Life is short, make the most of it

As I get older, I have learned some life lessons I thought would be helpful to share. Many of the lessons I am about to share were learned the hard way and many at a very expensive price. Hopefully some of you can read this and not have to pay the cost I have for them.

We are all so caught up in our feelings, stress, and worrying that we miss out on the best parts of life. We worry about what other people think, even people we don’t know. We wear our feelings on our shirt sleeve. We blame others for things that are clearly our own fault. We even make ourselves believe that we can control what other people think and do. Even worse we allow some people to control what we do out of love, care, and concern for their feelings. I use this in general and am not specifically referring to any one person.

Other people cannot make you happy. Other people cannot make you sad. Other people do not control your life, your body, or mind. Every day when you wake up you have the option to decide if you are going to have a good day or a bad day. What transpires during the day can only affect your day the way you allow it. What I am trying to say is when you get up in the morning and decide you are going to have a good day and find the positive things about what happens instead of the negative it will be a good day. I think the saying goes “your glass is either half full or half empty”. You get to decide which. If you get up in a bad mood and look at the negative of everything that happens then your day will be bad. It took me a long time to learn this, and I know that there are things beyond your control that happen. I am talking about common days.

You have a choice and the way you look at things make a difference. You can either say “I have to go to work today”, or you can say “I get to go to work today.” The same applies to anything you do. “I have to cut the grass today” or “I am going to cut the grass today and my yard is going to look so good” and you are going to have a feeling of accomplishment. The point I am trying to make is that it is all a matter of the way you look at things.

How many of you know someone that has had lots of different jobs. They start a new job and tell you how great the job is and how wonderful all their co workers are. Then three to six months later they are telling you how awful the conditions are and that everyone is out to get them, and they are looking for another job. Shortly after that they are either fired or quit and about to go to work at the next place where everything and everyone is so great. While some places may not be good places to work it is up to you to make your job great and a job where you are happy. All places have change and problems. It is up to you to stick around and make it a better place to work. You having a good attitude is the best start.

So many people are stressed out about so many things these days. I was the same way. I used to lay awake at night worrying about forgetting to worry about something that I really needed to worry about. Over the years I have learned that worrying about something does not change anything but only keeps you awake at night. To quote the serenity prayer “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference”. I still do not always have enough wisdom to know the difference, but I have more wisdom now than I had in the past.

Finally, I will end by saying that life is short. If you cannot focus on enjoying life everyday and only focus on enjoying something, someone, or some event in the future your life will not have much joy. I know people that get mad at friends and family and go for years without even speaking. I have never been that person and highly discourage it because it is very hard to have a conversation and correct wrongs of the past while attending a person’s funeral. If I am mad at you, I am more likely to call you up and tell you that I am mad and why then to not speak to you at all.

Life is what you make of it, and I am determined that my life will be full of joy and happiness. I count my blessings and wealth every day. My wealth is not in a bank account or in the material things I have but rather is in the family and friends I have and the relationships I have with them.