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Since my big tragedy in December 2020, the past few years have been insanely tough.

Life got to be the toughest it has ever been for me in 2021 and 2022. But since those two horrifying years, I have found a steady rhythm to my life.

In 2023, I made the big switch to move home to the southern part of my country to start over again and be closer to my extended family. This has helped me find some level of calm within.

This past year, I honestly assumed that moving forward none of the small things would ever faze me again. And that I would get down and out only if something huge happened. So it was with some apprehension that I realized I was feeling a lot of doom and gloom, especially over the past two months.

I felt this constant tightening of my heart and soul, and knew that this was not the sadness that’s become innate to my core being since December 2020. Obviously, I started to worry.

Why do I feel so low?

Why do I feel so dark?

Why do I feel this way when things appear to be going relatively well for me?

That’s when I realized that the past few months have been filled with a series of small letdowns. Nothing that’s happened was life-changing or a literal (or even figurative) life or death scenario, but there have been a series of minor issues that have plagued me.

Look, in the larger scheme of things and with what’s happening in different parts of the world, not a second goes by when I don’t acknowledge my extreme privilege. So, I really should have nothing to complain about.

But that’s easier said than done.

It’s been a series of these relentless issues piling up one after the other that’s gotten me down. One has to do with my travel plans, and the fact that they aren’t happening the way I hoped they would this summer. From being bulletproof while getting visas to travel to getting turned down by two Schengen countries, in what is a blatant example of discrimination against a country with a weak passport, it feels like I’ve been hit hard.

Like I said, I know how obnoxiously privileged I am. But regardless, I have been feeling broody and upset. A few run-ins with extended family as we find our bearings with each other hasn’t helped either.

That’s when I realized that things don’t have to reach doomsday levels for us to justify feeling down and out. Sometimes, it’s the small things that get to us, and we all need a dose of cheer to try and snap us out of it.

Here are 15 quotes to help us find our way to positivity when life tries it’s best to keep us down. These words brought me a sense of hope and peace—I hope they do the same for you.

Here’s to living yet another day and fighting the good fight:

“Hope is the thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it and to work for it and to fight for it.” ~ Barack Obama

“When you’re at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on.” ~ Unknown (but often attributed to Theodore Roosevelt)

“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.” ~ Harriet Beecher Stowe

“It’s always something, to know you’ve done the most you could. But don’t leave off hoping, or it’s of no use doing anything. Hope, hope to the last.” ~ Charles Dickens

“Consult not your fears but your hopes and dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what is still possible for you to do.” ~ Pope John XXIII

“Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me…Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.” ~ Shel Silverstein

“The very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.” ~ Barbara Kingsolver

“There was never a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise or hope.” ~ Bernard Williams

“Remember: hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” ~ Stephen King

“Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues.” ~ Brother Lawrence

“If you live to be 100, I hope I live to be 100 minus one day, so I never have to live without you.” ~ Winnie the Pooh.

“You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.” ~ William Faulkner

“You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep Spring from coming.” ~ Pablo Neruda

“The world needs less heat and more light. It needs less of the heat of anger, revenge, retaliation, and more of the light of ideas, faith, courage, aspiration, joy, love, and hope.” ~ Wilfred Peterson

“Strange as it may seem, I still hope for the best, even though the best, like an interesting piece of mail, so rarely arrives, and even when it does it can be lost so easily.” ~ Lemony Snicket

These quotes inspired me. They showed me that no matter how down and out you feel—whether it’s because of something life-changing or the petty minutiae of life—it’s important to never lose hope. To always keep the faith.

I’m trying hard to do just that.

Let me know if these impacted you as profoundly as they did me.

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