Back in 1998, I picked up a book that continues to open my eyes and is one of my all-time favorites.This little book is just full of good stuff and it reminds me that I need to take a deep breath and to not "sweat the small stuff".
This last week, I was thinking back to when Aaron was in graduate school and I was working full time at NuSkin and Braden was just a baby. We didn't do day care so Aaron and I juggled Braden back and forth between our schedules, we never saw each other...it was the toughest year of my life thus far. I would read this chapter to keep some perspective in my life. I just wanted to share it with you...maybe it will help you as much as it has helped me.
Be Happy Where You Are
Sadly, many of us continually postpone our happiness-indefinitely. It's not that we consciously set out to do so, but that we keep convincing ourselves, "Someday I'll be happy." We tell ourselves we'll be happy when our bills are paid, when we get out of school, get our first job, a promotion. We convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another. Then we are frustrated that the kids aren't old enough- we'll be more content when they are. After that, we're frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage. We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car, are able to go on a nice vacation, when we retire. And on and on and on!
Meanwhile, life keeps moving forward. The truth is, there's no better time to be happy than RIGHT NOW. If not now, when? Your life will always be filled with challenges. It's best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway. One of my favorite quotes comes from Alfred D'Souza. He said:
"For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin-real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be got through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life." This perspective has helped me to see that there is no way to happiness, Happiness is the way.
2 comments:
What a great thing to read, helps to keep things in perspective. Thanks for sharing. :)
Thanks for sharing! The longer I live, the more I realize that life is HARD! We will always be dealing with one struggle or another, so we might as well try to maintain perspective and be cheerful anyway!
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