“Ups and downs in life are very important to keep us going because a straight line even in an ECG means we are not alive.” ~ Ratan Tata. There is peace and bliss in life’s crests, but profound growth and lessons in troughs. If the latter is something you’re having a hard time finding meaning, here are 75 poems about life struggles and beauty that can help you tower over them with strength, character, and compassion.
Also See: 65 Self Love Poems & Quotes To Appreciate Yourself
Poems About Life Struggles
#1 Inspiration
“Those wounds that were forced upon you were not your choice,
but if you put them under a microscope, study, and learn from them,
they can become a source of strength, wisdom, and empathy
as unique as your fingerprints.
You can use them to touch the lives of others.”
#2 Just As It Should Be
“Take chances, take a lot of them.
Because honestly, no matter where
you end up and with whom, it always
ends up just the way it should be.
Your mistakes make you who you are.
You learn and grow with each choice you make.
Everything is worth it.
Say how you feel, always.”
#3 Let Things Flow
“When I run after what I think I want,
My days are a furnace of distress and anxiety;
If I sit in my own place of patience,
What I need flows to me,
And without any pain.
From this, I understand that
What I want also wants me,
Is looking for me,
And attracting me;
When it cannot attract me
Any more to go to it,
It has to come to me.
There is a great secret
In this for anyone
Who can grasp it.” ~ (poems about life struggles)
#4 Ending Can Be Beautiful
“People ask why she loves sunsets
if they mean that everything
has their end.
But the color of Sun
is what makes her happy.
It reminds her
that whatever happened
the entire day,
you can still get
a beautiful thing
in the end.”
#5 Yin-Yang
“Remember what you must do,
when they undervalue you,
when they think
your softness is your weakness,
when they treat your kindness
like it is their advantage.
You awaken,
every dragon,
every wolf,
every monster
that sleeps inside you
and you remind them
what hell looks like
when it wears the skin
of a gentle human.”
#6 Live In The Present
“When thinking about life, remember this:
no amount of guilt can change the past
and no amount of anxiety can change the future.”
#7 Goodbyes Lead To Hopeful Hellos
“I have never been good at saying goodbye,
even sunsets bring sadness to days
I never wanted to die.
I have never considered endings to be necessary,
the idea of moving on always sounded so scary.
but because I have refused to let old things go,
I have never welcomed the new with hopeful hellos,
so I no longer watch each sunset with despair,
they now remind me of the beauty that life
was willing to share.”
#8 Journaling
“I wish I wrote the way I thought;
Obsessively,
Incessantly,
With maddening hunger.
I would write to the point of suffocation.
I would write myself into nervous breakdowns.
Manuscripts spiraling out like tentacles into
abysmal nothing.
And I would write about you
a lot more
than I should.” ~ (poems about life struggles)
#9 You Are Strong
“There is beauty in your scars
and melancholy in your smile
yet you choose to avoid both
at one time
perhaps it is that the I love
not the pretty in your eyes
not your heart made of gold
not one thing or another
not a physical feature
not a love consumed hole
but it is when you keep all together
when you ask about others
even when you yourself
cannot find the reason
to stay awake.”
#10 Bring Your True Self Back
“I started calling that girl back,
The girl who loved living,
the girl who danced instead of walking.
The girl who had sunflowers for eyes
and fireworks in her soul.
I started playing music again,
hoping she would come out.
I started looking for beautiful moments to experience,
so she would feel safe enough
to show herself,
Because I knew
she was in there.
And she needed my kindness
and my effort
To come to the surface again.”
#11 Finding Beauty In Darkness
“And perhaps
what made her beautiful
was not her appearance
or what she achieved,
but in her love,
and in her courage,
and her audacity
to believe
no matter
the darkness
around her.
Light ran wild
Within her,
and that was they way
she came alive,
and it showed up
in everything.”
#12 Recharging Yourself
“I lied and said I was busy,
I was busy;
but not in a way most people understand.
I was busy taking deeper breaths.
I was busy silencing irrational thoughts.
I was busy calming a racing heart.
I was busy telling myself that I am okay.
Sometimes, this is my busy –
and I will not apologize for it.”
#13 Decide
“So, do it. Decide.
Is this the life you want to live?
Is this the person you want to love?
Is this the best you can be?
Can you be stronger?
Kinder? More compassionate?
Decide.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
And decide.”
#14 Don’t Quit
“When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing down you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don’t quit.
Life is strange with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a fellow turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow –
You may succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a fair and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor’s cup,
And he learned too late when night came down,
How close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure inside out
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It maye be near when it seems afar,
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit,
It’s when things seem worst that you mustn’t quit.”
#15 Why Me?
“If you have to ask Why Me?
When you’re feeling really blue,
When the world has turned against you
And you don’t know what to do,
When it purs colossal raindrops
And the road’s a winding mess,
And you’re feeling more confused
Than you ever could express,
When the saddened Sun won’t shine,
When the stars will not align,
When you’d rather be
Inside your bed,
The covers pulled
Above your head,
When life is something
That you dread
And you have to ask Why Me?
Then when the world seems right and true,
When rain has left a gentle dew,
When you feel happy being you,
Please ask yourself Why Me? Then, too.”
#16 Some Days
“They tell me life’s a journey
That will take me many years
Some days are filled with laughter
And some days are filled with tears
Some days I think my heart will break
That I can’t persevere
Some days I have to don a mask
And hide beneath it’s veneer
Some days I turn and look for you
With thoughts I would like to share
Some days I just can’t understand
The reason you’re not there
Some days the sadness leaves me
And my smile will reappear
Some days I close my eyes because
Your memory is so clear
Some days I struggle to go on
Just wishing you were near
Most days I spend in gratitude
That you were here.”
#17 Walk Away
“If it’s working, work harder
If you have worked on it as hard as you can,
Walk away.
It may not be a matter of life or death,
But staying stuck will certainly starve your soul and injure your heart.”
#18 Resilience
“It didn’t work out as she thought it would.
And it hurt like hell.
But she’s got that kind of quiet strength.
The one that resolves to start again tomorrow.
The one that acknowledged herself for trying.
The one that will get her everywhere that she needs to go.”
#18 Courage Comes After Fear
“It’s okay to be scared.
Doing something that’s unfamiliar,
Like giving yourself permission to heal,
or follow your dreams,
or be raw and vulnerable takes courage.
And courage only shows up
when fear is present first.” ~ (poems about life struggles)
#19 A Truth About You
“Think about this:
You have the ability to survive
Anything.
That is why,
despite all the storms
made of pain and loss,
despite all the chaos
that you have had to endure
you are still here
and you are still going strong.”
#20 All Will Be Okay
“A beautiful peace overcomes me
A calm deep within that knows
wise beyond its years, an
ancient intuition
It takes hold and settles in my heart
And I know I only need to look at this window
In the peace of the morning
In the silence of new beginnings
In the dawn of another day
To know that everything will be okay.”
#21 Night
“Though my soul set in darkness,
It will rise in perfect light;
I have loved the stars too fondly
To be fearful of the night.”
#22 You’re Meant To Fly
“There is freedom
waiting for you,
on the breezes
of the sky,
and you ask,
What if I fall?
Of but my darling,
What if you fly?”
#23 Chaos
“Some people survive the chaos
and that is how they grow.
and some people thrive in chaos,
because chaos is all they know.”
Short Poems About Life Struggles
#24 A Gift
“Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness.
It took me years to understand that this, too, was a gift.”
#25 Eternal
“Everything you see has its roots
in the unseen world.
The forms may change,
yet the essence remains the same.
Every wondrous sight will vanish,
Every sweet word will fade.
But do not be disheartened
The source they come from is eternal
Growing, branching out,
Giving new life and new joy.” ~ (short poems about life struggles)
#26 Let Him Guide You
“For every “what if I fail?”
and “what have I missed?”
and when there are so many things
that does not make sense,
let Him be the one
who gives you rest.
Even if the timing of it all
is still hard to understand,
let Him remind you:
No chapter from your future
has ever slipped out of His Hands.”
#27 Life’s Struggles Strenghtens Character
“The wilderness has a way
of revealing what you really believe
about God.”
#28 Healing
“You are going to move on.
You are going to move on.
You are going to wake up one day and realize
certain things no longer bother you.
They may cross your mind from time to time
but it will not feel the same
and it is then you will realise
you have grown
in beautiful, healing ways.”
#29 You’re Complete
“I knew I was lacking love for myself
when I expected people
to recognize my hurting
and make it a priority to save me.
I needed to save me.”
#30 Healing Isn’t A Straight Line
“& we’re human
so we are
going to feel
what we don’t always want to feel
we’re only human,
so there will
be moments
when we will still hurt
even after we heal.” ~ (short poems about life struggles)
#31 Be Yourself
“He Said:
Don’t you feel lonely living in your own little world?
She Whispered:
Don’t you feel powerless living in other people’s world?”
#32 Walk Away
“Never forget that walking
away from something
unhealthy is brave, even if
you stumble a little on your
way out the door.”
#33 Beauty
“To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.”
#34 Tower Over
“Things I know about healing:
When you want to run, stay.
When you want to hide, open up.
When you think you’re done, go a little further.”
#35 Feeling Is Freeing
“Feel it.
the thing that you don’t
want to feel.
feel it, and be free.”
#35 Listen To Your Heart
“You will never
be able to escape
from your heart.
So it is better
to listen to what
it has to say.”
#36 It’s Time
“Spread your wings,
It’s time to fly.
Make the leap.
Own the sky.”
#37 Less Judgement, More Acceptance
“Roses aren’t always red,
and violets aren’t exactly blue,
the society that we live in
never seems to speak the truth.
Smiles aren’t always happy
& frowns aren’t always upset.,
People judge too quickly
& our feelings are what they forget.”
Poems About Life
#38 There’s Bravery In Letting Go
“A lot of walking away will do your life good.
Walk away from arguments that lead you to anger and nowhere.
Walk away from people who deliberately put you down.
Walk away from the practice of pleasing people who choose to never see your worth,
Walk away from any thought that undermines your peace of mind.
Walk away from judgemental people, they don’t know the struggle you’re facing and what you have been through.
Walk away from your mistakes and fears, they don’t determine your fate.
The more you walk away from things that poison your soul, the healthier your life will be.” ~ (poems about life struggles)
#39 Have Faith
“How many times has he said it but I didn’t listen?
Instead, I rush forward so full of self-confidence
Without even a tiny bit of fear of GOD.
I want all the answers now.
I want to do something, anything,
I want, want, and want more.
Meanwhile, the Lord says to me.
Wait.
The Lord tells me:
“Wait upon me. Let me do my good work. When it is time to act, you will know. I will tell you. You are my child. Trust in my timing and my plans. I will show you miracles, liberation, and healing. Trust in me.
Remember how I rose again on the third day,
I am the Lord, your God.
So I wait. And upon his word and his promises all my insecurity and fears disappear.
I wait upon the glory of God.
How marvelous it is.”
#40 Live Each Day
“The Sun will rise
and set regardless.
What we choose to do
with the light while
it’s here is up to us.
Journey wisely.”
#41 Must
“If you want to get warm,
you must stand near the fire.
If you want to be wet,
you must get into the water.
If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life,
you must get close to, or even into,
the thing that has them.”
#42 Don’t Let Negativity Overtake You
“You can be a tragedy for a day.
You can allow sorrow to win the battle.
But allow hope, and joy, and light
to win the war.”
#43 Magical Life
“She lost herself in the trees,
among the ever-changing leaves.
She wept beneath the wild sky
as stars told stories of ancient times.
The flowers grew towards her light,
the river called her name at night.
She could not live an ordinary life
with the mysteries of the Universe
hidden in her eyes.” ~ (poems about life struggles)
#44 Wonder
“Always be on the lookout
for the presence of
Wonder.”
#45 Don’t Settle
“There is no passion
to be found
In settling
For a life
that is less
than the one
you are capable
of living.”
#46 Intuition
“There is a voice inside of you
That whispers all day long,
“I feel that is right for me,
I know that this is wrong.”
No teacher, preacher, parent, friend
Or wise man can decide
What’s right for you – just listen to
The voice that speaks inside.”
#47 Moon
“There was a reason she was
so romantic about the moon.
It never asked her questions
or begged for the answers
nor did she ever have to
prove herself to it.
It was always just there –
breathing, shining, and in
most ways humans can’t
understand: Listening.”
#48 Be The Better Human
“Always leave people
better than you
found them.
hug the hurt.
kiss the broken.
befriend the lost.
love the lonely.”
#49 Smile
“Smiling is infectious
You catch it life the flu
When someone smiled at me today
I started smiling too
I walked around the corner
And someone saw me grin
When he smiled I realised
I had passed it on to him
I thought about the smile
And then realized it’s worth
A single smile like mine
could travel around the Earth
So if you feel a smile begin
Don’t leave it undetected
Start an epidemic
And get the world infected.”
#50 Your Greatest Love Is In You
“You don’t need the world to love you,
Or another person;
A life partner.
Though those
things are nice,
Your greatest love
resides in you.”~ (poems about life struggles)
#51 Let The Past Go
“I spin a shroud about the past,
Fall within to primordial places,
Where I dissolve and resolve,
Rearrange my very molecules,
And imagine myself flying.”
#52 Lose The Fear
“And then I realized
that to be
more alive
I had to be
less afraid
so I did it.
I lost my fear
and gained my whole life.”
#53 Just Wait
“She is a wildflower
in a rose field
Caught between
the thorns of other beauty
Lives every day
like she is below everyone
And though she can’t be
like them in any way.
But little did she know,
There is someone
out there who love wildflowers
It’s just the perfect time
that she needs to wait.”
#54 Poem Of Life
“Life is but a stopping place,
A pause in what’s to be
A resting place along the road
To sweet eternity.
We all have different journeys,
Different paths along the way,
We all were meant to learn some things,
But never meant to stay
Our destination is a place
Far greater than we know.
For some the journey’s quicker,
For some the journey’s slow.
And when the journey finally ends,
We will claim a great reward,
And find an everlasting peace,
Together with the Lord.”
#55 Wallflower
“Shrinking in a corner,
pressed into the wall;
do they know I am present,
am I here at all?
Is there a written rule book,
that tells you how to be
all the right things to talk about
that everyone has but me?
Slowly I am withering
A flower deprived of Sun;
longing to belong to,
somewhere or someone.”
#56 A Tree
“The tree stands so patiently,
Not asking, “What can I be?, What can I be?”
For a tree is as sure as a tree can be,
That it’s purpose in life is to be a tree,
Without a doubt, it knows it’s worth,
Rotts delving deep into the Earth,
Branches standing strong and proud,
Pointing at the passing clouds,
All of nature loves the tree,
In it’s beautiful simplicity,
And without speaking, it teaches me.
To be happy with just being me.”~ (poems about life struggles)
Beautiful Poems About Life
#57 What Really Matters
“At the end of life, what really matters is
Not what we bought but what we built;
Not what we got but what we shared;
Not our competence but our character;
And not our success but our significance.
Live a life that matters. Live a life of love.”
#58 Focusing Inwards
“I am slowly learning that even if I react, it won’t change anything,
It won’t make people suddenly love and respect me.
It won’t magically change their mind.
Sometimes it’s better to just let things be, let people go, don’t fight for closure,
Don’t ask for explanations, don’t chase answers, and don’t expect people to understand where you’re coming from.
I am slowly learning that life is better lived when you don’t center it on what’s happening around you and center it on what’s happening inside you instead.
Work on yourself and your inner peace.”
#59 Let Joy Take Over You
“If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
don’t hesitate. Give in to it.
Whatever it is.
Don’t be afraid of its plenty,
Joy is not made to be a crumb.”~ (poems about life struggles)
#60 Selfless Love
“And still,
After all this time,
The Sun never says to
the Earth, “You owe me.”
Look what happens with
A love like that,
It lights the whole sky.”
#61 Silence
“I love to sit in silence, beneath the shady trees
and listen to the song of birds and to the buzz of bees.
I love to sit in silence and watch the clouds roll by
Then read a book or sing a song and hear the wild bird cry.
I love to sit in silence when the day is almost done
And see behind the distant hill the painted glow of the Sun.
I love to sit in silence in the evening twilight
And listen to the whippoorwills singing with all their might.
I love to sit in silence beneath the starry sky
And pray to all in earnest to live in silence all the while.”
#62 Things Always Fall In Place
“After everything you have been through,
I hope something beautiful
happens for you.
I hope you look back on this season
in awe of the unexpected,
seeing how so much came together
in ways you never thought it could.
Because somehow, through it all,
Life still managed to be good.
Meaningful moments
still fell in place
when there were so many things unknown.”
#63 Fly
“I always wonder why
Birds choose to stay
in the same place
when they can fly anywhere on the Earth
Then I stop & ask myself
the same question.”
#64. Be Kind
“The reality is that you don’t know
what goes on in someone else’s life
no matter how long you have known them.
There are things people hide
because they are afraid to say
what they are going throughout loud.
So be kind, it’s as simple as that,
Just be kind, to anyone and to everyone.”
#65 The Varying Faces Of Strength
“To be strong
doesn’t mean
you always feel
tough,
invincible
unbreakable.
To be strong
is to have the capacity
to hold many things:
including tenderness,
love, and a steady soul
that seeks peace.”
#66 There’s Always Growth
“You don’t have the carry
the burden of everything.
There’s a lot
that is out of your control
and there is also endless peace
that reminds you it is okay
to take this day by day,
for even though you cannot see it,
new things are blooming
while you wait.”
#67 We Belong Together
“And there is a reason why
you can’t walk away
there’s a reason why you stay.
It is because we belonged
to each other from the start.
You don’t know this but we
secretly rescue each other
from life, from love
from everything.
Your soul and my soul
are the same.
We exist in each other.
And the only thing scarier
than staying is leaving
because our souls already knew
we could never part.”
#68 Loving The Good & The Bad
“If you love me for what you see,
only your eyes would be in love with me.
If you love me for what you have heard,
then you’d love me for my words.
If you love my heart and mind,
then you will love me, for all that I am.
But if you don’t love my every flaw,
then you mustn’t love me – not at all.”
#69 This Time
“Playing games with my mind.
I know what you are trying to find.
You hit me with your words,
Leaving bruises behind.
I tell myself each time,
Walk away, but I stay.
You push me down,
Tell me where I belong.
I am weak, not strong.
I am lost, and no one cares,
If I am found.
Your words are cruel,
Like fuel on the fire.
You have me now,
Where I belong,
Below you, on the ground.
I feel the kick.
I know the whip.
I can’t take much more,
I am losing my grip
I am going to flip.
Playing games with my mind.
I can’t take it, I am done.
This time.”
#70 Life’s Purpose
“If I can stop one heart
from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.”
#71 The Road Not Taken
“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves, no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day.
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
Took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”~ (poems about life struggles)
#73 Solitude
“Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone;
For the sad old Earth must borrow it’s mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.
Sign, and the hills will answer;
Sigh, it is lost on the air;
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care.
Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go;
They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they do not need your woe.
Be glad, and your friends are many;
Be sad, and you lose them all,
There are none to decline your nectared wine,
But alone you must drink life’s gall.
Feast, and your halls are crowded;
Fast, and the world goes by.
Succeed and give, and it helps you live,
But no man can help you die.
There is room in the halls of pleasure
For a large and lordly train,
But one by one we must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain.”
#74 Afterglow
“I would like the memory of me
to be a happy one.
I would like to leave an afterglow
of smiles when life is done.
I would like to leave an echo
whispering softly down the ways,
Of happy times and laughing times
and bright and sunny days.
I would like the tears of those who drive,
to fry before the Sun
of happy memories
that I leave when life is done.”
#75 Not
“You are not your age,
Nor the size of clothes you wear,
You are not a weight,
Or the colour of your hair
You are not your name,
Or the dimples in your cheeks,
You are all the books you read,
And all the words you speak,
You are your croaky morning voice,
And the smiles you try to hide,
You are the sweetness in your laughter,
And every tear you have cried,
You are the songs you sing so loudly,
When you know you are all alone,
You are the places that you have been to,
And the one that you call home,
You are the things that you believe in,
And the people that you love,
You are the photos in your bedroom,
And the future you dream of,
You’re made of so much beauty,
But it seems that you forgot,
When you decided that you were defined,
By all the things you are not.”
