A little Inspiration...

I have really enjoyed getting to know Meg at The Impatient Military Wife . Her sense of humor has always really resonated with me, and she has this uncanny ability of taking a crappy day and making light of it! Now she's gonna divulge her little secret to this, so I hope you take some notes...I know I did!

When Jenn asked me to guest post for her, I was simply blown away. I’m such a huge fan of her blog and I get so excited when one of her posts pops up in my reader. I’m also so incredibly happy that her husband is HOME!! Congrats, lovely lady! (And thanks for letting me take over your blog for a day.)

So anyway… Hey guys!! My name is Meg. I live in paradise, no really. I’ve been married to TC for almost two years now. (Wow, two? Really? Time flies when you’re having fun I guess!) No kids… neither one of us are ready for that adventure just yet. We do have two dogs, both black lab mixes (read: mutts we adopted from the Humane Society) and they are the greatest dogs in the world! Ok, so I might be a little biased. But they really are awesome.

Jenn asked me about my favorite quote and how it changed my life. I’m a “quote person.” I love them. I have sticky notes in my office, on the mirror in my bathroom, in my kitchen and even a virtual sticky note with a quote on my computer desktop. To say I have an addiction and a small OCD about them is putting it mildly. While I have a ton of quotes hanging out, there’s always been one specific quote that stuck out for me. I keep repeating it to myself when things aren’t going the way I want them to:

“Things turn out best for people who make the best of the way things turn out.” – John Wooden

I learned a while ago that things will not go the way you want them to go 90% of the time.  Sometimes they will go horribly, terribly wrong. The “oh my gosh, how will get out of this one alive or without maiming someone” type of wrong. It’s a given during deployments. Call it bad luck. Call it Murphy’s Law. Call it life.

Let’s face it. Sometimes? Life just sucks. Hard. Core. The washer breaks merely HOURS after the husband leaves. Dogs (and kids… but I don’t know anything about that) get sick. Work makes you want to cry and throw things. The deployment that you thought would only last a few months keeps getting extended. Homecomings, vacations and coffee breaks seem like they’re eons away. Sleepless nights, loss of appetite, and illness magically appear. These things can pile up and take you to your breaking point. (Unless you’ve figured out how to avoid any and all of these things… then we need to chat. Pronto.)

But honestly, things will be fine… if you keep telling yourself they will be fine. You can sit and wallow in your own self-pity about how much things suck and how “NO ONE ELSE, EVER, HAS HAD TO DEAL WITH THIS MUCH CRAP AT ONE TIME.” But that’s a lie. Hundreds of people have done it before and will continue to prosper through life’s tough times in the future. The key is to simply change your attitude about what’s going on and where things are headed. Things will turn out all right.  So the washer broke; this gives you the excuse to wear yoga pants for the next few days… right?  The dog is sick; but at least he’s alive and probably super cuddly. Work sucks; at least you have a job. That deployment extension? Be proud that your husband/significant other is providing for your family and is protecting your country. (And, in my case, it’s another week/month of having the bed to myself.)

I used to be the Debbie Downer who thought life was just out to get me. It took a while (and a lot of wine) but I finally changed my thinking and realized that, honestly, life wasn’t as bad as I was making it out to be. When things start to suck… I can make it through; I just need to have a positive outlook. Things will be as bad (or as good) as I let them be. I still have bad days, everyone does, but they are fewer and farther between. When things get to be too much? I rant about it (sometimes just to the dogs), do something productive, (maybe throw back a glass of wine,) and move on. Life’s too short to be angry and upset all the time!

Since I am such a “quote person,” I have a few others that have been pretty big influences on my life. I hope they reach out to you if you need them and that you find some words of wisdom in them as I have. J

‎”Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.” – Buddha

“To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, this is to have succeeded.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

‎”Never regret. If it’s good, it’s wonderful. If it’s bad, it’s experience.” - Victoria Holt