Well, love might be too strong of a word, but I strongly like the carrots and hummus combo. If you give me a bag of baby carrots and a thing of hummus, I will go to town on it. I now always make sure that carrots are on our grocery list and I'm bummed when the carrots are gone.
My point: There may be ways to enjoy the icky things in life.
- - -
As Trevor and I got married, moved to Arizona, and began medical school and a new job, we heard a lot of things along the lines of...
"If you can just make it through July and August, then you'll love Arizona."
"The first two years are rough, but then medical school gets a lot better."
"Just stick it out the first month at your new job, then you'll like it."
"There will be a lot of adjustments the first year of marriage, but then things will be good."
Basically, it felt like they were telling us, "Life will probably be a little poopy right now and there's not much you can do about that. Bummer."
And I don't think that I'm the only one to have fallen into the "I'll be happy when..." trap. You know. The trap where people say things like I'll be happy when I'm married. I'll be happy when I've graduated and start making money. I'll be happy when I'm thinner. I'll be happy when I have a baby. I'll be happy once my baby is older. I'll be happy once I get a new job. I'll be happy once I'm healthy again. I'll be happy when I overcome this weakness. I'll be happy when the carrots are gone.
Yes, sometimes we get dished up a whole lot of carrots at once, but I think it's possible to find some hummus for those carrots. The carrots won't magically disappear and we will still taste the carrots from time to time but it'll be a lot more bearable if we surround ourselves with good things, things we love, and things that make us better. This strategy is how I'm staying happy even though it's still ridiculously hot outside at the end of September, my husband has to study a lot, and I am the new girl at work.Right now my life hummus consists of:
- Doing fun things I love, such as blogging, baking, listening to my favorite song over and over again, eating fruit snacks with reckless abandon, and watching episodes of Boy Meets World
- Praying for tender mercies and the ability to notice those tender mercies
- Striving to remember all of my blessings and all of the things that are going right, instead of focusing on the hard things
- Zooming out and looking at the big picture; remembering why this will all be worth it
- Going to the temple
- Doing something nice for my husband and noticing the nice things he does for me
- Texting someone each day to try to brighten their day
- Exercising
- Listening to general conference talks on the way to work
- Picking up chipotle on the way home from work to get their yummy chips and guacamole
Some of these ideas are silly, some are imperative. Some may work for you, some probably won't. But it's what I'm trying to do. I want to stay positive. I want to take to heart Sister Hinckley's wise advice: "Don't wish away your days waiting for better ones ahead." I want to be okay with my carrots. I want to be happy now.
What do you guys do when you have a lot of carrots on your plate? What's your hummus? (Post a comment below to share your ideas.)
I love this, it goes so well with Pres Uchtdorf's talk at the women's session! Someone in my relief society lesson brought up that the things we tend to focus on are what happen in our life. So if we focus on the negative, that's what our life becomes...kind of like when dipping a carrot in hummus if you are focused on the carrot taste you might not realize how much the hummus makes it better haha!
ReplyDeleteI agree, don't let the comments of others to dampen your happiness. However, if you have a day when you feel homesick, it's ok. Lately, I have had a crazy two weeks with a lot of unexpected expenses but I tried to make it my goal to pray and find ways to make things great for my husband. We can always make someone smile and remember, you will be able to adjust better if you keep doing the things that help you have the spirit in your life. I'm sure you taught that in your mission. Have fun over there and explore if you can, making cookies for the neighbors is always a great way to introduce yourself, have a great day!
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