Life Lesson #77 ~ Being in Love with Life

I have a question for you. How’s life going right now? Is it working out for you? Are you happy with it? Better yet are you in love with your life?  Or are you possibly stumbling down the yellow brick road or maybe chasing the rainbows end? Most of life’s circumstances we don’t see coming that’s for sure. Those sweet and sour moments just kinda show up. We tend to forget our attitude changes everything. If we keep looking at life through a second rate, inadequate or deficient set of spectacles that’s exactly what we get, shabby and inept. But by choosing a different set of glasses (not the rose colored kind either) our perspective changes. See “Life is like a camera. Just focus on what’s important. Capture the good times. Develop from the negatives and if things don’t work out just take another shot.”

Now I can’t say I have been in love with every moment of my life. Sadness, pain and difficulties have certainly had their two cents and then some. I have absolutely hit rock bottom more times than I’d like to count. Still, I have never surrendered my love or my will to live a life I call my own. I’m not a jolly holiday everyday kind of girl. I don’t always feel like smiling. Many times I simply have no idea if I should laugh or cry. I’ve lived through category 5 hurricane kind of days on multiple occasions. Still I’m the sort of girl who knows life can be marvelous if not spectacular following the aftermath. Rebuilding can be painful but it can also make stronger foundations. In my own life I’ve found there’s always going to be another drama, another mountain to climb or even another storm to ride out. But that’s life. I guess you could say despite the ups and downs I am a girl in love with her life; every moment if you want the complete truth.  Sure I’ve had my share of tragedy, felt the unfair balance of the scales and lost arguments completely unjust. But that’s never a reason to give up on myself or those I love. Personally I choose to hold my head up and smile on a bad day. You know why? Because I’m fully aware the sun is definitely showing up tomorrow morning.

Think of life as an adventure, grabbing hold of a clump of balloons and letting them carry you away. Scary, you bet. But think of yourself as a child. In spite of feeling scared did you still get on that swing and say, “Higher?” You bet you did.  Sure being swept away by a gigantic bundle of balloons is scary but being stuck in the same place forever is just as terrifying.  Truthfully I am petrified of heights but why allow that fear to keep me off the steep roller coasters, from the cliffs or even the mountains of life? Imagine what I’d be missing? We get one life, one opportunity to live the life we imagine so yes you and I have to fight for it.  Reality is life isn’t meant to be lived in the shadows now is it? Personally I’m a happy, mostly carefree, content and lighthearted soul. However I have lived through hell, been bitten by deceit, betrayal and hit over the head by misfortune. But you know what? I’ve kept going. Life is such a beautiful mess, weaving brilliant and dark colors into our very fabric isn’t it? So then if that’s the truth how can our lives be anything but a piece de resistance, a masterpiece in the making?

I guess this is the part where we ask ourselves how do we live in spite of hardships while anchoring ourselves to hope? Romans 5:3-5 puts it in simple words, “… we triumph even in our troubles, knowing that trouble produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope—a hope which never disappoints us. ”  So to answer that question, I simply choose happiness. I absolutely choose to be in love with my crazy life. That’s the bottom line. People may come and go, status and money diminish and even looks fade but goodness and hope stay with us. And looking back, I see exactly how my life has developed out of the negatives. I see a beautiful, flawed but wonderful life all the same. I see happiness, sprinkled with sadness, celebrated by hope. I see a woman in love with her own life, excited with each breath she takes.  Atticus has said, “There is nothing prettier in the whole wide world as a girl in love with every breath she takes.” And I have to agree.  It’s not about being prettier or accomplishing the most. in life. I’ll tell you what it’s really all about and it's this very thing: love your own life, each moment of it, sweet and sour. The thing is I haven’t set out to be beautiful, to be prettier, to have the most friends or to rise above anyone else for that matter. I have simply been me, rising only above my own challenges. See being happy and in love with your own life is not about trying, it’s simply about doing.

Life Lesson #77 ~ being in love with your life means accepting all your shortcomings and glitches. Accepting your own insecurities, not blaming others for your missteps and loving your own story for all it is or isn’t is the key. Telling your unique tale, capturing the good times and yes even developing from the negative ones brings real peace into your life. So again why am I so in love with life? Well it’s not because it has been easy that’s for sure. No I am in love with my life because it is has and continues to be genuinely my own. No one else can be me nor can they live this life I have been given. And the same goes for you. Good, bad, difficult, spectacular or surprising life is a tale of imperfect, beautiful chaos. Just simply be you. Be authentic, genuine and true to who you are. Don’t allow yourself to become a copy or an altered version of someone else for any reason. Coco Chanel said it best, “In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.” Be different, be happy and most importantly love the life you have.

So yes the reality is our lives are exactly like a camera.  Each truth is revealed in the negative just as every picture captured tells your unique, distinct story. Never forget to “be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire” and in love with your life. Why, well when all is said and done these very things will speak for you when you no longer can.

~Christina