I was given this book at Christmas... Oprah's "What I Know For Sure" and loved every word of it. That was my favorite part of her magazine, her wisdom at the end, and I would always feel like I had learned something from reading them. Many times it felt like she was reading my mind.And today I got the nudge to write again, and while it's been a lot of time away, I feel like it was a necessary break. Sometimes we have to find new things to talk about or we run the risk of falling into the endless black hole of redundancy.
I know I'm getting older, but repeating myself isn't a road I want to go down anytime soon.
So I thought I'd start off this year with my own list of things I know for sure. It's a work in progress, and I know it might be different next year, but that is how life works... which leads me to my first thing.
1. The only thing we can count on is nothing stays the same. Nothing. If there is anything I've learned lately is that what we have right here - right now, could all be changed tomorrow. Sometimes they're good changes, and sometimes they're bad. Rarely is it in our control. Best to learn to go with the flow.
2. Friends make the world go 'round. I think my friends are the reason I can stay sane in a crazy world. We joke. We cry. We bitch. We protect. We love. We listen. We advise. It doesn't matter what it is, my friends are there for me. I am beyond blessed to have the best of them too. Friends that would bail me out of jail. Friends that understand I'm not perfect. Friends that laugh
3. Creativity > Laziness. Even the greatest day-long-Scandal-binge-watching-marathon isn't as good as writing one really good paragraph/scene/chapter. It just doesn't. Doing something productive always wins. But if you can learn to be productive/creative while watching Scandal... Well shut the front door. You got yourself perfection.
4. You will never be prepared for bad news. How could you? We can't be those kinds of people who walk around expecting the worst all the time. We believe, we hope, we dream. So when the bad news comes, it usually sneaks up on you flips your world upside down. It changes us and our reality, giving us a different perspective than we had before. We will learn to believe, hope, and dream again, but it will always be different than before. It just takes time.
5. Resentment will eat you alive. Raise your hand if you cling to resentment like a fuzzy warm blanket. Yeah, me too. I'm learning though, that life is too short, and eventually all that resentment is just hurting yourself. Like drinking poison and expecting the other person to get sick. Let it go....
6. What someone thinks of you is only their business. This one is a work in progress for me, for sure. I am the ultimate people pleaser. If it were and Olympic sport, I'd be a multiple gold medalist. Constant worrying about what others think is the quickest way to resentment. See what I just did there? It boggles the mind! Anyways, start listening to your self about what you want... or who to be with... or what to write about. At the end of the day, you are the only one you have to please. People will naturally come and go in your life... Pretending to be something or someone else is just making you miserable. Miserable = resentment.
7. Giving is better than receiving. Once a month I pay for the person behind me at Starbucks. It's never a big amount, but the joy I get from doing that one thing lasts me the whole day. I have never regretted doing or giving something to someone, and I truly believe your heart grows when you do.
8. There really are some words to live by. Here are just a few: Joy. Calm. Strength. Peace. Courage. Love. Laughter. Gratitude. Find one word to guide you each day. It will change the way you think and live.
9. Being kind is better than being right. Anyone who's been married longer than a year knows this. #word
10. No matter how old you get you will always need your mom. It's been 11 1/2 years since I've seen my mom. I know she's there, watching over me, but sometimes that's not good enough. I need parenting advice in the worst way right now, and relying on myself isn't cutting it. I know I don't have a choice, and muddling through it is all I've got, but a sign would be really good, Mom. Just a little sign.
Well that's it. What I know for sure. Is it the same as what you know? Probably not. But I hope you will take the time to at least think about what your list would be.
That's all I really want... to get you thinking.
I hope you have a great 2015...
