I haven’t been able to keep up with #WEVerb11, but, truth be told, I never intended on answering every prompt. To me, the point is to find a way to reflect on the past twelve months, and to find nuggets of truth and meaning that are important to YOU.
This post is kind of an all-encompassing #WEVerb11 response.
It has taken me this entire month, but I finally had a light bulb moment about 2011. I have been digging deep trying to find the purpose as to why L and I have run into so many obstacles, why I don’t have many good things to say about this year, why I just want this year to end, etc. The conclusion is that there is no concrete answer to any of it. Twelve months have passed, and this is what we have to show for it.
Then it dawned on me: perspective. I need to do a better job of putting it all in perspective. We are fortunate to have health insurance, and that it covered my surgery and various health-related hiccups we have faced in 2011. Insurance does not cover fertility treatments making us even more fortunate to have the opportunity to pursue them. We have a roof over our heads, clothing on our backs, nutritious food and clean water at our disposal. We have been given the chance to pursue our dreams. We are blessed. I am not trying to devalue my pain and suffering, or anyone else’s for that matter. It is all relative. However, it has really helped me to change my perspective a little and remember to stay grateful.
With that said, my mom sent me this article called “16 Ways to Make an Incredible Impact with Less than $15” from Oprah.com awhile back. I bookmark’ed it for future reference. You don’t have to have a lot of money or time in order to impact the lives of others.
honey my heart
it's always good for me to remember the little luxuries (a home, safety, health). and thank you for sharing the oprah link! it's awesome to be able to do so much with just fifteen dollars.
-J.Darling
GREAT post chika! I know it's a real challenge to challenge your own thinking and step back and look for the good. Sometimes you have to look really hard for it. For me, it's been a real daily challenge to look for the good: with Sean deployed for our first holiday season, no date on his return yet (hopefully next month, but he could get extended), probably no vacation time together when he gets back (thank you Navy), and ZERO contact other than 1-way emails (I can send, but he can't reply), for pretty much all of December until he comes home (again, hopefully next month), my sanity comes from finding a way to pull out the positives. I think it comes a little easier to be grateful during the holidays – just need to bottle that and remind ourselves of it all year long. (Grateful that he has an amazing job, that I have this amazing adventure with the love of my life and my best friend, grateful for wonderful family on both sides that love and support us/me – even though many have never met me, grateful for my survival skills I've learned over the years… and currently grateful to be going to Disneyland tomorrow!) One day, one deep breath, and 1 gratitude at a time! 🙂