Time to reflect
I had a great talk with my almost 10 year old son this weekend. We talked about memories, and he said he could almost see his life in small moments, small memories, that are not really special memories, like Holidays or vacations, but just normal everyday moments in life that he remembers. It’s not that we haven’t made special memories, just this year we have been in 9 different countries and my kids have most likely traveled more than any average adult in any culture. They’ve met celebrities (Jonas brothers, Disney-channel stars and Olympic athletes to mention a few), cruised the seas from Baltic to Atlantic and their first work experience was modeling with Mickey Mouse for the Hanes catalog. From seeing whales in Cape Cod to fishing in Scandinavia, from eating sushi in New York City to pizza in Italy, my kids have snapshots of some extraordinary memories. Yet even they understand that life doesn’t just consist of the vacation shots or special events. The real happiness is all about finding happiness in the rainy gloomy days, and the small things in life that have absolutely nothing to do with money, traveling, or meeting celebrities.
Today I am encouraging you to reflect on your life and finding happiness in the daily grind. Record this moment, this day in your memory. What makes you happy, what you appreciate the most today.
Mine is: sink has dirty dishes, rainy and gloomy outside, I’m home alone and kind of lonely, just with my computer and working. Yet this is happiness.
I love the fact I feel lonely – it means I miss my husband who left to work two hours ago and that I miss the sounds of my kids in the house and being close to them.
The rain and darkness outside makes the warm indoors feel even warmer, gives me an excuse to make another latte and wear my favorite scarf even inside.
The few unwashed pots in the sink remind me I am in charge – if I don’t want to wash them now, I don’t have to.
The computer in the front of me and writing these words to you is my work – but it’s more than work. It’s labor of love, and it’s what I have chosen to do during my days. It makes me happy.
There is no glass half full
I have never really gotten the saying about seeing the glass half full or half empty. I mean, I get it. You either see things positively or negatively, but I think neither way sort of is for me. I ALWAYS see the glass half empty, because I always want more and I want to experience more, and want to push myself more and grow as a person. Maybe one day when I am old I feel “ok, fine, I’m done exploring, I’m happy right now and here”, but until that day I WANT my glass to be half empty so I can keep exploring and pushing myself to new things in life. It doesn’t mean that I am not happy with what I have. The “half full” glass is typically “full” for me – I try to see the best of each moment, and I am typically happy and content in each day. This to me is living Skimbaco lifestyle – being happy right now, but moving forward to experience more.
I have learned that living with the mentality of having your glass full has it’s downside. Being content and happy for what you have can sometimes mean that you stop moving forward and you stop trying to find something “better” since you already see things in a positive way. It has happened to me too. I was unhappy in my previous job, but yet I self-motivated myself to work, and wanted to see things “hall full,” and my life was far from miserable, it was in fact quite enjoyable. I didn’t realize until I quit my job how much the work environment took me down mentally and I had not been behaving or feeling myself at all. The difference in my happiness level was so huge after quitting my job that I did blame myself for not doing it sooner. I just had to literally close down that door before I could even know what was ahead for me after that. And that’s what makes life difficult; being afraid to move forward because the “glass half full” is still “half full,” and you can be content for the “half full.” We are afraid that the glass will go empty if we try to make changes. The biggest lesson I have learned in life: it’s OK if your glass goes empty every now and then. After that you have a fresh glass to fill up.
Think of it this way: you want to taste different drinks in your life and you don’t want to mix them. Drink up the milk entire first so you can fill up your glass with champagne. It takes guts to drink it up, but I guarantee the champagne tastes better after that.
Your turn
Today…. reflect on your life. Is your cup half full or half empty? What are the things you can be thankful for? What are the things make you happy/unhappy? Is there a door that needs to be closed? A door that needs to be opened? Are you on the road of your happiness or do you need a detour?
Join us! Join the Skimbaco community and share how you enjoy life. Tag your photo #skimbaco on Instagram and share how you live a little – or live a lot.
All of the photos can be seen here.
