"Don't Fuss, Dear, Get On With It"

           

            So, since my last blog, I’ve been actively looking for things in life that make me happy. Sometimes it’s extremely hard, sometimes it’s ridiculously easy. There was one day last week where I had a tough day and everything seemed to be going wrong (little things). Days like this, it’s easy to lose focus of what matters in life and it becomes hard to see what God is doing in your everyday life. It’s tough to turn these days around but I’ve realized if you just keep thinking in the back of your head “this too shall pass”, then your bad day will soon seem insignificant. (Cheesy, I know but sometimes just thinking cheesy thoughts like that can make you laugh at yourself and move on with it). My all-time favorite quote is from Audrey Hepburn, “It's that wonderful old-fashioned idea that others come first and you come second. This was the whole ethic by which I was brought up. Others matter more than you do, so 'don't fuss, dear; get on with it.'” This makes me just say to myself “Ehh…. Moving on” and so I do.. Move on!

             I truly believe that having great friends in your life can help you alleviate any heavy thoughts you may be having. My relief from my bad day was painting with some really great girl friends! (“No Doubt”) Girls, if you’ve never been to a paint party, I highly recommend it. It’s a great time to get to know your friends better and just have fun not worrying about anything (except completely screwing up your painting or splattering a friend haha). The past few years I’ve really focused on relationships with people in my life, positive people to be exact. Sometimes the people you keep in your life can bring you down. Having a good group of friends with the same positive outlook on life can really change the entire “mood” of your life. At the beginning of the year, I told myself that this year I was really going to focus on my friends and my relationships with them. When I say friends, I mean everyone in my life: co-workers, friends (old and new), family, boyfriend, dog (yes, my dog she’s a friend). Little things like writing notes to show them how much I value our relationship can brighten someone’s day. Life is shorter than we expect sometimes, so I want all my friends knowing how much I value their friendship at any given moment.

            On the note of my dog, this is how she makes my life brighter. I left for a trip (a two day trip) and when I came home she acted like I’d been gone for months. In fact, she acts like this every time I walk through the door. I can’t think of anyone else that gets more excited to see me when I walk through the door than Bella. What if we all acted like this when we saw someone we hadn’t seen in a while? Smiled huge, hugged them and truly showed how happy we are to see them again? Might be kinda chaotic if we all acted as excited as our pets when we see our friends (and maybe even awkward at times), but you get the idea!! Make sure every person in your life knows how much they mean to you; don’t assume that they know it.

            Once again, it’s the “little things”: writing notes, giving hugs, and huge smiles all to show the people in my life that they are important to me. I’m definitely not perfect and it, nor will I ever be. But doing these things for others, always prove to make me a little happier knowing my friends know how much I care about them. At least, I hope you all know how much I care about you!

"Just the start"

            So, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about writing a blog. I tell myself it would be good to write down all the “little” thoughts that I have throughout the day about my life. (Mostly because I’m pretty sure I’m losing my memory rapidly these days). But, then I also remind myself how terrible I am at making time for things and decide I will never follow through on keeping a blog. But! On my way to work this morning, I came up with a super awesome name for my blog and then just started thinking about all the things I could talk about. In a way, I think I want to remind myself about the things in life that make me happy and I feel like God is giving me these things to share with others for their own happiness.

            I’ve been in a dark place before so I know how tough it can be to get out of that place but, I also know that I never want to go back to being unhappy. I know it’s hard to get out of those dark places or period in your life because you feel like it won’t end. We get so caught up in all the bad things that are happening that we get consumed by it and fail to notice even the little things in life we should be thankful for.

            We tend to look for some “grand’ event, happening, person or whatever it may be in life to make us happy so we forget the little things that happen every day, every hour that can give us comfort. I’ve lived the past few years of my life that way. I was sad and generally not excited about life because I felt like God needed to give me some BIG event in my life to make me happy. Wrong, Jillian! This past year I’ve prayed everyday these specific words “help us find happiness in everything you have given us”. I pray every morning when I leave the house, I sit in the car, say my prayer and then I’m on my way! I’m almost ALWAYS running five or ten minutes late so it takes true dedication to do this everyday. I’m working to make prayer a priority in my life no matter how crazy and hectic my schedule is. After all this praying, I figured out that you can find happiness in the smallest things; all you have to do is let them make you happy.

            So here goes the first “little” thing that makes me happy on a daily basis during the work week. There is a church on White Station that a man stands at EVERY day (rain or shine) and waves at the cars that are driving by. He’s always on the opposite corner from me and is waving at the cars coming from the other direction, but for some reason every time I see him, I seem to smile. He takes time out of his morning to try and make everyone else’s morning happy. This is just a wave; it’s so funny and weird that it makes me so happy! See… I told you “It’s the little things”!

            If we are looking around all day for things that make us happy, it only seems right that we do something everyday to make other people happy. It sounds stupid, but I try to smile and say “HI!” to literally every person I see. You can ask anyone that knows me; I do this everywhere I go, literally. It doesn’t matter who they are, what kind of mood they’re in, or where I see them. I just smile and say Hi! (Just a warning, it might take some people time to perfect doing this. It could come off as creepy in some situations so proceed with caution.)

            I had four flights this week and met each of the four people who sat on the plane next to me: Steve, Scott, Ryan and Lisa. On top of that, I know about their families and what they do for a living. Some people like to use the word “networking” for this but I like to just think that its four more people in the world I know. (Modern Family reference: “I feel like a new friend is a gift”-Cam) This just makes for a more pleasant flight and its always great hearing about someone else’s experiences in life. No one person is going to be able to experience everything there is to offer in life. I figure the more we listen to others about their experiences the more we can get out of our own lives.

            So, go out everyday looking for little things that make you smile or put you in a better place in life. Sometimes even trying to make someone else’s day bright will end up make your day brighter. Look for new blog posts soon because I know that I’m going to have a “Jillian” more things to come!

PS- Mom this is a blog, you don’t get to critique grammar on it J