I usually have a weird ability to stay really calm in public situations when my kids are losing their minds. In my head I just tell myself, “Self … If your child crying in the middle of the Target aisle is the worst thing that happens to you today – we have a lot to be thankful for.”
Perspective, right?
I’ve been blessed with the gift of being able to find perspective in a lot of things. I believe that there is a higher power using “events” in life to show us things… and sometimes perspective is our only way of seeing that message because it’s not always blasted in neon lights … and I think it’s pretty incredible, fun and challenging to figure out what that message is. This view on life has helped me get through so many moments in my life (big and small) and saved me from wallowing in a lot of unnecessary sadness. But I’ve also realized that sometimes I force myself to have perspective ALL of the time. Literally, about everything. I do it mainly because I don’t think it’s healthy to live a life where you let every. single. thing. bring you down… or sometimes because I think about what someone with problems that are so much bigger than mine would have to say about my negativity.
But you know what? Sometimes this “always having perspective” thing completely diminishes the fact that some sort of struggle is going on … and what happens is those feelings don’t get a chance to breathe, run their course, and be done. And what happens, instead, is a bundle of emotions crammed shoulder-to-shoulder in a bottle holding their breath … and eventually, they all exhale at once. And it all shatters.
Well… enter “today.”