(Note: I started this post back in January, and then my life, again, became extremely stressful and chaotic so here it is...a few months later...)
It's been quite some time since I've written a post. Part of that is because the holiday season is mass chaos for my family and me. Part of that is because I haven't been inspired to write a post. But here I am, back again. This wasn't really the topic I was planning for my comeback post, but inspiration (or Divine direction) happens sometimes in the strangest of times.
Have you ever stopped to think about how much we complain in a day? It's too early. It's too cold. This coffee is not hot enough. I ordered my burger without vegetation of any kind. I don't have anything to wear. There's nothing to eat in this house. The list of complaints uttered daily by all of us could fill volumes and volumes and volumes. Well last night was one of those times when I got a reality check on my habit of complaining.
One of my close friends and I have decided to make a much better habit of going to the gym. So last night, even though it was 0 degrees on my car thermometer, with a real feel in the sub-zero zone, we went to the gym. And on my way home, I started to complain. About how cold it was. About how my car heater wasn't warming up fast enough. And there, mid-complaint about how cold the steering wheel was even though I was wearing my favorite mittens, I saw him.
I don't know who he was, were he was going, or why he was there. But as I drove down my street at 8:30, there was a guy probably around my age, walking along the side of the road. His coat was zippered up as far as it could be. His hood was up. But a coat doesn't do much when you're walking in subzero wind chills.
And that's when it hit me. Here I was, sitting in my relatively warm car. I just came from the warm gym, and I was going to my warm house to take a hot shower, and get into my warm clothes, and sit in my warm bed. Now I don't know if this guy had a home to go to or not. I don't know why he was outside on that particular evening. But there are a lot of people that don't have a warm house, or warm clothes, or a warm car, or a warm bed.
Is it cold around here? Yes. 9 below with a windchill in the 30s again this morning was freezing. But does that give me a right to complain? Absolutely not. The thing of it is, we get so spoiled in our comfortable life that we often forget the bigger picture. We often forget how blessed we truly are. The lessons that we've learned in times past.
We all have so much to be thankful for. But we take it far too often for granted. And we need to stop.
(Now we are jumping to the present. January to March in one blog post. You can now say you time traveled. Welll....not really, but you can still tell people that if you want!)
I heard some good advice the other day that I want to share and challenge you all with. At the end of every day, write down 5 things that you are thankful for, or 5 moments that made you smile, or 5 good things that happened that day. Every day. And watch how your attitude and outlook improves. I am going to accept this challenge, and I hope you all do, too. I'll post mine here a lot, but probably not everyday.
Here are mine from yesterday:
1) Seeing improvement in our workout from consistent gym time!
2) Reading llama llama books with two of my closest friends in the middle of Barnes & Noble! (don't judge. We had fun.)
3) Hearing the good news that one of my closest friends got accepted to the grad program she wanted!
4) Eating an orange for a snack instead of something unhealthy!
5) Cleaning my room and getting everything organized. Almost done with my spring cleaning now!
Hoping we all make the decision to stop complaining,
AA
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