It’s Friday and I’m supposed to be writing something witty about the progress of my writing career. Not happening. I won’t even touch on the whole trying to write anything on a Friday afternoon in Key West, but then my friend Jesse showed up, time was spent at the Chart Room, a few at the Sunset Pier with Zach and Andy, and now home to do laundry, cook rice and beans, shower and nap, and then back to Schooner Wharf for Homemade Wine.
I will say this:Things are way more productive than they have been. Still having a hard time with the whole trees and forest thing, but I’m taking the time every day to remind myself of what I am accomplishing versus dwelling on all the things i haven’t done/think I should. But some days thing just work out in ways that help you remember what life is really made of.
Neither package was unexpected. The clothes from Tommy Bahama are part of what they owe me (YAY new clothes!!!) and I bought the new camera so I could better document my travels. And if you want to have fun, come to Key West and watch me try to figure out how it works. A shaved ape is more technologically advanced than I am. But the excitement of them arriving reminded me of the other simple gifts I have gotten recently.
I’ve spent time with friends I haven’t had the time for lately. I have a job where I am respected and I enjoy going to. I have musical friends in town who are happy to see me. I live in a beautiful place. And I have friends who still deal with me even when I let my neurosis get the best of me.
It is so easy to lose track of what makes our lives great and instead stare at the little things that bother us. It’s easy to wait for the “big” things that “mean so much” while overlooking all the little things that are part of our day to day lives. It’s easy to “see” how bad our days are because of one thing that goes wrong, and make us forget everything that actually went well. And that’s it; we expect things to go well, so when they do, we don’t think about them. We accept them with a shrug and say “Yeah, but what about that?” and focus on the one thing that went wrong.
And the thing that went wrong might be as simple as a traffic jam that was unexpected, or a meeting that went longer than we thought it would. Yeah, some days things happen that are huge and traumatic, but most days they’re aren’t, and yet we find it easier to focus on them and not the positive uplifting things that happen.
Take ten minutes and think, really think, about your day. First thoughts will probably be of the crap, but I know that if you just relax and take the time, you’ll be reminded of all the things that are good. Do this everyday and you’ll see that your life is already better than you might think.
PopcornJackTerry 