Everything Happens FOR You Not to You

Everything Happens for you Not to you ….

Do you believe me? Yeah I question it sometimes too. Far too often I ask “why me” or “what did I do to deserve this”. Well truth be told looking back I know why. The answer is simple. Because it’s made me who I am. I wouldn’t be me without my emotional quirks or my fits of rage. I mean really. What fun would I be if I was always sunshine and rainbows? None! The fact is we are human and we are products of our environment and experiences. No this does not mean if you were born and raised in “the ghetto” your going to be a murderer or gang banger simply because of your community. What it means is we take our environment, whatever it may be, and we decide what we want to take from it. 

Ok so your from the ghetto. Cool. What are you going to do with that? Should I just assume you’re a bad person then …are you going to let it turn you into a life long criminal OR are you going to take it and see all the broken down buildings and homes, the people struggling and decide you want to do something to make a positive change? The choice is ours to make. Just because you were born into a rich family doesn’t mean you are going to live a successful life full of lavish things. We must take the opportunities we are presented and decide if they are going to make us grow or completely bury us in the shit hole they surround. 

We’ve all been through struggles and I can honestly say that some of mine have changed me for the worse and some for the better. For example, I have been cheated on and lied to in previous relationships and sometimes that can fall down on my marriage. This has caused some serious issues but it relationships it has taught me to be more observant and to truly stand up for myself. I appreciate the people who have come into my life and hurt me because it has showed me what to look out for and showed me the type of person  I never want to be or be around for that matter. 

We need to stop blaming other people, or our religion for our issues. I know people who have turned their back on God because something bad happened to them and trust me I understand. I have questioned it before as well. But when I walk outside and see the sun shining, the beautiful scenery of Northeast Tennessee and all the animals running around …how can I continue to question him or anything for that matter. The things and people I have lost broke me down to such a low but when I came out of that hole I was able to truly see the beauty and blessings around me and appreciate them so much more. 

It is all about seeing the silver lining. Morn, get angry, scream and yell …but then make it show you how to be a better version of you!

 

Thanks for being a part of my journey,

Happiness is an Inside Job

You choose your happiness ……

It’s a sound old saying that when I was dealing with some serious depression, I absolutely HATED hearing. I refused to believe that I could control my day and my emotions. Now let’s be real, this is not always the case and sometimes we just have bad days where we are stuck in a rut or there is something weighing on us heavily and that’s just how it’s going to be. But in time I realized that this is a saying that does not pertain to everything in everyday; it’s much broader than that.

Happiness is truly and inside job. We choose the life we want to lead and there will be bumps, mountains and oceans in the way. But if we jump, climb and swim there is nothing we can’t do.

This is a concept that was, and sometimes is still hard to swallow. Just today we got rid of one of our dogs. Not because we wanted to {ok my husband might have wanted to a little bit ;P } but for me, it was not something I wanted. I have a really hard time letting go of things. Maybe it’s because I’ve lost so many people and pets in my life that I’m just turned off to the idea of Goodbye. {I know this make no sense but I promise I have a point haha} While I sat here on the couch crying and loving on my other dogs, my husband had to pull me back into reality. He had to remind me that the house she’s going to be living in is a great place with much more room and individualized love for her. Now, we have multiple dogs and we love them all and shows them that as much as we can. But when you have 7 dogs it can be hard to spread the love evenly. So he had to remind me that she will be in a place where she is the center of attention and has a big yard to play in and the list goes on.

{update: she’s coming home. She was not a fan of the other dog in her new home so she’s coming back. YAY dont tell my husband how happy I am about this haha just kidding. I am excited to see her back home though. I love my little crazy}

Now you’re probably saying, hey Pinky …what the hell are you trying to say? Well, it’s easy …I sat there crying and miserable, hurting. But when I forced my focus to be on the positives {thanks to my husband not giving me any other choice} it made me feel so much better. Sure I’m still sad and I still hate that she’s gone. But, now I can smile and laugh and enjoy my day instead of dwelling. All I had to do was CHOOSE to see things differently. It’s hard sometimes but it’s necessary.

I’ve had to do this many times in life, as I’m sure we all have. But the one thing I have learned is we have to change our way of thinking if we ever want to succeed or surpass those hard times. Still hurts, still sucks, still want to kick and scream and throw and tantrum …but hey at least I can do it then laugh about it later.

With that said ….keep your heads up kids. This too shall pass. It has to because there’s nothing we can do to make time stop. Therefore we must always move forward.

Thanks for being a part of my journey,

First Blog. Ever. We’re all in this together!

So this is blogging huh. I guess I may as well just jump in head first with no helmet. This is going to turn into a ramble I just feel it! haha

Well lets be real here. The best thing to do is explain why I’m here and what this blog is all about. I’ll get to the talking about myself stuff later. This blog is a piece of me already that much is for sure.

This is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time but never had the guts to do it. I figured if I didn’t have a set theme no one would be interested. Well fact is, in time, I have learned that I am good at a lot of things but not great at anything ….except for being me! So thus, a blog in the life of ….

Where do we go from here you ask? Well my plan is to post every day for the next 30 days {sorta a 30 day blog challenge kinda thing}. Each day I will take a question/prompt and talk about it. This way you get to truly know who I am all while I figure out this blogging mumbo jumbo. Plus I figure head on consistency is the best way to get into the flow and habit of regular blogging. So thus, 30 days of me! 🙂 Can’t get much better than that if I do say so myself! haha

Ok about me. {aside from popular belief} I am someone who has been through A LOT and overcome even more. I have been told before that I am great and hiding the darkness that I hold inside sometimes. Now don’t get me wrong I am not a dark and miserable person. But like I said, I’ve been through a lot. I just choose to stay on the up and up and try my best to stay positive. The experiences I’ve had account highly to dealing with a lot of death in my life… I mean A LOT. Because of these horrible times I have forced myself to figure out how to live through the best and worst of time all while holding my head as high as I can.

Yep, that’s enough of the deep stuff for now! 🙂

The basics …. well I am a 27 year old Cali girl. {I’ll be 28 in a couple weeks but shhhh} I was born in raised in good ol’ southern California. But I am now living in small town Bristol Tennessee with my husband. We’ve been married just over a year and a half. He was born in raised in this little town and when he retired from the Marine Corps we decided to head to the East. Do I love it? Some days. It’s been a hard transition to say the least. But I’m getting used to it. Things are slowly falling into place! YAY. I graduated in November with my Bachelors Degree in Criminal Justice. Not sure what the hell I’m going to do with it yet. But I’ll figure it out. Until then I’m just trying to get comfortable in this new state. I have aquired a gorgeous 4 year old Step Daughter. So this is definitely an adjustment. But this is my crazy life and as hard as it can be …I love it!

So …welcome to the life of Me ….PinkyLee {its an age old nickname in case you were wondering}