I have this theory that we all have three pillars to our lives- Home, Family, Vocation. And as long as two out of three are solid, we can handle most challenges that come our way, thanks to the confidence and strength we should be getting from the other two.
When two pillars aren’t doing so hot, it gets harder, and we center ourselves on that last one, but always with the knack of balancing just so, to keep that pillar in good shape.
Y’all, when all three are rockin… life gets freaking hard.
You doubt everything and you try and hold things together by doing the best you can, running as fast and as hard as you can.
And you know? It’s in these moments that you find out who you are.
For years, I’ve been trying to pare away the parts of myself that I felt were shallow and self serving and petty. I’ve fought against the pessimistic voices inside my own head and challenged myself to find the lesson or the good in every situation, even if I express it at the end of a long, long sigh.
So when I say that in the midst of all this, I feel like I uncovered a truth, I hope you won’t think I’m pretending to be some great thinker or sage- I’m not.
Heck, props to you if you’re still reading.
The truth was this- kindness isn’t conditional. You shouldn’t just be kind to someone because they are going through a rough time. What people choose to share versus what lies beneath means that anyone could be going through a rough time at any moment, and just getting by as well as they can. Being kind may be that moment that helps someone shoulder whatever they’ve got and keep on. It may be the reminder to someone else to pass it on. At the very least, does it hurt anything at all to put a little more kindness out into the world?
And if you justify being unkind to someone for whatever reason- that says a lot more about you than it does about them.
Before I close out here- yes, we’re okay. It’s been a rough patch, but you know? The roughest of patches pass. There’s been spots of funny in the horribleness of the past few weeks, and lots of care… there’s been multiple Thanksgivings in my kitchen because snow, random BLARCH discoveries (don’t need no cat, our Bree is a champion mouser /said with a huge TWITCH AUGH OMG WHY), Dr. Evil plans, no sleep, lots of sleep, good food, deep quiet, and, as ever, games and each other.
The night before Thanksgiving, as we all snuggled into bed and I had Zoe laying on my feet and keeping them warm, Jaina burrowed in between me and Rick, and Bree stretched out on my knees in a cozy nest as the snow fell outside, I really knew that it didn’t matter if we did end up snowed in and my tiny ass bird was dry as a bone and we ate it just with the two of us- everything was going to be okay.
And that’s mostly what all of us need to hear anyway.
Curiouser and Curiouser 