Anyway, today I found this blog http://krisgal.blogspot.com. Cute girl from Utah moves with hubby to England for his job, lives in cottage, explores Jane Austen sites, etc ... basically my secret dream in life. Found myself jealous for a minute and once again wishing for something else. I have discovered that I do this all the time.... for years I have done this. Wish for something I don't have. "I'll be happy when I have this, move here, look this way, get done with this, yadi yadi." I'm sick of the dissatisfaction! Time to "Count Your Many Blessings" as the song we sang today in Sacrament meeting says (yeah, you think Heavenly Father is trying to send me a message today?)
So after my twinge of jealousy reading that blog and wishing that that was my life, I decided to be inspired by it instead of coveting/covetess (what's the right word I'm looking for here?) The girl was posting 365 days of "a quick succession of busy nothings" (pretty sure that's from a Jane Austen novel). I love that. My life is FULL of busy nothings... except I don't really like the word "nothings" for my life. Doesn't Alma 37:6-7 state that "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass"? I am BUSY all day doing something though I often look at what I've accomplished at the end of the day and feel like it's nothing. But I am glad to be reminded that my "nothings" are just small and simple things that I am hoping and praying will bring to pass something great! (Hopefully great kids who will turn into great adults and lots of happiness for all of us through it all :) Reminds me of a great talk by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf "We Are Doing a Great Work and Cannot Come Down" found here.
So that's what I'm going to try to do with my blog for a while. Every day for a year I want to recognize the good things in my life... things that make me smile, make me happy, maybe help me see the hand of God in my life, things that I may count as blessings. I don't need to live in England... there are wonderful and beautiful things that I LOVE all around me. (I'll settle for a nice vacation there someday though-- I don't need to stop dreaming; just make sure I'm happy with my life now :) When I really sit back and look at it, I realize that I have pretty much the life I always dreamed of:
Great Husband-temple marriage.
Beautiful Healthy Kids
My own home
Healthy body and mind (though the latter is debatable at times :)
Gospel of Jesus Christ
Loving family
Endless Opportunities to do and be whatever I want!
I won't set myself up for failure by saying that I'll post on my blog everyday. I'll try for every week but I don't want this to turn into another thing on my to do list that frustrates me when it doesn't get done. And I'm sure this will become extremely tedious and tiresome for anyone else to read... this is purely self-therapy and I'm doing it for selfish reasons! Not for the enjoyment of others... in fact, if anyone is still reading this, (my longest post ever!) I would be surprised!
I'm ready to turn my frown upside down! Here goes my little experiment... I feel better already!
4 comments:
Natbat, I could so easily copy and paste this post and claim it as my own. I have a deeply imbedded habit of always wanting something more/different. It's such a hard one to break, but I want to be able to enjoy the wonderful life I do have, instead of being jealous that it isn't what so& so has/is/looks like. Thanks for this post. You are still an example to me even all these years later! love you Natalie.
Well you are definitely not alone in the grass is always greener attitude. I am right there with you. I have had such a hard time living away from Utah that I have made myself depressed. So I look forward to your 365 posts of what makes you happy and I am sure that will rub off on me. Good luck and hopefully we will get together this summer. We will be in town around the 4th of July!
What a great idea! I hope you enjoy doing it. We'll definitely enjoy reading it! And I totally love the giant markerboard for your girls. :-)
Such a great, inspiring idea!! There really is so much good + happiness out there. You just gotta have the right attitude. Can't wait to read more :)
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