Monday Motivation: The Forest & The Tree
October 22, 2012 by | 2 Comments
Happy Monday everyone!
It’s so nice to be back! I missed you guys! 
So how was your week? I got a lot of stuff done (Yay!). I also had a chance to think about my blog and some new things I’d like to try going forward (I hope you like them), but those will come later after I have a chance to brainstorm a bit more.
I spent a good bit of my away time thinking about challenges and opposition. Ha! Ha! I know. What a way to spend a week, right? I’m really glad I did though. This has been a strange year for me and my family (lots of challenges). A week of introspection gave me a chance to step back and look at everything from a fresh perspective. Lately, I’ve found myself in the “can’t 
see the forest for the trees” kind of place which is never fun, but taking time to search for the big picture when things get a little “crazy” always seems to help me get my equilibrium back so I can put one foot in front of the other and keep marching forward. I’ve talked about perspective on my blog here and here. I truly believe that the way we look at things in life makes the biggest impact on how we live it.
How do you handle challenges? Do you embrace them, or do you run for cover, lying low until the storm passes over? I’ve learned over the years that the best way to handle opposition is to just face it, head on. How we handle obstacles in our lives at any given moment affects our posture in our future. Our backbones are only strengthened when we press against those things determined to make us fall.
I know that this is pretty serious talk for a Monday, but you should know by now that I’m not big on sugar coating the realities of life. They are what they are, but just as one day can carry the stench of failures, hard knocks, and broken dreams (how’s that for a visual?), the very next day can waft in the aroma of fresh starts and new beginnings.
Yesterday evening, I met an elderly gentleman in the grocery store named Mr. Dudley. He was the nicest, kindest and most intelligent man you’d ever want to meet. He asked me to read a price on a pack of strawberries for him to which I obliged. One thing led to another and before I knew it, we’d spent 45 minutes in the produce section talking about everything from his vegetable garden to Bible history. If I didn’t have to get home to cook dinner, he and I would have probably pulled up some of those grocery store lawn chairs, kicked our feet up next to the rutabegas, and chatted some more about his time in Egypt, the Hebrew alphabet, or the importance of education and our children. Before our conversation concluded, he quizzed me about all we’d discussed, made me promise to take it back home to teach my kids and then joked about giving me a college course in the produce section. Mr. Dudley is 90. Talk about perspective! He made me smile.
Conversations like this one remind me that life is truly what we make of it. My new grocery store pal has fought in wars, seen death first hand including that of his friends. He has experienced more “craziness” in just a decade of his life than I have in all of my 42 years, yet, he had the biggest grin on his face, laughed as easily as he took a breath and treated me like he’d known me all his life. Who knew that a quick milk run could have such a lasting impact.
Our life is more than just this week’s challenges or triumphs. It’s about seeing the forest before the trees get in the way or taking in the big picture before the little stuff has a chance to throw us off track.
Count your blessings, my friends, for there are many!
Happy Day.
Keep doin’ what you love!
Shannon
