That's Life

Sometimes things go great, everything is in sync and life is wonderful. Other times, life is messy, people are upset, schedules are out of whack, and it's not so wonderful.

This week, for various reasons, life has not been so wonderful.

Last night I did turn to comfort food for dinner. I made mac and cheese. I weighed my portion, counted my points, and enjoyed every last bite. It's just so clear why I used to binge, why I used to eat unhealthful foods--because they brought me pleasure when life didn't give me much.

Today was another rough day, and I should have worked out but when it was time to do so, I put the VHS in, hit play, then curled up on the couch and watched it. Somewhere along the line, I turned it off and took a nap that lasted an hour and a half. Sometimes we have to listen to our body. Stress tires me.

I tried to blog many times today about the stress and what's going on, but it doesn't matter, none of it is life threatening, it's just life.

I discovered a dirty little secret, though. I was thinking about it all day today and all night. It's when life gets messy that we really need to take pleasure in how wonderful life really is. When I changed my attitude, I sat back and laughed out loud. I get it! That's not to say the stress will go away, but if I change my thinking and enjoy and cherish the moment, it makes it a lot easier.

I was thinking back to when my son was much younger and how stressful it could be at times. I smiled when thinking back. Oh, how I'd love to relive one of those stressful days. That's when it dawned on me that some day in the future, I will look back to this very day, week--and it will be memorable due to events, and I'll smile. So why not smile about it now?

I was not raised to be a positive thinker, to see the glass half full or to look for the silver lining. It's all very foreign to me. I think that's why I love the movie and book The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio so much, because that was my first exposure to a truly positive person. (Especially the movie version.) That's not to say I'm not positive, but I do tend to see the glass half empty. I'm just learning to re-train my brain now. And that's a good thing.

So I'm going to bed early, I'm going to get a good night's sleep, and face the stressful day tomorrow with a smile on my face. It is a choice, and I finally get how to make that choice.