Having a serious illness or a disability is life-changing and challenging. However, it doesn’t mean that you can’t live life to the fullest.

People from all over the world are inspiring others with their optimism and great sense of humor by posting photos of themselves enjoying life even when it gives them lemons. Instead of wallowing in sadness, they decided to make metaphorical lemonade. With a comedic twist.

Bored Panda collected some of the most inspiring, funny, and optimistic pics of people overcoming challenges and being high on life. It just goes to show that humankind is amazing and that we can get up after any setback. So scroll down, upvote your fave pics, and share this list with anyone whom you think could benefit from some motivation.

When you’re done looking through this post, check out Bored Panda’s article about Paralympian Josh Sundquist who lost his leg to cancer but dresses up in epic and hilarious costumes every Halloween.

#1 Was At The VA Hospital Today, When I Ran Into This Guy And His Shirt

Image credits: Pioneer411

#2 My Wife Dressed Up As Lara Croft For Halloween. She’s An Amputee, So She Improvised

Image credits: theschway83

#3 7-Year-Old Does Not Let Alopecia Stop Her From Celebrating Her School’s “Crazy Hair Day”

Image credits: Aurora_Olympus

From Lego peg-legs and imitating Vincent van Gogh to hilarious T-shirts and funny poses with prosthetics, it seems like these people are getting more joy out of life than the average person. It’s not wrong to think so.

The BBC writes that there’s such a thing as the ‘disability paradox’ where people with disabilities often report having a quality of life that’s the same (or sometimes better) than non-disabled people. In fact, it seems that disabilities don’t seem to make much of a difference when rating life satisfaction. While lacking one of your major senses like sight or hearing doesn’t stop you from flourishing.

#4 Going Back To Work Next Week. Trying To Convince My Colleagues I Had A Beach Holiday

Image credits: Hoger

#5 Most Long-Sleeves Are Longer Than My Arms Due To A Disability, So I Wore An Appropriate Sweater

Image credits: astaroth136

#6 Cancer Survivor Takes Life With A Little Humor

Image credits: SianKaan

The benefits of optimism and humor in daily life have been well-documented. But how much do they affect people with illnesses and disabilities?

According to one study, optimism plays an important role in helping individuals with disabilities cope with their situations and achieve their goals. What’s more, it helps them, as well as their caregivers, improve their overall well-being.

#7 Built Myself A LEGO Leg While I Wait For My Real One To Be Built

Image credits: 1leggedcrow

#8 Friend Had Ear Surgery And Decided To Make The Best Of It

Image credits: gem25

#9 His New GF

Image credits: docmailllou

Meanwhile, another study that looked at people suffering from Parkinson’s Disease noted that (what they call) dispositional optimism improves the quality of life, reduces emotional distress, and even reduces the severity of the disease.

While a third study showed that people who adapt to having disabilities tend to enjoy a higher quality of life than those who don’t.

#10 My Mom Is In Her 8th Week Of Chemo. This Is Her Halloween Costume

Image credits: FudgeEyeNuh

#11 My Brother’s Halloween Costume This Year

Image credits: nightwolf12

#12 Photo Taken Outside Children’s Hospital In Los Angeles. Smart Kid

Image credits: ashortstorylong

#13 My Friend Was Diagnosed With Parkinson’s. He Thought It Would Be Funny To Send This As His Christmas Letter. His Wife, Horrified, Added The Sticker

Image credits: akiro27

#14 Saw This Customer Today With The Coolest Christmas Decorations Ever

Image credits: corpsequeen96

#15 Felt Cute, Bout To Get $125K Injected Into Me For My Disease, Might Delete Later IDK

Image credits: A-A-ron98

#16 Lost The Leg A Couple Months Ago, But He’s Kept His Sense Of Humor The Whole Time

Image credits: quixoticwhit

#17 Just Had My Leg Amputated. It’s Whatever, I Didn’t Want It Anyway

Image credits: YokeDaddySupreme

#18 The Best Thing For A Broken Arm

Image credits: Kmarksman0113

#19 My Wife Was In An Accident About 2 Months Ago Resulting In A Severe Brain Injury. We Thought We’d Make The Most Of The Situation. Zoinks!

Image credits: ryneoweb

#20 Met Another Bionic And Decided To Swap Limbs

Image credits: pioneer9k

#21 My Co-Worker Is An Amputee. This Was Her Costume

Image credits: Xenon808

#22 When You Got No Legs, Seize The Opportunity

Image credits: bassmatty

#23 Just Beat Testicular Cancer, So From Now On These Will Be My Pens Of Choice For Nursing School

Image credits: wasqa2

#24 There’s Always Some Truth In Every Joke

Image credits: phuNkii

#25 My SO Uses Different Themes For Her Chemo Sessions. This Time, It’s Bananas So She’s Handing Out Frozen Chocolate-Covered Bananas Saying, “This Whole Thing Is Bananas!”

Image credits: MonsterThumb101

#26 I’m Having My Left Leg Amputated Today. I Wore This Shirt And Wrote This On My Leg For The Surgeons

Image credits: Ekooing

#27 My Son Is An Amputee And Sent Me These Gems. I Needed To Share Them With The World

Image credits: Mysmilestaysstrong

#28 My Old Navy Buddy Is Having His Leg Amputated Next Month. This Is His New Tattoo

Image credits: piranhasaurusTex

#29 My Friend Lost His Leg In A Motorcycle Accident A Few Years Ago. This Was His April Fools Joke To The Kids Playing In The Park

Image credits: redleif

#30 My Uncle Broke His Leg Today. He Said It Didn’t Even Hurt

Image credits: Slamilton9

#31 I’m Having My Orchiectomy Today For Testicular Cancer. Here’s My 100% Accurate Representation Of The X-Rays

Image credits: brandondandon

#32 Had Leg Surgery Number 15 And The Surgeon Didn’t Get The Shirt

Image credits: devgal

#33 Turned My Wheelchair Into The Iron Throne For Halloween

Image credits: shehappens

#34 The Last Adventures Of Joe’s Left Foot

My brother opted to get a below-the-knee amputation two weeks ago. So he started taking pictures of how we could do the surgery ourselves, then got a permanent/non-permanent tattoo to help out the med-students, and finally, goofed off at the hospital afterwards. He is my inspiration.

Image credits: lightlysaltedtarako

#35 My Boyfriend’s Uncle Is Having Knee Surgery Tomorrow. I Don’t Think He Trusts The Surgeon

It was keyhole surgery with a scope and all went wonderfully. He even did a little hop the other day that he was very proud of.

The surgeon laughed and laughed and laughed. His day was made by this.

Image credits: TheTimeHasComeTheWalrusSaid

#36 If You Can’t Change The Situation You’re In, Try To Find Some Humor In It

Image credits: vc87

#37 My Grandpa Lost His Foot And Came Out Wearing A Pirate Hat

Image credits: connor-is-sad

#38 A Friend Of Mine Lost Both Of His Legs To Diabetes, But Not His Sense Of Humour

Image credits: b1andf

#39 My Dad Just Got His Chest Port For Chemotherapy Today. Here He Is Testing It Out

Image credits: Not_Safe_For_Bjork

#40 One Of My Best Friends, And Former Patients, Has A Great Attitude

Image credits: Tokyomaneater69

#41 My Aunt’s, A Recovering Cancer Patient’s, Hair Has Started Growing Back And Today She Posted This Picture Captioned “Twins!”

Image credits: clawz_nd_webz

#42 After My Amputations, My Dressings Made My Finger Nubs Look Like Little Cactuses

Image credits: natasha65232

Source: boredpanda.com