On Falling in Love With Your Life.

As I’m writing this, Jack has his first ever stomach virus. It’s awful and seriously so, so sad. It’s been a rough 24 hours (I’ll spare you details, but I’ve gone through three bottles of carpet cleaner). 

But the weekend before he got sick was so much fun. We took Jack to Universal, ate the best food, watched him splash around the Curious George park. I mean, look at this picture. Pure joy. 

The day before Jack got sick, I had the best day with my best friend. We laid by the pool, went to Goodwill, ate Taco Bell (let me live). It was great. 

And today I’m cleaning up puke. 

In short, it’s been the best week and the worst week. 

But that’s life, you know? Ups and downs. Good and bad. 

If you were to give me a snapshot of life right now, it may look something like this: 

Chels, you’re riddled with anxiety, have entirely too much on your plate, spend most of your time with a two-year-old that you are often completely clueless about, haven’t accomplished a lot of your goals, overdrew your bank account last week, and girl, your face is breaking out like whoa. 

Well doesn’t that make me want to run for the hills? 

It may also look something like this: 

Chels, you’re fighting anxiety like a freakin’ champ. You have such good friends, near and far. You are proud of yourself. You’re steadily working on your goals every day. You live in the sunshine state, you have pool days often. Your days are filled with the sweetest, tiny human, good books, work that pays for a wonderful home, and lots of laughter. 

Okay, now that I can get on board with. 

Both of those are true. Both of those are facts. But one sure looks better than the other, doesn’t it? 

It’s all about perspective, friends. 

Want to fall in love with your life? Check your perspective. 

For me, the last two years have been full of the very best moments and the very most gut-wrenching things. When I look back at the terrible stuff, there is not one single thing in the whole bunch I could’ve changed. Every one of them was out of my control.

My perspective is always in my control. Yours is always in your control. 

So try it. It’s free. It takes very little effort. And it could be life-changing. What do you have to lose? 

I know you’re overwhelmed. I know you’re tired. I know things aren’t panning out the way you had hoped. And sure, you can focus on that. You can replay your bad luck on a loop in your mind. You can fill your days with looking at all the ways life has been unfair to you. All the ways you’re not good enough. The places you’ve really dropped the ball. 

Or. 

You can look at the greatness around you. You can replay that wonderful weekend with friends on a loop, because wow, aren’t you lucky to have them? You can focus on how amazing you are, how strong you are, how hard you’re trying. How it’s pretty amazing that you’ve made it this far. How lovely it is to live in a world with good books and chocolate and sunshine and your favorite song. 

Both are true. Both are facts. 

But one sure sounds a lot better than the other, doesn’t it?