There's not enough money or time. There's too much work and toil. Not enough love and cheer. Too much sorrow and pain. Too much, too little, and that will never, ever change.
What to do?
Accept it. Love it. Celebrate it. Then get on with it.
I'm not giving this splendid advice because I discovered it or even know how to follow it well. But sometimes I succeed, and I'm telling you - it works!
Story problem time:
A. Billy's hot dog slides out of the bun on his first day of school. Now his favorite shirt is smeared with yellow and red mustard and ketchup stains. He scrunches up his face and begins to wail.
RESULTS: Billy becomes known as the sloppy crybaby. The name sticks until, near the end of his senior year of high school, the angst finally explodes and he goes on a one-man (initially) food fight riot in the cafeteria, throwing not only his own food but anyone's he can get his hands on impartially throughout the room. If that was the end of it, he would only have faced suspension for a few days, but having stolen an extra milk from the lunch line, he gets booked and the event goes on his permanent record.OPTIONS: Billy could have chosen any number of other actions with varying results. He could have slipped into the bathroom and washed his shirt, more or less. He could have gone around hugging everyone and not been the only messy one in class. He could have turned in his shirt as the day's art project. He could have remained totally oblivious to the stain, replaced his hot dog, and continued on with his day.
B. April's job is killing her. She really wanted to be a neural surgeon, but her mother was a teacher, her grandmother was a teacher, and so on back for generations. The pressure of expectations was just too great. Now being surrounded by all these MINDLESS first graders is driving her bonkers!!!
RESULTS: April feels unhappy and unfulfilled.
OPTIONS: April could scream at the top of her lungs whenever it gets too bad. She could inform the kids that it's screaming time so no one hears her in the hallway. She could insult the children with 7th grade level words, and as long as she does it in a sweet voice, the kids may never know the difference. She could devise profound psychology experiments using the little rats...er, children as her subjects. Or she could just quit and pursue the career she wanted in the first place.
The point is that whatever is...is. There's NOTHING you can do about it but laugh! You CAN, however, do something about what WILL BE, and perhaps the best place to start is, once again, to laugh. If you're not going to make any changes to your unsatisfactory circumstances, then you'd really better laugh and make the most of it.
Leaving a party late one winter night in Logan, Utah (read "cooooold"), my car wouldn't start. The battery was dead. My friend Dallin and I pushed it for three blocks over a slippery, snowy road, unable to get enough traction to start the car, until we discovered a dry spot where the snowplows and salt trucks had passed. Before successfully jump starting the engine, with the below-zero air burning my lungs, I said "This sucks."
"No way!" Dallin immediately responded. "This is fun!" I felt ashamed for not having seen it that way in the first place.
Perspective. Acceptance. Celebration.
What is is. Might as well make the most of it.
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