Skip to main content

Turn that frown upside down!

I try (really, I do) to wake up happy, positive, and ready to kickass. However, this morning try as I might, I crawled out of bed already angry at the world. More specifically, angry at the guy in the parking lot who felt the need to "warm up" his diesel powered truck at 5:00am. First of all it's April- there is no need to warm up your truck. Second of all, the sun is not even up yet- so likely, neither are most of your neighbors. I asked the North Liberty police if this was illegal. Still waiting for a response.

Then, as I'm taking my dog for our morning stroll- I wasn't anticipating, or prepared for, the cold gusts of wind, or that my beloved Podcast (MyFavoriteMurder) would stop working *turns out there was just a really long pause and I was just too angry to wait*. Needless to say- I was not happy, positive, or ready to kickass.

I got back from my walk and realized that being angry is no way to start the day. So, I had to turn it around. I looked at my meal plan for the day (thanks Tone It Up!) and when breakfast called for Kodiak Cakes (protein pancakes) I suddenly began to smile. Funny how pancakes can turn your whole day around.

So I sat down at my kitchen table and began to realize that life is really what you make it. I was crabby due to circumstances out of my control- but once I began to control the narrative, everything instantly became better; which brings us to now. There are so many people out there battling for better days, or happier times. People who break free (or are trying to) from the narrative written by circumstances they can't control, take the reigns back, and write their own story.

Everyone has a story, and at times I find myself forgetting that or neglecting to acknowledge it. Maybe the guy who started his truck so early was leaving for a grueling 12 hour shift to support his family, maybe he was going to a funeral, maybe he was off to make a better life for himself- point being, I don't know what his story is; but it's not necessarily my place to. However, it is my place to understand that he does have a story.

Below are some stories that made me smile today. These are people who overcame adversity, and pain, and dealt with situations far from their control- and yet, they chose to live, to flourish, to celebrate, and to be...happy, positive, and ready to kickass. Just a friendly reminder that every day, every single person you encounter is busy creating their story.

TJ Onwuanibe- a 14-year-old survivor of a rare brain cancer experienced his dream come true...beating brain cancer, AND nailing this...nothing is cooler than that. video here.

Jimmy Kimmel- first of all, he's great, funny, witty and genuine. Secondly, he opens his soul in this monologue. He bares his private life to viewers, in an emotional segment that really makes you think about what's important. Prayers to you and your family, my man.

A Boy, a bicycle, a future- this one is real neat because this happened in my own backyard. The UI College of Engineering created a device to help a little boy, who was born without an arm, to help him learn to ride without training wheels!

Go out there are get living, people!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Olympic Rings and Emotional Things: What is it about the Olympics that make us ugly cry over sports and athletes we've never heard of?

I'm sitting here on a Wednesday afternoon where, from my couch,  I am transfixed by the multicast view of the Olympics. A quadrant of screens take up the TV where a medal ceremony, men's basketball, skateboarding and a women's soccer game are all happening at the same time. Now, I've always been someone with a love of sports - and it wouldn't be out of the ordinary for me to watch multiple events at the same time, or maybe even grab a stealth peak of the ESPN app to check the score while at a wedding...but to have a quad screen up with multiple sports - even for me, that seems excessive. It got me thinking, what is it about the Olympics that continually captures my attention so fully I can not simply fathom picking ONE of these events to watch? The simple and most obvious answer is that it's fun to watch the world's best athletes compete against each other. You get the super teams, the living legends, the hometown heroes, the underdogs, the record holders - ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Amster...dam(n), that was fun.

I have recently found myself double checking my memories- making sure things really happened, that I actually did the things I think I did, and saw the things I swear I saw, because with all this adventure going on in my life nothing seems real any more; like it's one big dream that I don't want to wake up from. It's a good thing I always carry my Nikon around with me to back up my illusive memories- for proof that my life is actually as exciting as my thoughts tend to illustrate. For the past two days, I found myself in Amsterdam . The best part is, I was able to explore the fascinating place with my friends who flew in from Rome, Florence and London. It was such a glorious feeling to have Katie in my arms, to chow down with Lindsay and Maria, and to do stupid things with Mallory and Heidi- all while being in a foreign (seriously, so foreign) land. Before I landed in the city of canals, I knew very little about it. I suppose research would have been a standard idea, bu...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lights will guide you home, and ignite your bones.

I want to give a fair warning that this isn't my usual content. I'm very much a spreader of joy and good news and happiness- but I am also a human. And as it turns out, Maroon5 was right all along: it's not always rainbows and butterflies. So my friends, I share with you something incredibly personal, and honest. Please read on with the knowledge that my intent is not to be negative, or sad, or search for attention. Rather my intent is to write honestly and sincerely about my quest to turn my light back on. There are times in everyone's life where it feels as though the light is fading, and as if the darkness all around us encroaches with unstoppable force. I know I'm not alone in this feeling, but for me, accepting this is extremely hard to admit. Talking about (or writing about it) is even harder for me to do because I truly thought that if I convinced myself enough, there would be no bad days. But recently I've come to the conclusion that you don't know...
Post a Comment
Read more