Focus on the Important Things

It's been a rough week and I really just needed a win today.  I just needed one thing to go well...but nothing did.  Do you ever have weeks like this or am I the only one who can't seem to catch a break for long stretches of time until it starts to feel like there is no break.  Ever.

I reorganized my whole schedule to accommodate a very important meeting which was then canceled and I was the last to find out.  I was supposed to meet two friends for lunch and they both stood me up (did they coordinate this?).  One of them messaged late to say what I'd already figured to by then--she wouldn't be coming.  The other never messaged at all.  One of my children worked really hard at embarrassing me in public and she kept at it until it finally worked. And don't even get me started on what's going on at a national level.  It all adds up to being enough to crush a person's spirits

I could go on, but I'd rather not.  Dwelling on problems like this never makes them better.  I think the best thing that you, or I, or anyone can do in times like this is to stop focusing on our problems and start focusing on our blessings instead. (Keep paying attention to national stuff, that's important!)  Sure, the meeting was canceled, but in the mean time, while I was waiting for word, I was so incredibly productive.  I started and finished two major tasks.  I was more productive during that time than I usually am because there were no interruptions.

 

And no one likes to be stood up, especially by people who say they're your friends.  It's so disrespectful to waste someone's time and leave them hanging like that.  But one thing that I've learned is that when you put yourself out there you open yourself up to getting hurt.  As the only one of the three of us that ever suggests getting together, it stands to reason that I'd be the one most often rejected.  Beyond that, I now know exactly where I stand with those two friends and that is very freeing.  And I truly appreciate the good friends that I have, who do respect me and my time.  I see more and more that friends like that are a rare and precious thing.

As far as the teenage daughter making attempt after attempt to embarrass me in public until she did (I was totally mortified)....well, I don't always walk away with a positive lesson from everything bad that happens.  Sometimes people we love are just crappy and they do things that really suck.  But, she did get an earful all about her behavior and apologized, so we'll just hope that she won't do that again......for at least a few weeks.

The world is the world, and people are people.  I can't do much about either of those things.  But, at the end of the day, even the really bad days, I am thankful that the people I love are in my life, that they are well and so am I.  I'm thankful for my faith and my family, thankful that I have a job, a home, a farm.  

There will always be problems in the world consuming our attention filling us with anxiety and sadness if we let them.  So let's Not let them!  Focus on all the good things in your life.  Our blessings are so much bigger than our problems, so let's give them the attention they deserve.

Mirella Swing Dress from Collectif.co.uk