I end the year with gratitude — gratitude for all that I have been given not only this year but throughout my life.
No life is perfect. Oh yes — including mine. News, perhaps, to you. But if only you knew. The grass always seems greener on some other side but we choose to see only what we want to see.
We can’t have all that we want but if we can find the wisdom to want all that we have, the grass will always be green wherever our eyes land.
I’m an overthinker constantly wading through a bottomless pit of anxiety and angst. Life is hard for me because I choose to carry all my emotional and mental baggage 24/7.
But I’ve finally learned the lesson. I don’t have to carry them alone. And I don’t have to carry them all the time.
I can seek God’s help and He will give it to me. I can take that cape off and accept that I am human, mortal, vulnerable. I can then celebrate my wins and let go of my losses. I can forgive myself for my failures. I can’t undo life. But from today on, I can do better.
Whatever pain, worry or burden that you carry right now — put it down. You don’t have to carry it all the time. And you don’t have to carry it alone.
You are loved far more than you will ever know. One day, you will look back to this day with better comprehension and clarity. Make that your goal — to get to that day.
But till then, stay strong, take a deep breath, count your blessings. Take a walk on the beach. Celebrate life. Get on a plane. Go on an adventure.
When you get home, everything you left behind will still be there. Nothing will have changed. Except you. And your perspective. And that will make all the difference.
It’s okay to take a rest from your responsibilities. It’s okay to take a break from work. It’s okay to put aside your worries. You do not love others less when you take the time to love yourself more.
We shortchange the ones we love when we give them the drained, despondent and defeated versions of ourselves. We love better when we love ourselves.
As I write my last column for the year, I want to thank all who have shared this journey with me in the last 23 years. Writing this column has saved my life many times over. I hope it’s been therapeutic for you as it has been for me.
There’s been hate. But there’s been love, too. Just like life.
I end the year with gratitude — gratitude for having arrived at this point in my life. Content with who I am but hopeful for who I can still become. Happy with where I am but excited for where I can still go.
Life is amazing not when it’s free of worry. Life is amazing when you realize only those who lie six feet below the ground have no worries.
The grass is not greener on some other side. It’s the same green everywhere. It’s not what you see. It’s how you see. Seek and you will find.