Grateful in Any Circumstance

Yesterday at church there was a great lesson about gratitude.

I like talking about gratitude because I have a lot of things to be thankful for. This makes it easy to be grateful.

For example, air conditioning is awesome. I also like cars. And planes. And having a job. I've got an amazing family. My bed is very comfortable. I haven't seen a scorpion in a day.

See? Lots of things to be thankful for.

Anyway, on Sunday the lesson came from this talk by Dieter F. Uchtdorf. He said,

"Perhaps focusing on what we are grateful for is the wrong approach. It is difficult to develop a spirit of gratitude if our thankfulness is only proportional to the number of blessings we can count. ... It is easy to be grateful for things when life seems to be going our way. But what then of those times when what we wish for seems to be far out of reach?

Could I suggest that we see gratitude as a disposition, a way of life that stands independent of our current situation? In other words, I'm suggesting that instead of being thankful for things, we focus on being thankful in our circumstances - whatever they may be."

Later he goes on to say that being grateful doesn't mean we are pleased with our circumstances. Instead, it allows us to look past our current challenges.

I loved this lesson. Yes! Let's all go be grateful in our circumstances because they are awesome right now! That's what I was thinking.

Then I woke up this morning.

Recently (and by recently, I mean today) I decided to start going back to the gym. I've also decided to start drinking smoothies for breakfast (as of today). On my way to the gym, my smoothie managed to spill itself all over my passenger seat floor (no, it wasn't my fault). 

I also broke my new goggles at the gym this morning.

Then, the drain in the shower decided it no longer wanted to be a drain.

By the time I got back to my car, the smoothie situation had not gotten any better (and by that I mean the smoothie had not magically cleaned itself up.)

It was a rough morning.

Well, it should have been a rough morning. Instead, I found the entire thing very entertaining. It seemed silly to get mad at such little things. Crying also seemed like an inappropriate response, which is why I laughed. Besides, nothing I had to deal with today is going to have a lasting, negative impact on my life. (Well, probably. I guess it depends on how long it takes me to get my car washed.)

In fact, no matter what our circumstances are, we can always have a spirit of gratitude. I realize that other people have to deal with things much more complicated than a smoothie-infused mat. Laughing about it may not always be the right answer, but getting angry usually doesn't fix problems either.

If you can't do what you want, do what you can.

That's the quote that's on the school for problem children down the road from me. I love it. It's my new life motto.

There you go. A lesson on gratitude and it's not even November.

Oh, and by the way, I had an excellent rest of the day. Thank you for asking!

The Dangers of Keeping a Journal

When I was five years old I got a journal. I know that I was five when I got the journal because my journal says:

"We went to target and mom bought me a really cool journal. I am five years old." (spelling corrected).

At the bottom of the page was a note: "Written by Alec (older sis)" I always get disappointed when I read that because it kills the illusion that I was a five-year-old genius.

When I read this I sometimes wonder what my mom was thinking when she bought me a journal. I was five years old. Even though I could count really high, my writing skills were still lacking. Also, it's comforting to know that my love for office supplies has been with me since birth. What other five-year-old asks their mom for a journal from Target?

It's things like this -- having record from being five years old and knowing "I have a great mom and dad. They are very nice." -- that make people think keeping a journal is a good idea. It is also the reason that I have 12 journals from the past 17 years of my life. Well, that and my love of office supplies.

However, I want to warn people about the dangers of keeping a journal. First of all, I have 12 journals just sitting around my room. Those things start to get heavy. Plus, at least two journals are from before middle school. No one needs a daily record of what happened in elementary school.

[February 18, 2000 - I changed my report to a rat.]

But the real problem with keeping a journal is that some things are not meant to be written down. And if they are written down, they should be burned. Which is what I realized when I started looking back at some of my journals.

Unfortunately, the state of Arizona is in the middle of fire season and lighting things on fire is discouraged.

If You Thought I Was Awkward Before, You Should See Me Now

This weekend I had to go dress shopping for my graduation dress.

That's right, I'm graduating! Well, probably. I have to finish my thesis first. It's not going well...

Anyway, I'm a bit in denial that graduation is actually happening. What I mean to say is, I know that graduation is happening for SOME people, I just don't know that it's happening for me. On account of the thesis.

On the off chance that the paper decides to write itself, though, I feel I should be prepared, which is why I went shopping this weekend.

I don't know when I first knew that Banana Republic was the greatest clothing store ever. It may have been when I was nine and found out it was very expensive. Or when I was 15 and read All American Girl where the heroine gets three suits from BR. It might have been two years ago when I got my first BR dress. Or a year and a half later when I got my first suit. Or a month ago when I got my first LBD. What I'm trying to say is, Banana Republic has been there for all of my major life moments.

It only seemed fitting that I buy my college graduation dress there as well.

I walked into the store on Saturday and tried on many dresses, but couldn't find any I loved. I figured the best way to deal with the disappointed would be to head to the Barnes and Noble across the street. When that didn't work, I went to the library.
 

This is a true statement. There is a book out there to combat any type of evil you could ever imagine.

I walked out with four books that I'm calling my road map to success.

1. The Southwest Airlines Way by Jody Hoffer Gittell. My thesis is about planes and Southwest Airlines. This book is about planes and Southwest Airlines. It's just basic math.

2. What They Don't Teach You in College: A Graduate's Guide to Life On Your Own by James M. Kramon. When I picked this book up, I read: How Not to Freak Out About Graduation. Then I read the first page and found out it's actually about contracts and insurance and taxes. I'm not sure I'll actually get around to reading this one, but seeing it on my shelf makes me feel better about life.

3. Miss Manners' Guide for the Turn-Of-The-Millennium by Judith Martin. You can't imagine my excitement to discover yet another Miss Manners book. Where else can you find gems such as, "'Isn't etiquette always a matter of making other people feel comfortable?' This would make politeness an activity exclusively for suckers and wimps. And, of course, sluts." Nowhere, that's where.

4. Jane Austen's Guide to Dating by Lauren Henderson. This one would take too long to explain, and even then I'm not sure it would make sense. But while I'm reading this, my sister is reading What Southern Women Know About Flirting: The Fine Art of Social, Courtship, and Seductive Flirting to Get the Best Things in Life. Be prepared for updates on what we are learning. So far, she has learned that a nose job is a good investment. I've learned that straight men only give compliments when they want to sleep with you. These are important life lessons.

Zombies, Run!

 I love running.

#truestory

Sometimes it's hard to be motivated to go running, though. That's when I discovered Zombies, Run! It's probably the greatest app since Shazam.

This app tells a story about zombies attacking you while you run. Zombies start breathing in your ear, and if you don't run fast enough you get ambushed.

It is so great.

You could go running during the daytime, but I recommend going at night. Preferably through dimly-lit areas. It really adds to the excitement.

Now, I'm not one of those crazy people who actually believe in zombies. If/when the zombies attack, though, I want to be prepared.