There are so many positives throughout our daily lives, but rarely do we mention or even recognize them as positive. During a time when things are a true struggle for me and life is not even close to what I thought it would be after 36 years, I’m going to try and reveal some positive things that I encounter (or at least wish for) on a daily basis. Let me show you how easy it is!
• The look my sweet cat flashes as he’s crawling into bed without me because I’ve stayed up later than he would have liked
• A great movie coming on at 9 p.m. (knowing it’ll be over by 11 p.m. so that I can still get up at the butt-crack of dawn with Kensie)
• A random instance of my baby grabbing my hand and looking into my eyes to say, “Mommy, I wuv you!” (OK, OK, too obvious!)
• A big, fluffy, white dog licking my feet for no apparent reason (he loves me, I tell you, he loves me!)
• The impulse to shave my legs more than once a week (wow is that ever a positive, because it doesn’t always happen!)
• The quiet of a completely empty house (again, rare)
• The memory of hiking in the beautiful Northern California mountains with some great people (and critters) and then ending the day with an evening at my favorite pub
• A good breakfast spot (which is really lacking here in the 'ham, where breakfast spots other than the [nasty] Waffle House are scarce [Oops, a bit negative. See how quickly it seeps in!] )
• The knowledge that the “chipmunk cheeks” caused by my recent rendezvous with prescription Cortisone will eventually go away (it’s not that few pounds I’ve gained since I’ve been sick my doctor assures me!)
• The knowledge that the “all-new sweets craving” caused by my recent rendezvous with prescription Cortisone will eventually go away (which is likely the cause of the extra few pounds)
• A random “decent” song on the truly miserable Birmingham radio waves (bring back “Reg’s Coffee House” and “Live 100.5” for God’s sake! [Wow, I snuck in another negative. This is tough!] )
• That change (or at least the expectation of it in the very near future) is imminent
• A good glass of red (always a positive in my book!)
• The fact that my very first University Daily Kansan editor just won a Pulitzer (I’m in good company with all my fellow graduates of the great William Allen White School of Journalism at KU, just wish I had the great job to prove it!)
• “Mystic Pizza” (or any other 80s movie that comes on when you’re feeling desperate and unappreciated: “Oooh, your kiss is . . . sweeter than honey . . .” )
• An unexpected steak dinner after a long afternoon of babysitting some great (though sometimes dramatic) kids
• My girlfriends, who seem to always check on me at the exact right time as if they somehow know that I need them
• Kensie having discovered morning cartoons so that I can catch a few extra “Zs” (go girl, keep it up!)
• Pilates (need I say more)
• A quiet moment (ANY quiet moment)
• The promise of a new “family” business venture that will cure me of having to work for people who only think about No. 1
• The fact that with the house up for sale, I’ve already cleaned out every closet and can therefore think of nothing else that needs be done (yeah right!)
• Can I end with somewhat of a negative? What the hell happened to spring!?! From winter straight to summer is what truly sucks about life in the South! (OK, I’ve just completely blown my positive vibe, but really, the heat is ridiculous this early in the season!)
So I think I’ve just proved that there are many more positives in a day than most of us realize, and if we could just take the time to recognize those positives, maybe our lives would actually become more positive! I know it’s hard (as is evident in my multiple negative tangents in the above list), but if we would just take the time to recognize the good in our lives and stop focusing so much on the bad, our world would be a much healthier, happier place to be (says the unemployed single mom living at home with her parents whilst scraping together pennies from the rare freelance job who has no clue how to take her own advice).
STAY POSITIVE!
