Sighs and Hallelujahs Stories and thoughts about the adventures of life without arms

This Life is Really Something!

You know those people. When you call them, you hear how much their day sucked. Nearly every Facebook post is about how something went wrong or how their kids are sick again. You pass them on the sidewalk and they avoid eye contact and sneer. Life seems like such a drag!

We all know them. I guarantee you that you've got at least one person in mind. A relative, a co-worker or that grumpy employee at the store down the street.

Admittedly, I can get that way sometimes too. I get tired, life gets crazy and things rush by too quickly. When it happens, I get grumpy. Day to day life gets to be so trying and wearing. Really, who wants to do laundry, clean the litter box or take out the garbage after a long day at the office?

You been there before? You bark instructions to employees. Make that unnecessary snarky remark. Don't take time to care for yourself. You do whatever necessary to just make it through the week.

So, it was nice to get a reminder through the lyrics of a song from a concert I attended last night --

Choke down a bus ride to the city
Chase it with a trip to the East Side
It seems like overtime
I'll get so numb that I won't mind

Go change the oil, go get the tail light fixed
Go buy some groceries in the dark
Earth shakes, gets re-arranged
And I realize I missed the mark

Some days I actually forget
That this is really something
One look from you and that is it
And this is really something
Being hard is hard, so sick of it
And this is really something good
This is really something good now

(Excerpted from Really Something, by Aaron Sprinkle)

Life is really something good! It really is, isn't it? No matter how often we forget that, this life we've been given is grand. I literally started to smile as I heard these lyrics last night.

Granted, I just got back from a life-changing trip to Italy. Plus, I avoided studying and I spent the week hanging out with some of my favorite people. And, I'll soon be embarking on a new adventure in life (more on that next week). Some days and weeks are better than others. I get that.

Other weeks are marred by the death of a loved one. By lack of sleep and too much to do. Job cuts are made and you suddenly find yourself unemployed. Bills stack up and bank accounts dry out. Distractions seem to pop up around every corner. It's as if the beauty has been drained from life. I've been there, too.

But, I'm realizing that my circumstances shouldn't control my outlook on life.

So what? My shower flooded the two condos below me and I've got to schedule a plumber to come fix it. (This really happened to me today!) A frustrating piece of life? Yes. But, the sun glistened on the tree outside my window, I got to talk to my brother on the phone, the flowers on my table smell great and I listened to wonderful music throughout the day.

My new goal is to find those moments of goodness and connection in life, even when things are frustrating or too busy. Because, this life is really something!