Yeah, I'm Spoiled

Never take anything for granted.
Benjamin Disrael


It's as easy as that. Today this is what I was thinking. So a list of things I have recently taken for granted.

*My education.
*Having not one, but 2 jobs.
*My family.
*Having a place to keep warm.
*Having a car to drive. (And a parking spot right across from my dorm for that matter.)
*Taking the time to listen to a friend instead of talking about myself.
*Being able to see, hear, taste, touch, think, breathe, move, love, laugh.
*Having a computer to type this thing on.
*I could list 1,000 things and not cover them all but you don't want to read that.


Unintentionally as I was typing I was also listening to youtube (well that part was intentional) but the song by Carrie Underwood came on. The song is called lessons learned. I'll link it to this so you can listen to it if you choose to. It kind of fits right with my point though. Each moment that I let pass that I'm not thankful is one that I won't get back and one that I don't necessarily deserve. How do I know that the next moment will be there? The point is, I don't.


Am I ever going to be thankful for every single moment. No, of course not. I'm human and so the moments that make me the most pissed off that probably have taught me a lesson in the end I'm not going to be thankful for. But, I'm going to stop talking so much for granted. I can do that. I can be thankful each day that I have the abilities that I do.


I think that to accomplish this and hopefully change my outlook on life (which is something I really need right now) each day I am going to pick one thing I am thankful for from that day and put it in a box. I'm not going to read them again right away... I'm not exactly sure when I'll read them. But, at least for now I can try to be more grateful. It's the least I can do for what I've been given.

Damn

"And when the dam bursts…all you can do is swim."

My sister posted this quote on her facebook earlier and I liked it. But then I got to thinking about what it really means.

A lot of changes are happening to me right now.  At first I was pretty upset with it all. I felt completely empty and lost. But then excitement set in, all these new opportunities. And now sadness. I feel like there are so many things that I need to be doing but nothing can happen. I hate that feeling. I feel so helpless. I don't understand it but this is what I've been given right now. It doesn't really make sense to me but I guess that's what life is.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Life is full of surprises. You never know what's going to happen, when, how, with who. But I've decided that maybe what we really need to do is just enjoy it.  I find myself getting so wrapped up in the small details every day that I forget to let myself enjoy life. There's lots of small things that don't really matter when I actually think about but yet I seem to get so caught up in them that I let the rest of the day pass me by. I don't know, maybe this will never change. Maybe I will always "sweat the small stuff" but I'm going to try to at least balance my worrying with letting go and having fun. 

And when the dam breaks I'm going to swim.

My Bucket List

So I have decided I want to have a bucket list. This list probably isn't going to be like most list because knowing me I'll add and take away things as my mood shifts. So, I'm going to start with a small list. 20 things I want to do sometime in my life
1. Own a horse
2. Have a family
3. Do something that means something
4. Do something for no reason at all
5. Go Ice Fishing
6. Take 1,000 pictures
7. Sleep under the stars
8. Stay up all night on the beach to watch the sunrise
9. Pick a TV show and watch every episode from beginning to end without stopping
10. Buy something really expensive (this excludes a house or car)
11. Find a container that we used to have as kids that you would put juice boxes in so you couldn't squeeze the juice out
12. Paint a room white and splatter it with all the colors of the rainbow
13. Have a secret that I never share with anyone
14. Get a purple streak in my hair
15. Go on a road trip
16. Go on a flight that is so long they have to feed you two meals
17. Ride a train
18. Read a book series I don't think I will like from beginning to end
19. Go to at least half as many football and basketball games as I do swim meets
20. Rescue 3 puppies that wouldn't be alive otherwise