We all get into this mindset from time to time where we panic and see our life through whatever the opposite of rose colored glasses is. We see our life through a cracked and chaotic lense and we just freeze, we are terrified that this version of this particular time of our life, is permanent. How I am feeling now is forever, I am never going to fall in love, I will never be a parent, I will never be able to handle this illness or care for the person I love, I was not meant to be a caretaker... and the worries spiral until we are seeing our life as a broken, unfixable mess.
Have you been there, have you been in that moment in time where everything seems so bleak you just can’t find the strength to be a Pollyanna and see the bright side of things? You may even be thinking, &$(&#$(P@&$(P&()!!!!!, there is nothing good about this situation, I am just over life! We have been there, we have rocked and cried over loss, over illness, over being a caretaker, over not having the answers even while actively looking and paying others to presumably come up with answers for us!
“Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her; but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game.” -Voltaire
We at SG like to think it is in those moments of despair that real change happens, we have found that it is in those moments that we can find the resolve to get ourselselves up off the ground, that this is the time to remind yourself that there is no time for a pity party and we just have to begin again. Life isn’t a dress rehearsal, we don’t get a do over, at least that we are aware of, so we can either lay pathetically down and allow life to pass us by, or we can fight!
“Being brave means that knowing when you fail, you won't fail forever.” -Lana Del Rey
At the root of things, we are so busy worrying that we are messing up our lives and in turn messing up our spouse or partner’s lives which then trickles down to our kids, both human and furry, and then we worry that we aren’t the best at our job and that we aren’t gourmet chefs and our whites aren’t brilliantly white, more like off white, no matter how many times we Google how to do laundry the “correct way.” If we don’t have things to worry about, we more than do our part to make sure we have things to worry about.
“Heaven is an idea constructed by man to help him cope with the fact that life on earth is both brutally short and, paradoxically, far too long.”
-Andrew Davidson, The Gargoyle
So here is your message for today, you are doing OKAY, yes, YOU! You with the wrinkles, you with the less than stellar kitchen, you with 3 kids under the age of 5, you who are toiling in the sandwich generation being both caretaker of your children and your parents, you who is drowning in student loans, YOU! One way or another things can and will be okay. You weren’t put on this earth to suffer, you weren’t put here to toil away with no joy. You were put on this earth to shine, to inspire, to love, to spread joy, to be happy. Isn’t that kind of breathtaking, you were meant to be happy and loved, we believe that with all our hearts. No matter your past, your future can be bright and beautiful.
“The thing is, you can’t always have the best of everything. Because for a life to be real, you need it all: good and bad, beach and concrete, the familiar and the unknown, big talkers and small towns.”
-Sarah Dessen, The Moon and More
You are an amazing miracle, wrapped up in a package with a lopsided bow, we may not look, act, or being anything near perfect, but we are ourselves and that is pretty darn amazing. Your life is yours to shine in, don’t squander your opportunity to dazzle! -Team SG