Today’s “Thought of the Day” is a quick one.
Life Is Short.
I think that’s a statement most of us can agree on, right?
So, are there any BIG THINGS in your life that have you down? For me, I stayed in a job for “far too long” and let myself get really bogged down with the negative sides of day-to-day life at work. (I’ve already apologized to many of you for being such a whiner all the time about it, too.)
The point of bringing that up is to say there may be some things going on in our life that bring us down. Many times, instead of trying to address them, we’ll just leave or ignore them.
My challenge to each of you today is to see if there’s something in your life that is weighing negatively on you… and after you identify what that thing is… really stop and think whether or not you can do something to either CONQUER it, or the alternative, Let It Go.
Human’s are creatures of habit. And for better or worse, many of us “like” to stay in our comfort zone, even if those zones are UNcomfortable.
Life will be begin to change when we’re willing to step out of that zone and take some chances.
If you’re willing to share, what are the things you’re going to try and change?
(Mine was my job… which I left! I’m now VERY happy in my day job. Yay, me!)
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What amazing timing. I was just writing about this concept in my journal today at lunch. A friend and co-worker of mine died recently in an accident and his service was yesterday. The acute realization of the fragility and preciousness of life and loving on those around you hit me very hard. At the end of our lives, we can’t take anything with us, except for the person/people we’ve become and the love we’ve shared [the phrase “richest man in the graveyard” comes to mind].
If it’s one thing death can do–help us to love more deeply, and to give more freely–let’s learn from it what we can.
Thanks for reiterating that point, Tom.
Woops, just realized I was a bit off topic there. Let me step down from my hailed soap box. I’m working on leaving behind limiting stories that have kept me stagnant in my work, my health, my relationships, and my faith. Gratefully it’s somewhat of the same story for each of them–so as I kick it aside, I’m finding rewards in all areas of life.
My past doesn’t have to dictate my future, unless I let it.
Molly, first and foremost, I’m so sorry to hear about your friend and co-worker. If there’s anything I can do to lend emotional support, you know I’m here for you.
As for your feedback on the topic, you know I agree with you 100%. Similar to Heather’s point above, however, the hardest part for most of us in life to help make these changes… is just to DO THEM! Take that risk. The odds are we’ll actually eliminate many of the negatives and reintroduce space for POSITIVITY in our lives.
Our past does NOT have to dictate our future, you’re exactly correct! If we don’t want it to… then we shouldn’t let it!
Sometimes it’s just finding that person, group, Higher Being, confidence… to get enough support to take that step. How can I help you continue on this awesome path you’re on? 🙂
(thanks so much for your thoughts!)
Well, as silly as it may sound coming from someone who is 39….. It’s some “friends” in my life! I say the word friend but really the ones I’m speaking about are some old co-workers or people who’s path have crossed mine here and there and now we are FACEBOOK friends.
I love the old saying that people are brought into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Unfortunatly now with the Facebook world in which we live, everyone is a “lifetime” and maybe they were just suppose to be a season or reason.
Anyway, although they are negative… Pick apart my posts, send me emails saying I offend them with my health posts.. I can’t freakin deleate them!! I want to but I can’t! It’s causing me to dread Facebook!! How crazy is that right?! Ugh!
I guess I just don’t want to be the a$$ but I’d love for them to be history from my life.
Heather, nothing about what you said sounds silly to me. Quite frankly, I feel like there are a lot of people (most of us?) who feel the same EXACT way you to about the impact Facebook has had on our lives, and people who are now considered (for better or worse) “friends” of ours.
It’s sad to think that an application that has given us the means to connect with people some of us haven’t seen in YEARS can many times turn into a STRESSOR, and lead us to feel pressure to “connect” to people would normally wouldn’t choose to interact with in the first place. Does that sound like I’ve captured it correctly?
My only advice to you (if you care to hear it) 🙂 is to take that step. Worrying about offending someone by your words is one thing. I think that saying something to a person and truly offending them is a hurtful thing know you’ve done. However, if “removing” them from your life will bring more happiness/less stress to yours, why would you not be willing to take that step.
At the end of the day, I’d rather be “de-friended” on Facebook by someone who didn’t even want to be friends with me in the first place, than leave myself open to NON-positive thoughts/interactions with people who I don’t WANT to interact with in the first place. Does that make sense?
I think I might take you up on your challenge and go through some house cleaning myself! It’s not them… it’s us. When given the CHOICE, why would we choose to leave people in our lives who don’t add positive value?
Easier said than done, right? But also kind of a no-brainer if you think about it!
Let’s do it, Heather! It’ll only be hard until you click the button. Right? 🙂
AWESOME awesome awesome. I’m right there with you, Heather. I’d finally had it with all the Facebook negatives, and suspended my account this week. It has been incredibly clarifying for me mentally. I will be back, but this time away is helping me to re-assess what (and more importantly, WHO) is important to me on Facebook. It seems silly in a way that a social networking site can have so much power over relationships between adults, for Pete’s sake. But the fact of the matter is, people (me included) take it more seriously than it ought to be taken, and it becomes this monstrous stressor when really it should only be a tool. A tool to foster good relationships where they are warranted, a tool to create positivity in our lives, a tool to build relationship with people we care about but who live too far away to see all the time. There are so many good things about it, but if you let it (and boy, I have) it morphs into something that’s honestly pretty unhealthy for everybody.
I totally recommend taking a break from the whole thing (you can “deactivate” your account under account settings, and come back later to everything exactly as you left it). I’m finding that it’s really helping me see what is good about it, and what I can just offload. And yeah, de-friending some people is potentially going to create a small amount of drama. But in all honesty, I can say now that that drama is pretty likely to be worth it long term. Realistically, about 75% of the people on my friend list are people that I haven’t seen or spoken to in years (some of them I’ve never met, period. They’re just friends of friends.), and it’s been important for me to really think about what value I gain from having 293 “friends” who are on there maybe because I went to summer camp with them once or met them at a concert, versus maybe 50 or 100 who I share interests with, who care about my life, who have lives that I care about, and who are not into creating toxicity (negative comments like the ones you’ve mentioned getting are a big one for me).
I don’t know. Maybe I’m hammering at this too much, and I’m probably a little off-topic. But I think it’s a big deal in the Facebook Age to be able to stand up for yourself and really take ownership of your friendships. “Friend” is a word people have started using pretty loosely (it’s even become a verb), and I think that really diminishes the impact and importance of real relationships and community. It’s important to preserve depth and quality in relationship, and not allow it to be something where you feel compelled, coerced, or guilt-tripped into being everyone’s “friend” just because they walk your dog on weekdays, go to the same coffee shop as you, or chatted you up in the grocery store checkout line.
Good luck with your journey! Stay strong and stay positive! 🙂
Awesome, Stacy!
I made you “promise” to still communicate through my blog during your FB Hiatus, and you’re living up to your word. 🙂
Thanks for the awesome input!