“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us…”

If you’re familiar with the work of Charles Dickens then you’ll recognize the preceding paragraph as the opening lines from his book, A Tale of Two Cities.

As you read through the paragraph you notice that each sentence contradicts itself. How can it be both the best of times and yet, be the worst of times?

There will be times in your life when you’ll think that you are experiencing the best or worst of times, but it’s very difficult to have a clear perspective when you’re actually in the midst of any strong emotional experience. The reason for this is that your emotions are clouding your judgment in the moment. Rarely is any experience really the best or the worst, and as time passes you’ll gain distance from your experience which allows you to look back with greater clarity.

The human experience is comprised of nothing more than perspective and if you were to poll the general public on any given day you’d find the world to be full of paradoxes.

So was it, or is it really the best or worst of times?

Unfortunately, I can’t answer that for you. But hopefully, with the passing of time and the benefit of retrospect, you’ll be able to answer that question for yourself.