I’ve said to my kids, “You can do whatever you want in life. Just do something that makes you happy.” Those words seem so innocent. I meant them. When I watch a movie, I really prefer the happy ending. For goodness sakes, I love Cinderella because she get’s the prince! AND he is a heck of a ballroom dancer! (never underestimate that!)

When we tell ourselves (or our children) that we “deserve” to be happy, we tell a lie. When we tell ourselves that we are meant to find happiness in life, we tell a lie….okay, not a total lie but a partial lie. The truth is: life isn’t meant to be filled with happiness. Life is meant to have sorrow, grief, pain, tragedy….everything we really would rather passed us by. Without sorrow, we truly can’t appreciate the joy. Without illness, we never truly understand the value of health. Without death, we never reflect on the gift of life.
Life is meant to have happiness too and plenty of it.

But it is not meant to have just happiness. This mortal world was never designed for such things. It was always designed with opposition because without the negative, we can’t really experience the positive. I’ve been learning how to embrace ALL of it…to see value in the days that suck and the days that are terrific. We can’t have one without the other.

That’s the truth.
That’s life.
And I’m ALL IN.