Not because there are worse things,

but because there are more constructive ways to spend my time.

For some reason over the past few days I let myself get a little stressed out about silly things (planning for the wedding, research, whatnot), and it took reading this article about the despicable treatment of women of all ages in Afghanistan to remind me how silly I was being.

I don't like the argument that, "there is always someone in a worse/harder/more difficult position than you," so don't worry so much. That will always stand true, unless one is dead, or one is really in one of those rock-bottom situations. It shouldn't make me feel better to think that someone else is worse. But I do think that that it can help to remind oneself that life is short and the way one approached the challenges in one's own life really can make a tremendous difference in how that life is perceived.

I think it is true that some lives are more difficult than others, but we all have the ability to cope, to move forward and to, when it is warranted, get over ourselves. For some that may take longer than others. And sometimes we make our own mountains. Certainly the women in the story above have not built their own mountains, but they can choose how to climb them.

In my own life, I need to remember to recognize a pebble for a pebble, and not get tripped up over it.