Life is not easy; when it rains, it pours. At least that’s how it has felt recently. Life has most definitely been a struggle, with both personal and professional hardships, and with life throwing challenges my way from every angle, I was finding it hard to get through. I was becoming discouraged, and, I’ll admit, letting life get me down a little. I knew that I shouldn’t let life get to me, but it just felt easier said than done, and truthfully, I was unsure of how to cope with all of the struggles.
But then one day, I heard something that gave me a little more insight on how to deal with life’s challenges.
Since I have been off from school and searching for a job, I have had some time of my hands and have been able to watch a few shows that I haven’t been able to before…one of those shows being Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
In one of the first episodes, Kimmy Schmidt, who has survived 15 years of imprisonment by a cult leader in an underground bunker, discusses her method to cope with pain and hardship in life: taking life 10 seconds at a time.
“I learned a long time ago that a person can stand just about anything for 10 seconds, then you just start on a new 10 seconds,” Kimmy says. “All you’ve got to do is take it 10 seconds at a time.”
Kimmy learns to cope with the harshness of reality by not being fazed by the horrible things going on in her life and around her.
I thought it was such a simple, yet profound way to overcome pain and hurt by breaking up life into manageable 10 second increments. As the title suggests, Kimmy muddles through and does not give up. Despite the fact that life has handed her the most sour of all lemons, she is still able to assemble a sweet glass of lemonade. Kimmy is able to use the tool that she has created to help her cope and recover, and she carries on and enjoys the other things that life has to offer. She is, after all, unbreakable.
Throughout the show, she continues to grow and learn, and has an unwavering positive perspective on life; furthermore, she teaches those in her life to always think positive, not give up, and most importantly, to enjoy life.
Since watching the show, I have found that, when things start to get overwhelming, I tell myself to take it 10 seconds at a time. And I start to smile, because for every 10 seconds I make it through, it is another victory for me remaining positive and not letting life get me down. Then I just move on to the next 10 seconds.
Life isn’t always going to be easy. It beats us up a lot and relentlessly throws challenges our way, but instead of letting it affect us, we must choose to remain strong. After all, it is not the struggles of life that define us, but how we handle them that does. We cannot let it break us, just like Kimmy Schmidt remains unbreakable. We must find the strength to keep going, even if that means tackling life in a series of 10 second intervals.
For Kimmy, strength is getting through all the bad things that have happened; it’s about getting through the next 10 seconds. So, when the going gets tough, take it 10 seconds at a time.