It’s The Little Things

Have you ever found yourself constantly complaining about things? It’s like every day you wake up it’s a new “eye rolling, grumble and sigh” experience. The person at the drive-through forgot to add sugar to your coffee, you spilled grape jelly on your shirt, traffic is delayed 30 minutes, your children missed the school bus, and the list goes on and on. That revolving door of minuscule events sets a silent ticking time bomb that’s ready to detonate. You can’t seem to wrap your head around the fact that you’re at wits end and want nothing more than to hit the reset button. What’s that invisible irritant behind all of this chaos?

This is exactly how I was feeling not too long ago! Everything and everyone was a target and I had enough. It seemed as though this black cloud of negativity overshadowed everything I did. It affected my performance at work, my personal life, and my mental well-being. I had to figure out the root cause of my unhappiness. One day I went to church and the preacher talked about the key to happiness. It was in that moment that he revealed to the congregation “be grateful for the little things good and bad!” I sat there for a second allowing those very words to marinate in my mind. Little did I know, I was writing a mental prescription for this ugly illness.

I let those magical words manifest throughout my day. Once I started to appreciate the small things good and bad, it was like a dead weight was lifted off of me. My once unhappy, negative attitude started to deteriorate and I began to find happiness. I realized that a lot of things were out of my control and it caused me to focus on the things I could control. In science, they teach you about cause-and-effect or action and reaction. For every action no matter if it’s good or bad, there will be a reaction. The same with cause-and-effect. The difference is those are objects or forces being used to illustrate a scientific reaction.

What situations happen in each and everyone of our lives, no matter how bad, doesn’t have to result in a negative outcome. If we learn to look at the big picture and quit focusing on the small details, we will begin to appreciate life a lot more. I have to constantly remind myself of this each and every day! Some days are easier than others, but ultimately I resort back to what the preacher talked about! It’s okay to give yourself a reminder every now and then, especially when you are feeling the negative impacts of life weighing you down. Remember, “each day you wake up you can choose to be happy or unhappy, but as for me I choose happiness!”