Now that I have shared a little about myself, I need to share my gratitude. My gratitude for life.

(disclaimer this isn’t a post about me being some self-help life coach on how to change your life and become rich or how I have a perfect life, by any means. This is simply a post about how becoming grateful changed my life. I have gone through some hard times and I am even grateful for them because they have helped make me the person I am today)

We have all grown up with the thought that you go to school, you get good grades, you go to college, you get a job and work there forever until you retire. We look at this retirement thing like ahh I can’t wait to get there some day. To travel the world, to have grandchildren or become a hippie and live in Sedona (like me). The problem with this theory is, it sucks. Why should we have to wait until then to enjoy life. There is so much happening right now to enjoy and the only person stopping you from doing so, is YOU. With social media, all the crap going on around the world, all the depression people are facing every day, it’s so easy to get sucked up in the negative. It is unfortunate as all of us are guilty. But, there are times you just have to say F it, depart yourself from the negative and start being the person you strive to be. The fact is, if you want to change your life and enjoy it today, you have to actually make the change, which takes some work. Unfortunately we live in a world where we complain about our problems and hope they go away. It would be great, and very easy if that were the case buuuuut I think we all know that’s actually not the case, not even close. We see our long lost friends on Facebook who allegedly live this glamorous life, or there are some that also allegedly have the worst life and we are judging them which in return has made us all scared to do anything for the sake of getting judged. Sad right? Fact. It takes a lot to not care what others think, it’s not easy but if you change for one person another will think it’s not good enough so you will never win at life trying to make others happy and avoiding yourself. It’s a joke in my family that every time they see me I have a new job, a different car, purple hair.. something is always changing in my world. This is by design. I don’t care if being “normal” is having the same job for a lifetime, or paying off your car or having blonde hair. I care about being happy. Not everyone is going to agree with your life decisions, and that’s OK. They are not you and you are not them. We are all our own person and we have been given the gift to be ourselves. The even bigger gift is that we get to choose who that person is. There is zero reason any of us should have to wake up unhappy, worried about being judged by the alleged perfect person and the only thing to look forward to is being old on an RV traveling the world. Don’t wait for happiness. Don’t wait to become “that person”. You already are that person. Start now. Do something each day that you love and then be thankful for it. Just by making that small, so incredibly easy change, the world around you will become a better place. Maybe Mondays won’t be so shitty knowing you’re doing something you love. That something doesn’t have to be your job or your hobby, it could be as simple as wearing your favorite outfit or lipstick or talking to your Mom. It doesnt matter. Set yourself up for success. YOU are the only person that can provide yourself with happiness, literally just you. Yes, your companion, your children, your family, job etc provide that but that’s icing on the cake. If you love yourself for being you, you provide those around you with positive energy which in return changes the vibe of your life. With every job, every person, every new experience, every bad day, I have been thankful for the experience, the lessons I have learned, that with every bad day comes a good one. I wake up and am thankful for the man I am so lucky to wake up to every morning, for the opportunity to wake my son up and take him to school every day, for the family that my husband and I have built together. You get my drift… The important thing is to consistently remind yourself that your purpose is constantly changing and that you are always striving to be your highest self. Show those that surround you that you’re thankful for them, show the world that you’re thankful for it and most importantly show yourself. Enjoy this life, you only get one chance at it, you might as well make it what you want it to be…. Right?

Peace and love