Lately, I’ve really been battling with some Debbie Downer things going on, not just internally, but all around me. { wahh wahh } Financial distress, tragic loss of a pet, health issues as confusing as the day is long, the list can go on { and on andonandonandon }. Some days it’s difficult keeping a smile on my face, and constantly telling people: “It will get better! It’s just a phase. Chin up, Buttercup!” Of course, right when I’m feeling kind of in a rut, I happen upon some pretty dang inspiring blog posts to totally shine new light and change my perspective.
Here are some of my favorite, encouraging posts from this week, and weeks past.
{ 1 } I LOVE the fun, goofy and always silly love and friendship Mary and Karley have built up and sustained across the miles. A lot of the time, I’ll ask Mary how her morning run went, and she’ll reply “Oli and I started out running, but then Karley called at 6:15a, so we walked and chatted with her the rest of the way.” And though the art of not only being awake at 6:15a, but being alert enough to call someone and carry a conversation is so beyond foreign to me, I love how that works for them. Mary posted about their fun skype date they had last night! A direct quote from a text I received from her at 9:30p: “Do you want to know the quickest way to end a Skype? Sing.”
I’m so thankful to know these two girls and I simply adore hearing about their early morning dates when they are in person { Like a)being THE only two people at Snooze, and b) waking up at 3am thinking it was time to get up and att’em for the day. } and their early, early, early morning phone dates. I love you Mary and Karley!
{ 2 } This sweet little blog always pulls at my heartstrings. The story of a couple: the husband is in the army, and the wife blogs about their time apart, and now their time finally together. I really loved the post I read today and it’s stuck with me for some reason.
I love how she identifies her feelings; be them happy or sad, and knows herself well enough to gage what will help, or hinder her mood. Following her gut instinct. I can totally appreciate her ability to pause, look around, see through the bad and be thankful for the little things. This is something I actively try and do each and every day. Then I also make my friends do it…and they don’t love it as much as I do. { Sorry Heather and Miss! }
{ 3 } It shouldn’t surprise me that I was so drawn and addicted to this post - it was definitely her shirt that pulled me in, and the rest of the post made me do a great big, huge, giant sighhhhhhhhhhhh and for some reason, I swear the sun shined a little bit brighter. Somewhere throughout my life, I have become addicted to words. If I take a minute to look around, not just at work, but also at home…I have words EVERYWHERE. At my desk, I have a wooden “smile.” staring me in the face all day long, at home I have scattered the words “inspire”, “live”, “believe” and “laugh” in all different rooms. When/how did I get obsessed with this? No idear. But I’m glad I did. Hence why I want her shirt so darn badly.
Anyway, I digress.
The first statement in her post, I could read, and read, and read over and over and over again. I believe you can choose to be happy. I mean, if that isn’t the truth…what is? Bad things happen. Life happens. It isn’t going to be all peaches and roses constantly…but guess what? In the midst of all the chaos, there are good things happening, too. To quote bebebird: “I can choose to dwell on problems and stress myself out to no end OR I can look at the sun beaming through the heavy stormy clouds, and illuminating sections of the rolling plains and smile. Because you know what?? That is sort of amazing.” I know, I know…easier said than done. But this is an area where I’m actively trying to practice what I preach. And honestly? I hope you hold me to that.
{ 4 }This post kind of goes hand in hand with my last sentence. Now I feel like I need a tiny little baby disclaimer here: Yes, I believe in God, yes I love going to church, but in no way, shape or form am I trying to preach my beliefs to you lovely readers on this blog. In fact, this post speaks a lot about Christ and God and it actually isn’t what draws me to it. It was mainly talking about being imitable to those around us. No, I don’t have a husband, or kids to be watching me constantly, but I do have friends, coworkers and strangers. I really do believe that our peer’s mood affects us way more than they or we even realize. This is my absolute favorite:
Also, are you someone that is contagious? Do people leave feeling filled up after being with you? Do your babies and your hubby?
I want to be contagious. I want to be imitateable.
What if we all changed. Loved better, were more gracious and understanding, more merciful....and what if our children imitated. And so on.
We could create an entire movement.
That is inspiring.
{ 5 } And last but not least, another from our dear bebebird. If we were playing the game “One of these things is not like the others.”, this particular blog post would def be the thing not like the other 1-4 listed above. This was posted in May, and it’s still something I think about constantly. I think it’s her “safe spot” that I envy or long for. Or it could be the photos of the beautiful sunset that remind me oh-so much of Morgan Dawn. Or honestly? It could be her talk of an Americano, because there are few hours in the day where I don’t crave a good cup of coffee. Whatever it is that I’m drawn to, I love it. And I hope you do, too!
I don’t know what the point of this post is. Is it for me to reference whenever times get tough to remember the good in life? Is it a reminder for you all reading this to do the same? Who knows. I just hope one of us got something out of it.
Hakuna Matata, my dear readers.
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