You need to be able to manage stress because hard times will

Hear the steady and comforting words of Marie Osmond, who declared: “You need to be able to manage stress because hard times will come, and a positive outlook is what gets you through.” In this simple yet profound saying, she offers a truth that has echoed through the ages: suffering is not a stranger but a visitor to every life, and the heart that endures is not the one that avoids hardship, but the one that learns how to carry it with resilience and hope. For storms cannot always be prevented, but the way we sail through them determines whether we are broken or remade.

The origin of this thought rests in Osmond’s own life. Known first as a singer and entertainer, she faced more than applause and fame—she endured family struggles, personal trials, even the devastation of losing a child. Yet she continued onward, not because sorrow was absent, but because she clung to a positive outlook. In her testimony, we see the wisdom of one who has known both light and shadow: stress will come, as surely as the night follows day, but one’s perspective is the lamp that can guide the soul through darkness.

History is filled with examples of this truth. Consider Winston Churchill, who during the darkest days of the Second World War bore the crushing weight of fear and despair for his nation. The stress was immense, the odds dire, yet he declared with fiery voice, “We shall never surrender.” His unwavering positive outlook, even when disaster loomed, did not erase the danger but gave his people the strength to endure it. In him we see Osmond’s principle alive: stress may come as a flood, but the spirit that manages it with hope becomes unbreakable.

The meaning of her words also speaks to the universal human condition. Too often, we hope for a life free of hardship, imagining that peace lies in the absence of trouble. But Osmond reminds us: hard times will come. Illness, loss, failure, and disappointment are woven into the fabric of existence. To expect otherwise is folly. The true path of wisdom is to prepare the heart not for a life without storms, but for the strength to stand firm when storms arrive. And that strength is found in learning to master stress—not to let it consume us, but to channel it into endurance, growth, and courage.

Yet she does not speak of endurance alone. She names the power of a positive outlook, that flame of the spirit which transforms hardship into possibility. It is not a shallow cheerfulness, nor the denial of pain. Rather, it is the discipline of seeing beyond the moment, of believing that even in suffering, life still has meaning, beauty, and hope. Such a perspective can turn trials into teachers, wounds into wisdom, and grief into compassion. Without it, stress crushes. With it, stress refines.

The lesson for us, then, is both sobering and uplifting. Do not pray for a life without hardship; pray instead for the strength to endure it with grace. Cultivate habits that steady your mind—breathing, prayer, reflection, or the counsel of friends. When trials arrive, speak words of hope even when you do not feel them, for in voicing hope, you nourish it. Do not allow stress to dictate your path; let your outlook, shaped by gratitude and vision, lead you through.

Practically, this means preparing before hardship comes. Build a foundation of resilience now, through practices of self-care, through nurturing relationships that can support you, through cultivating gratitude for the blessings you already hold. When stress arrives—and it will—you will not face it empty-handed. Instead, you will face it with tools, with allies, and with the steady fire of a positive outlook that no storm can extinguish.

So let us carry forth the wisdom of Marie Osmond: “A positive outlook is what gets you through.” The storms of life are inevitable, but despair is not. Let your perspective be your shield, your hope your weapon, and your spirit your guide. For in this lies the ancient truth—that hardship is not the end of the story, but the crucible in which true strength is forged. And those who endure with light in their hearts shall emerge not broken, but renewed, carrying wisdom and courage into all the days that follow.