The Happy Moments

Everyone gets hit by a few "buses" in their life. You lay there on the ground wondering what happened, if you can get up again and how you can possibly go on. Everyone has their own story. There have been days where I lay on my living room carpet, tears running down my cheeks thinking "go away bus".

It always does, eventually. And what I thought at the time was a horrible/impossible obstacle in my life fades into the past and all that's left is the memory of what I've learned. I've had my fair share of hard times, but with every "bus" I know it helped me become the wife/mother/woman I am today. I can now look back at what I've been through and be proud of myself for surviving. Proud of the things I learned, and the ways it changed me. Some days I think of things I've accomplished and tell myself "I'm a Rockstar." It may seem conceited, but I call it a healthy dose of self esteem. :)

No matter what happens throughout your life, find the happy moments, they're all around you. At one difficult time in our lives, my husband suggested I start keeping a "Happy Journal" He said "write down three things every day, three good things that happened." Some days were harder than others. Some days one of the best things was simply getting out of the house to drive Zoey to school. But I didn't write down the negative parts of my day, no matter how significant they were. Eventually whenever my girls did something cute or I got time for something I enjoyed I'd immediately think "I have to remember this, I need to write it down tonight." As time went on it got easier to dismiss the hard stuff. "It's not a big deal, we'll get past it. No matter what happens I need to stay focused on the positive things going on." Because those are the moments that keep me going. After a while it felt like I had trained my mind to be positive, and it changed my life drastically.

I love reading that journal. One of my first entries was "hugs through the shower curtain." It was written during the middle of a move, to somewhere I had never been. If I hadn't written it down I would have forgotten my little girl giving me hugs while I was trying to take a quick shower because it didn't seem like the most important thing, all the moving problems were. But now I see, that hug was more important than anything else going on back then. I wish I had taken time to hug her back a little longer, tell her how much it meant to me.

I still have days that are hard, days that I momentarily forget what's important. But now I know that what matters most is sitting outside with my little girls, eating peanut butter off a spoon. Because they need that, they need those moments, and you know what? So do I.

 If you're depressed, or have a hard time being positive in your life lately. I strongly suggest you try a "Happy Journal" even if you miss days, or only do it for a month. I truly believe it has changed my perspective on life. There are ALWAYS good moments.