I just finished reading a post on a friends blog about feeling old, and I have to say that while there are days I feel like a horse that has been “rode hard and put up wet” I can’t help thinking that it is all a matter of perspective. We as a country and a world right now are facing some market slides, the likes that haven’t been seen for years, but with all of the panic about job security and downward spiraling markets I asked myself, “What does this mean to me?” The answer is, I won’t be taking out any loans anytime soon, and I will try harder to reduce my expences. Not the end of the world! Life is not as easy as my parents made it seem. I have come to accept that we all have jobs that we work because we have to, and a very few of us end up in a job we love. The goal is to not get so caught up in the daily chores of work and finances. We do what we need to, but then we have to find a way to make the day worth living. For some of us it is doing something creative, others of us are lovers and find ourselves lavishing our friends with our free-time, and still others just want to watch some T.V. or play a video game to decompress. While the latter is not a reason to live, it makes life more enjoyable, and really we all want to enjoy our lives.
Someone once told me that the secret to a happy life is to work hard and play harder. If you can’t find the balance you end up depressed, or worse just being boring. I strive to find the balance every day. I haven’t found it yet, and I may never find it, but the process is an adventure. My sister would tell me, “You’re such an optimist!” I have to be. There is enough negativity in the world to bury me, and I believe that being someone who can see light at the end of the tunnel isn’t always enough. Sometimes we have to enjoy the night, and the dawn.
There I go again being all philisophical. I guess what I have been thinking about is the fact that if I am always looking for the destination then the scenery passes by unnoticed, and my life is poorer for it. Sometimes the scenery is dirty and hard work, but if you can find a perspective that doesn’t make you want to give up on everything, if you can take the good with the bad and remember that there are people you don’t even know and perhaps a few people you do that have it much harder,then you can resolve to be the light in your own life and in someone elses too.
As a poet I try to see different perspectives all the time. I often find inspiration by looking at situations through other peoples eyes. So, take a look at life through another persons eyes today! you might just find that things aren’t as bad as they seem.
Wishing all of you something that makes you smile.
Ivy