"Life is Like a Box of Chocolates"

Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're gonna get - Forrest Gump

Life is like being on a plane, ready to parachute - you sit there waiting to go, and then someone pushes you [or words to that effect] - Gregory House

Life is full of rooms. What matters now, is who I am stuck in a room with, right now - Patient of Gregory House

Life Sucks - Gregory House, as well as many other people you may care to mention!

Firstly, I apologise for the number of quotes from the TV drama Series House, but there are many metaphors that have been used to describe life, many descriptions of what life is like. And I was sitting thinking the other day, how many of them are actually true? How many of them are true to me, and how many of them are true to you?

I decided there and then that a lot of people's life philosophies only really apply to themselves - the whole "Life is like a box of Chocolates" applied to Forrest because he had done many things in his life - gone to war in Vietnam, played table tennis pro, played college football, ran across the whole United states - and back again - and then back some more - His life was full of so much, he could never tell what was going to be thrown at him next. If you are like Forrest, then maybe it does apply to you.

House, along with several other miserable characters on our TV screens, often complain how much "life sucks" - mainly because for them, it does. House is a brilliant Doctor, but he cares about nobody, has very few friends, lives in constant pain, is addicted to his opiate-based pain meds, has been shot, nearly died several times, and when given the choice between living or dying, he wanted to choose dying so that he would be without pain, and wouldn't have to go back and see his one and only friend (Wilson) not forgive him for being the reason that Wilson's girlfriend died.

But let us look on the bright side of life. House is miserable by his own choice, as is anyone else miserable, with miserable philosophies on life. Life is what you make of it. Let nobody tell you how bad, or how good life is, because for you, in whatever section of your life is relevant, Life is good or bad. Where I am living, at this present moment, my life sucks. I'm in a job I don't particularly like, where my efforts are played down. I am lonely, because I am living in another country where a) the social atmosphere is completely different and b) there is a different language, making it almost impossible to get along. I am tired, and want to get out of where I am. Unfortunately, my course tells me I have to stay here and be miserable for another 6 months.

However back at university I am completely different. I am happy, confident, and I love life. I would never want to leave.

There is no point going through life being miserable. Just because someone says life sucks doesn't make it so, and if your life does suck, have the guts to stand up and do something about it. I'd follow my own advice if I could.

I believe in a God, and I believe that Life is a gift to us - God did not intend for us to be miserable with our lives, because we wouldn't be honouring him.

But even if you don't believe in a God, that means that nothing here has any consequence to you for eternity. So get out of any gutter you might be in, give it all you've got, because you've only got one life. Do something to make yourself, and everyone around you, happy.

Life only sucks because people say it does, so we hang around admitting that life sucks, so there's no point doing anything to make life better, therefore, reinforcing the idea that life sucks and we should be miserable. So break the cycle, if you can, if you dare.