If your attitude is Positive,
then …
Any Sound becomes Music
Any Move becomes Dance
Any Smile becomes Laughter
And Life becomes an Incredible Celebration.
It is so easy to think negatively! I am generally a very positive person – probably because I am mostly living in the clouds – but when reality hits …it really hits! For me, this comes in the form of pressure. And pressure is always intensified when there are time constraints. I am my own worst enemy here. I don’t like to be early – I see it as a waste of time because then you have to hang around waiting. In my perfect world, I would like to be either just on time or 5 minutes late. I know that’s not great – but it’s just my thing. But when it comes to time management, I fail hopelessly which means that being on time is ‘ridiculously difficult’ to put it mildly. For example, getting our girls to school every morning on time, is my biggest stress every day. Most days, I think that I am doing perfectly well. BUT without exception, I end up flying out of the garage at 10 minutes to 9 (which by the way will get us there at 5 past nine, which by my standard is fine). But I am stressed. And when I am stressed, I am ratty and I shout at the girls. And then I feel bad. And then I feel more stressed. Where is that calm, relaxed, happy person? The next big challenge is that constant juggle a mom has, between ‘mommy’ and self. We feel so guilty when we are doing something for ourselves that we so seldom do it. But that leaves us ugly and stressed. So we need to be kind to ourselves so that we can be kind to others. We also need to be pro-active in doing the things that are good for us. Like going for a run. Running is my one escape. A great time to get out … to think, pray, unwind and sweat – all at once. Yet, a typical scenario will be that I have an afternoon that is wide open for me to grab some ‘me’ time and instead, I allow the girls petty demands to keep me distracted to the point that time has run out! And I have again managed to unintentionally avoid my run. (the cold, wintry weather does not help my cause).
Well, on this particular day, I just did it! I went upstairs and put on my running clothes, I held my ground as I said goodbye to girls, and disappeared out the door for an hour of ‘recharge’. It is almost like plugging the phone into the wall. All the power will come back and I will function as normal. The run was beyond awesome. The Constantia Greenbelt was almost windless and the rain stayed away so the forest was crisp and fresh. During that time, my soul felt restored and I felt positive. I thought … ‘If we could just grab these moments to take pleasure in the simplicities of life, if we could make positive choices and smile at life … then life would smile back at us’