Better Days Ahead

Our week has been riddled with challenges. Nothing huge and devastating. But things that need navigation for sure. To start, Wade dropped his truck at our friendly dealership to have a part replaced. He had “Googled” and “YouTubed” the “symptoms” and figured he had found what was wrong. It’s amazing what you can find on the internet. He has fixed a ton of things on his truck before by looking up what is wrong on YouTube and then purchasing the part and getting after it. He fixed his air conditioner last year. His brakes and some other stuff another time. Well, this time, he was right once again with the “diagnosis” after looking up the symptoms. However, the dealership called to let him know that it was a little more extensive than that. His transmission is done. So we are in the middle of getting a new transmission put in his 16 year old truck. We were supposed to go and watch Ben play ball on Wednesday, but the weather in Hastings caused cancellations and we ended up staying home. Ben called us this last week and said that his car had fallen victim to a fly ball during a softball game when he was practicing on the baseball field that neighbors the softball complex. His windshield shattered on the passenger side and will need to be replaced. We also received news about a family friend who will be dealing with some serious health challenges and that is absolutely weighing on us. Oh, and I ripped a hole in my jeans. That doesn’t sound as serious as the other things, but it was ONE MORE THING! It’s not like any of these are so completely overwhelming individually, but when you combine them, they seem to loom large. And I found myself this week looking forward to “better days ahead” and the promise of life continuing on. 

I am certain of one thing. Things will always change. And sometimes they change for the better and sometimes they change for the worse. But in any circumstance, just wait. Things will change. There are certain things in life you can’t plan for. We weren’t expecting any of the things that happened this week. But we have choices when it comes to dealing with them. I had reminded Wade when we got the news about the transmission that crap happens in life and we have the choice to respond or react. We have the choice to let it absolutely affect us and steal our joy, or we can realize that things REALLY could always be worse. Much worse. We tend to focus so much on what is going wrong at the moment that we forget about what’s going right. This week held plenty of joy for us also. Wade’s twin nephews celebrated a birthday this week. His niece went to Winter Park with the high school band and they took first place in their competition there. I got to be with my mom as she took a little test drive in a Ford Bronco Sport. That was a fun time. And I am excited about spring and the coming summer and warmer weather and FLOWERS!!! And my scale was really nice to me as I recorded a LOSS for the first time in a while. It’s encouraging to see when I have been so stalled out and flat for a LONG time. 

Today, Wade and I both woke up not feeling good. So I am keeping this rather short today, but I still wanted to share a few thoughts with you to encourage you to keep going. Even when things seem to be coming at you in waves. Remember that we aren’t in this alone. Friends, family and faith are always here to keep you from going under. We have to seek out the positive things in life sometimes. But if you search for it you will find it. It is better than focusing on the negative and letting that ruin your day, week, month or year. This past year has been super challenging for all of us. And I pray that we are coming to the end of a lot of that. Even still, we have a choice on how we are going to deal with it and let it all affect us. Choose love and kindness. Choose positivity and hope. Choose to take care of yourself in a way that allows you to take on the challenging things head on and not be completely derailed by them. I have reminded myself this week that if we are feeling overwhelmed in any area for any reason, we simply need to reach out and talk to those who love us. There are people in our lives who truly believe that we make a difference in theirs and want to help us shoulder whatever loads we have. I have felt like I could use some shouldering this week. But, again, I am reminded of the positive things and that, as frustrating as the things we dealt with this week are, they are all temporary. Every one of them has a solution. It may not be what we want to have to take care of and we definitely could think of other ways to spend our money. But again, it’s temporary. Look for the good. Concentrate on the good. We are worth that much!

#loveyourjourney #youreworthit #bettermewithNewYouCBD #Endo30 #itsuptoyou