Not Sunny, Not 75
What do you do, when looking out of the window frame of life at the forecast of tomorrow, and it’s simply not looking like sunny with a high of 75? When all of the hope that you once stockpiled, seems to be stuck in the past. Like it stepped in wet cement and simply missed the memo to get out before it dried. Or better yet, life isn’t just raining on your parade but instead has decided to move the location to Atlantis, it’s kind of wet there if you didn’t know.
Smidgens and Smidgens
Month to month or week to week, these times commonly, and unwantedly, pop up. But sometimes in life they seem to last a couple smidgens longer than expected. Or maybe a whole truckload of smidgens longer than we expected. We tend to expect bad days and even weeks. But what do we do when we simply can’t pull our hope out of the once wet cement?
Just Breath. Beware of Water!
If you find yourself in one of these cement dried slumps, then the first thing to do is to just breathe. Unless you happen to be reading this while underwater. The advancement of technology has allowed us to do this, so I must warn against following this advice while in this peculiar situation. So first wait to take a breath until oxygen is aplenty, please.
Caught Up In Tomorrow
With that addressed, back to the matter at hand. Many times we can get so caught up in the future and how hopeless it can look from today, that we forget today is right where we can start chipping our hope out of that unrelenting, rock hard, slab of proverbial dried cement. Stop looking at the hope that is nonexistent in the future which has yet to arrive. When the big picture of life gets you down, instead decide to look at just one thing that chips out a little piece of that lost hope once again.
Bread Ends
The funny thing about hope is that when you really look hard, you are bound to find at least a little bit that has gone unnoticed. It’s kind of like those bread ends that everyone throws away. You only appreciate the bread ends when you realize that the ends have become what is left of the entire loaf. Don’t overlook the bread ends of life, breathing is one of them. Just don’t do it while underwater (we have already covered this, but I believe it is a very vital topic).
Cooking With Bread Ends
Once you got the bread ends of life in front of you, and a couple bits of hope chipped out. Start looking at what was going right when the hope had yet to lose itself in that dried place of despair. Find those things that gave you those moments of simple enjoyment. We all have things connected to good times and great memories, choose to seek those out of again. Right now! Life can get so busy. And we quickly can lose track of those times when life seemed just a little bit more…right. Find that lost recipe of enjoyment and start cooking again.
Don’t Avoid The Spinach
Lastly, don’t avoid these times. In life we are given moments that are intimidating, yet with that intimidation we are given opportunity. Out of the hard times we grow, only if we choose. And yes it is a choice that you have to make. Your mom cannot make it for you, even if she still makes your lunches. When the hard times passes, and it will. You will realize that choosing to grow in hard times, is like eating cans and cans of Popeye’s spinach, but for your character.
Life Is Tough Stuff
Life is not easy. This is a simple truth that we can easily forget. With all the slogans, sayings, sales pitches, and so called self-entitlements, we forget that life is hard. Just because we have a lot of stuff, doesn’t mean that we don’t deal with “stuff”. Even though life is hard, it doesn’t mean that it is not worth it. When life is hardest, it means that you have all the more to fight for. When you seem lost and along the way life’s luster also seems to be misplaced. Start searching. Now! Life’s luster is worth finding again. Don’t stop looking. Period.
Life, keep it simple and live it
Josh