This isn’t one of those pithy fairy dust and moon beams post. I’m serious. You can make today ridiculously amazing or you can make today ordinary and mundane or at your worst, you can make today terrible.
My point? It’s all up to you. It’s not about the other humans that live in your house, their day is their responsibility. Your day is yours.
OK I get it. Life is hard. I’m not going to tell you to make lemonade out of lemons… what I’m going to tell you is to suck it up… and get out of your funk.
Look around. Smile at something. Look at something… remember something… and smile. It’s up to you. NO ONE IS GOING TO COME ALONG AND MAKE YOUR LIFE WONDERFUL. that’s all you.
You have a lot of jobs on this planet. You have to care for and raise your kids, maybe with help of loved ones… maybe not. You have to care for and love your pets, maybe with the help of loved ones… maybe not. You have to pay the bills, you have to go to work, or go to collect unemployment or go on job interviews, or stop by the food pantry for some supplies, or … whatever you have to do… the first thing you have to do is decide…
TO MAKE TODAY RIDICULOUSLY AMAZING.
When people ask how’re you doing? You reply, “AMAZING!” and smile.
When the grocery clerk barely looks at you and says, “Have a nice ” as she
throws you your receipt and change, you take the mili-second to say in a nice happy loud voice, “You have an amazing day too!” and smile. (if you are feeling particularly amazing, you can glance at the person next in line and give ’em a nice big smile too)
Smile at the car that cuts you off… as you remember what it was like to rush around before you realized how amazing your day was going to be.
Smile and wave to your neighbors, don’t worry if you don’t catch their eye and they don’t wave back or if they are so shocked that they stare blankly at you and raise their hand and wave automatically… Smile… and wave. and if you have it in you…. roll down your window and yell out, “Have a great day today!”
(pssstttt… I’m getting happier and happier just writing and thinking of ways for you to have an amazing day! I can’t wait to get out there and just AMAZE myself)
I’ll let you in on a little secret. You know what used to keep me from having amazing days? Fear. When it really boiled down to it, it was fear. I don’t know, fear of someone thinking I was a fool… or someone not liking me… or someone disagreeing with me… (see where I’m going here…) My fear was all based on what I thought… someone else would think.
I wonder how many people live their lives worried about what other people think?
What other people think, doesn’t define me. It really defines them. So, if someone says, “What is wrong with her, she is always so ‘up’?” … I used to worry that there was something wrong with me. Until I really thought about it and it’s true… their words define them. There is something wrong with THEM.. because they are NOT UP. They are down. They want everyone else to be down and miserable and struggling and only happy in other peoples misery.
(ok, I’m going off a little… but you know what I mean)
Most people aren’t mean spirited, they just aren’t necessarily mindful of what it takes to have a truly amazing day.
If everyone woke up and decided that today was the day that they were going to let the other car go first, smile at everyone that they made eye contact with, only spoke encouraging words… What a day that would be!
We can’t rely on other people to wake up like that. We have no control over what other people say, do or think… we do, however, have control over our own thoughts and actions. I propose, that today be the most ridiculously amazing day.
So, what happens if something really challenging happens today.. are your plans derailed for the day. Well, that’s up to you. You’re plans can be derailed for a moment… for an hour.. for a day… for a week. It’s always and will always be up to you.
How you think… is who you are.
My plan for today, to make it a truly amazing day is to take some time and actually go for a walk. Either during my 15 minute break at the office… or instead of driving my kids to the bus stop… we’ll walk. The best part of that walk will be…… LOOKING UP. and then watching my kids look up… then talking to them about what they see, in that moment… when we all look up!
Tell me about your ridiculously amazing day!
