Today was a great day.
Something I have realized over the years is that good days are usually not the result of some big, exciting news or a sudden windfall of cash or prizes. Although, those can be fun to dream about.
Most good days are the result of appreciating what we have presently in our day to day lives.
If we wait for everything to fall into place, such as losing those last 10 pounds or finding that ‘perfect guy’, we may never feel content because we are constantly longing for more. We are never enough as we are right now. Even as you read this, you might be thinking, This doesn’t apply to me. I won’t be happy until I have ‘x’.
And you are probably right.
A couple years ago, I decided that I was going to appreciate myself, my life, and my circumstances for what they were. Of course, appreciate doesn’t mean that you can’t strive for growth and change, it just means that you understand where you currently are in life.
Even when we are between a rock and a hard place, these difficult circumstances are often for a reason even if we cannot see it at the time. I have been through some pretty rough times in my life, but when I look back on them I see what each situation has taught me and how they allowed me to grow.
When I was struggling with a career and grad school that made me miserable, I didn’t know it at the time, but they would serve as a major turning point in my life. The unhappiness I experienced eventually woke me up and suddenly, I was determined to never settle for mediocrity again.
After my parents divorced when I was 17, my mom and I started a new chapter and we moved across the country from New Brunswick to Ontario. I would have been entering my last year of high school with all of my friends (and long-time boyfriend) in New Brunswick, but instead I took a leap of faith and I chose to move and to challenge myself. My mom got a job transfer to Ontario and we moved shortly thereafter with our life stuffed into a few suitcases.
Things were rough, especially for the first few months before we found an apartment to live in. I was living with nearby family for the first while and I was trying to begin at a new school and also juggle my studies and social life while living out of a suitcase.
My mom and I shared many tears together that year.
But as they say, hindsight is always 20/20.
While that time was filled with many challenges, it was also quite remarkable to see the progression over time. By stepping out of my comfort zone, I grew as a person and I matured a lot. Slowly but surely things started to fall into place. I started my last year of high school in a new school where I didn’t know a soul, but as luck would have it, I ended up meeting my future husband during my first day of class.
Sometimes a leap of faith has a hidden four leaf clover.
So yes, today was a good day, for no particular reason except for the fact that I decided it was.
The skies were bright blue with fluffy white clouds and the leaves were blazing orange and red, after several days of cold and rain. I hit the pavement, not even overly wanting to workout, but once I got out there I thanked my lucky stars that I had. I ran a fast 4 miles listening to nothing but the crunching of the leaves under my feet and the crickets chirping in the woods.
That is not my picture, but perhaps in a couple more weeks?! ;)
I must mention that it took putting my music player in the washing machine (and breaking it) it for me to run without music, but I digress. As I said, sometimes clouds have a silver lining. ;)
When I wrapped up my work for the day, I decided to bottle the fluffy white clouds and create my own silver lining in my kitchen…
But more on that tomorrow.
Do you ever look back on a tough time in your life and see the hidden four leaf clovers or life lessons that it brought to your life?
That autumnal shot is gorgeous. At first I thought you took it! It is really pretty.
I look at NOW and can see the hidden four leaf clovers. Just praying that they pan out for me.
It is so true that being present is the key to being happy and at peace. I work on it all the time and it can be hard.
Oddly, despite having a hard time being present (yoga has helped that immensely over the years) I have always found silver linings in tough times. I think it might be something my parents taught me – that with every bad thing there is a silver lining.
I am sorry about your music player.
Excellent timing on the post! I was having a particularly “blue” day yesterday and just couldn’t shake the funk. I couldn’t stop focusing on how unhappy I am in my current situation. I keep thinking how things are going to be so much better after certain events happen. I talked to my mom about it and her advice was to stop thinking how I can be happy in the future, and start thinking how I can be happy today. I’m trying to keep that in mind today, and so far things have been better! Thanks for sharing!
I’ve gone through some tough times with depression/anxiety, and thankfully I got through it. Although it was incredibly hard & painful for me and my family to go through it, I came out a better person. I am much more in touch with who I am today then I’ve ever been before. I can tell when I’m starting to get depressed or anxious & now have the skills to pull myself up before sinking too low.
Going through that makes me grateful for the overall positive happy outlook I have on my life now.
It also makes me appreciate my family for loving me enough to be patient & kind and forgive the many mean things I said during my darkest days.
Family truly is amazing.
This is the exact encouragement I need today. I have recently been wanting to quit my job and move. To where? I don’t know, but somewhere away from the city and the crowds and the smog. But, I can’t do that. What I can do though is appreciate what I have now. A decent, well-paying, flexible job that challenges me. A cozy apartment and my wedding to look forward to. Someday, I will have the small house in the country, with roads resembling the photo from above. Someday, but today, I’m going to appreciate what I already have. Thanks for post!
Beautiful post! I actually got goosebumps just reading it, and everything you said is so true. I find myself to be the type of personal that dwells on things, and I know my life would be /so/ much better if I just stopped and started living freely.
Thank you for this!
What a beautiful post! I’m struggling with a lot right now and feeling really quite depressed about it, thinking I can’t be really happy til x,y,z happens..so this is a very interesting post to read.
I love the look of the bread (?) you baked – so fluffy!!
Ps – i’m litterally having to hide the scuffins I baked yesterday, cos my family are eating them too fast :p they are INCREDIBLE!
Yes! I consider the past, good and bad moments alike, as lessons that taught me a lot and led to where I am today. And although that’s not exactly where I want to be, this is where I should be right now and I’m working towards the future, still appreciating (or trying to ;-)) what I have now.
So, seen you are practicing yoga off the mat, as this is known in yoga as “santosha”, or “contentment”. Meaning understanding and appreciating what you have and where you are now, still striving for growth, and certainly not meaning that you give up on whatever dreams you have!
Agreed – I think it’s so easy to assume that everyone else has always had it easy…when everyone has their own struggles. My life has been full of them, but they have made me stronger and I know that everything in my life is happening at the right pace, in the right place and the right time – regardless of the norms.
I agree…a day is good because you made it so. :) Lovely post.
I was so happy to read this, because this is so very much what I believe. But this belief was neither innate nor easily won.
Like you, I’d struggled to find happiness for a long long time. And I too now understand that difficulties are often gifts in disguise. My current happiness germinated out of decades of unhappiness – and this happiness, I fully believe, is here to stay.
And yes: awareness of the beauty of the world, gratitude for the gifts and being fully and completely engaged and in the moment…that’s where happiness comes from. Objectively I may not be that different from the me of a few years ago, but inside…inside I am a whole new person and oh, I love the person I’ve become!
(In short: yes, EXACTLY! And thank you).
Thanks for sharing a part of your life with us Angela. Having just graduated and feeling directionless, I have been guilty of thinking ‘when x happens, I will be happy.’ It’s been an even more confusing summer as we just moved and moving + finding a job at the same time is sort of difficult. I like how you say, you can grow and challenge yourself but also be happy with your present situation. I’m working on it and now I have your story to inspire me. Thank you!
I can’t wait to hear about the silver lining that you’ve created in your kitchen! They look fabulous!
Yep, I think we’ve all struggled with hard times. My was right after high school. I decided not to go to college and instead start work at a local law firm. It was at that law firm that I started to learn about healthy living and treating my body well. If I hadn’t made the decision to skip out on college right after high school (which everyone in my life told me was a bad idea) I wouldn’t have been introduced to some great people who influenced me in so many good ways!
All of the struggles I’ve been through have made me who I am now. I would never turn back time and change anything. Of course, it’s easy to say in hindsight–hard to say when in the moment!
I found this very inspiring, so thank you! I like looking back on tough situations and realizing how much I gained from them.
All I can say is, :)
Poetry :) This is exactly why I adore your blog and look forward to reading it everyday! Ok, and those rolls look pretty amazing too ;)
Excellent post! The proverb “this too shall pass” is a beautiful reminder that even though some challenges we face may feel unmanagable, we will get through it.
How strange!! Our stories are so similar! When I was 17 my parents decided to move to the other side of BC from Vancouver to a tiny little town and I fought it with everything I had, but I realized I couldn’t make it work in the city, going to high school while living with a friend. So I moved with them, and on my first day of school I met my future hubby and we now live in that same tiny little town with two kids :D Sometime the hardest things we go through are the things that shape us in the most wonderful ways. And you certainly wouldn’t know how amazing life can be without experiencing some bad first :)
Yes, especially the tough times my parents went through financially. It really sucked at the time but it taught me to be more responsible and careful with money and to appreciate the things I have.
amen to all of this. there are so many hidden 4-leaf clovers in my life it’s ridiculous, and all i needed was a reminder today that the job i dislike has also been a catalyst to me falling in love with blogging and realizing what my true passions are. i love your attitude and the way that we’ve all been able to watch you as you grow and encourage others like me to pursue their dreams!
thanks girl :)