Well, after avoiding getting sick from Hubbie for the past two weeks, overnight it happened.
It got sick. I am sick.
But this is not where this story begins. The story begins almost 20 years ago, when I was reading the well-known book Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff.
Written by Richard Carlson, his series of books designed to help you stress less about everyday stuff, I consider one of the first self-help books in that genre. It started to help me see things in a different light, ever so slowly, and I was extremely saddened when many years later, I found out he had actually died suddenly on a plane flight due to a pulmonary embolism while travelling to promote his latest book. His work has been survived by his wife Kristine who continues to share and spread his messages of wisdom.
Inspired yet very heavy stuff. Over the years I annually purchased one of those daily page-a-day calendars, and a few times they were the Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff ones – themed to a different point of wisdom every day, from his life-changing books. I continued to buy different quote related ones, but it had actually been years and years and years since I had bought one of his series ones.
When I went to buy the latest daily calendar for this year – no I didn’t pick Don’t Sweat. I went in an entirely different direction, choosing to steer away from the quote calendars to something more visual. The choice was a bucket-list style holiday one, where a different part of the world (or a different activity) was shown per page, almost like a ‘save for later’ type thing, where you could save up the pics as a kind of bucket list for places you would actually like to go to one day.
What I didn’t realise as January began, was that the calendar was northern hemisphere geared… that is, its January is filled with Winter activities, kind of mute to me here in the southern hemisphere, on a 19 degree Summer’s night. 🙄
A week or so ago I was in Officeworks with baby girl, and near the registers were a bunch of discount items – including some daily calendars! They were reduced to $5 because well, January was well and truly half-gone, and nestled in between all the bargains was Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff.
I immediately grabbed it.
That visual bucket-list daily calendar is now designated to my work desk (a lower traffic area) as opposed to Don’t Sweat’s position near the kitchen.
And well, it’s working all over again.
Just today, I was thinking oh f*&king woe is me.
Look at the past year I’ve had. Sleeplessness, regressions, breast pain and continued bodily aches and pains have been part of my life since.
Every time one thing ends… another new problem presents.
Even now with my breast issues, they have seemingly resolved… and then the lower abdomen pain (from holding baby boy) started.
Then the lower back aches.
Hubbie got sick… fine, that was him.
Until I got sick.
Grrrr.
But then, the quote I read today on Carlson’s daily calendar was so appropriate it was almost scary.
It read:
Surrender to the Fact That Life Isn’t Fair
One of the mistakes many of us make is that we feel sorry for ourselves… thinking that life should be fair, or that someday it will be. It’s not and it won’t. When we make this mistake, we tend to spend a lot of time wallowing or complaining about what’s wrong with life.
SPOT ON.
This has been me to a T this past year. I’ve fallen off the gratitude bandwagon a bit, and I guess, well, I can’t be overly hard on myself either, I have had some truly challenging stuff thrown my way.
But I’ve forgotten my values and where I’m from, and in doing so become a little entitled in my way of thinking, believing I’m owed something from the Universe because of all of this hardship that’s come my way.
But the Universe don’t owe me anything.
Shit happens. Bad things happen. People get sick. This is life.
There is no fairness in life. We need to make our life for ourselves, only we attach meaning to the events and circumstances that befall us, and either I can wallow and be
“OH, NO, I AM SOOO SICK! POOR ME!”
Or I can grab a couple of tissues (or the box) blow my nose all day and get on with it.
Every time I’m brought back to who I am, I become a little more modest, a little more humble, a little more appreciative.
Thank you Richard. Your teachings still continue to motivate and inspire me. 🙏
(I’ve been trying to do the latter all day 🤧)
carcrashgratitude 