazing to know, the reassurance Allah SWT is giving us, SubhanAllah.

Allah SWT is always there for us, looking after us, it is whether we recognise that.

Do we call out to Him or not?

Do we rely on Him or not?

Do we have sabr while getting the response or not?

Do we completely believe He is Al-Wakeel (The best disposer of our affairs) or not?

I guess the ultimate question during any hardship we face is the amount of tawakkul we have, because greater the reliance on Allah, the easier will be the hardship. Because no matter what Dunya(this life) is an ongoing test till our death, who better to ask for help, to rely on, to seek comfort from but The Creator of the entire existence who has The infinite knowledge, wisdom, who is The Most Merciful.

All you have to do is reach out, lift your hands up to Him, speak to Him although He knows your problems, He still listens, and loves you, He knows your situation better than you yourself, so ultimately surrender that is handover the matter to Him, ask Him for His help, guidance, be obedient to Him and believe sincerely He will take care of your affairs, of you. That's so beautiful knowing a being having the Most Grandeur has your back, even though you are so little. He notices you, that is so soothing and calming, Alhamdulillah.

رَبَّنَا وَلَا تُحَمِّلۡنَا مَا لَا طَاقَۃَ لَنَا بِہٖ

"Lord, do not burden us with more than we have strength to bear"

(Quran, 2:286)

This supplication is beautiful because it recognizes that there's a point beyond which the burdens of life can break and incapacitate us. But what's even more beautiful is that the beginning of this verse answers this existential question itself:

لَا یُکَلِّفُ اللّٰہُ نَفۡسًا اِلَّا وُسۡعَہَا

"God does not burden any soul with more than it can bear"

(Quran 2:286)

Therefore, Allah is in a way, letting it be known that you will survive, you will be looked after, you will not be burdened beyond your capacity, and most importantly — you have the strength to bear whatever hardships life brings you, because He never charges a soul with something that it doesn't have the capacity to endure, all we therefore have to do is to search for that inner God-given strength and put it to use.

The very things that had once troubled you so much, are now growing within you as a calmness, a knowledge. You have lost nothing by losing everything, and this is your hard-earned discovery.

At every turn of your life, if you hold out, persevere and have faith, you find that the Quran’s promise of “ease after hardship” is indeed true.

“For truly, with hardship comes ease Indeed, with hardship comes ease so, when you are free, strive in devotion turning to your Lord [alone] with hope”

— Surah Inshirah (The Consolation), Quran 94:5-8

The Brilliance of the Battle of the Labyrinth

My favorite thing about the battle of the labyrinth is that it shows the effects of past events on demigods in the present. We see the Worst parts of Annabeth, Nico, and Percy. This is where Rick Riordan best shows the negative effects that come with what these demigods have been through. 

For Annabeth this is where her abandonment issues come to a head. We saw glimpses of it in the past, but it was never as apparent as it is in this book. Annabeth feels threatened by Rachel and Calypso. Percy is the only person that has truly stayed by her side through thick and thin and she is terrified of losing that. It was always just Percy and her when it came to the demigod part of their lives and both Calypso and Rachel threaten that. Calypso because he can offer Percy freedom from the great prophecy and a dangerous life and Rachel because she can be a part of his mortal and demigod lives while giving him a taste of normalcy. This doesn’t excuse her actions, but it adds a sense of realism. She’s 15 and had to deal with people leaving her for her whole life to this point she isn’t going to take what she sees as possibly losing the only one who stayed very well. 

Nico lost his sister and discovers he is lost in time. He does not take either very well. He tries to bring Bianca back from the dead and is manipulated by king Minos due to his fatal flaw and inability to cope with his sudden loss. He doesn’t know where to direct his anger at Bianca and himself so he projects it onto Percy as well as Percy’s friends. Nico didn’t just get over his problems even by the end of the story. This book has him struggle with all of this, come to terms with it, and start to move forward. His road to acceptance isn’t over, but he’s taken steps in the right direction.

Percy’s problems don’t truly come to a forefront in this book, but during his stay on Calypso’s island we see his stress about the coming prophecy and war. He considers staying on the island and for a moment forgets about everything else except Calypso and escaping the prophecy. The stress of everything that has happened to him and the terrible possibilities for his future have really weighed on him. This provides buildup for the war and to see how this stress effects him moving forward and how it will effect his decisions.

All of these characters acted questionably and made choices that we may not agree with, but that brought a layer of realism. People don’t work out their problems right away and not everything resolves in a short period of time. Things that happen in the past can effect someone moving forward and it takes time to accept and move forward. Sometimes someone can’t move past what happened. This is what the Battle of the labyrinth does well and what I like most about it.

Carmen part 3 -

Benefits of ai for an artist in hardest days of disability - I can keep fulfilling my imagination even in days of very low ability to move. Of course when I paint I express something more authentic, but with time I compose prompts that give results that are very close to my imagination - which deeply satisfy and comfort me.