Today I am grateful for time with those I love.  We all know time moves on regardless of what we feel, think, or do.  We recently got some news about my father, and while it isn’t horrible, it brings to light the very real fact of time passing and mortality.  We go through these subtle changes in our lives where we are first one role, then multiple roles, then down to one role, and then our time is up.  We never know how much time we have with each other, how much time we have in a role, time we have to do the things we love.  There are a few things I understand differently: the person we will spend the most time with is ourselves so we need to make sure we are doing what we love or working toward what we love as often as we can.  The time we have with those we love is never guaranteed so we need to prioritize what we do and with whom.  Even though I am aware of the inevitability of our number being called, it can still be challenging when we are faced with that reality.  Live is too short to do anything other than what we love and with who we love.  Nothing is guaranteed so do not take it for granted. 

Today I am grateful for understanding that things aren’t meant to stay the same.  I’m in the middle of a challenging time in my marriage.  Between navigating my father’s issues, my health, being a mother, my career, my business, and my relationship with my husband, I’m seeing that in spite of all of our efforts, things sometimes just are what they are and people are how they are.  I know over the last 20 years I’ve changed significantly.  Perhaps more so in the last 3 years.  I wouldn’t expect anyone else to stay the same either.  I have a tendency to want things my way (I’m an Aries after all) but I see that there are just some things where I am fundamentally different.  Time and experience does that to us and I know the same is happening to those around me.  There comes a point where we accept who we are and how we feel about it.  And we need to allow the same for others.  As much as I preach evolution and allowing things to be how they are meant to be, the experience of it can be different because we often hope that people will change as we change given shared experience—but that isn’t the case.  There can be loss involved.  We just need to make sure that our growth isn’t hindered by the desire to keep things familiar.  Change is beautiful. 

Today I am grateful for a higher perspective.  This came out of nowhere. I recently had a second interview for a position at my 9-5 and it’s fascinating speaking with people at a different level.  The roles and their purpose operate differently even than they do at a management level.  There is so much freedom to operate with a more creative scope and there is a different focus.  From management and below it’s about getting a job done.  Above that it’s about creating that vision/goal.  I’ve been in the same industry with the same company for a long time so I was set in the belief that the roles were just set as they were.  Doing what we’ve always done got us nowhere so seeing the opportunity to change it is liberating and freeing.  There are other ways to think, other ways to accomplish things that go beyond the typical power plays in corporate roles.  When creativity and collaboration are forefront, amazing things can happen.

Today I am grateful for truth. No matter how hard it is to accept at first, truth is the thing that will at least set us on the right path.  We can’t move forward without resolving to understand how we are meant to move forward and that means understanding what we are meant to do, understanding what we are feeling—and understanding what others feel about us.  We can’t make people be who we need them to be.  We can’t make them feel a certain way about us.  We can’t change it when they change their minds.  But knowing the truth gives us the option to decide what works for us.  To decide what we want to do.  We are not reliant on other people’s needs especially if they do not coincide with our own.  Our lives are too short to spend it trying to be someone else or trying to make someone be someone else.  Know the truth.  Accept the truth.  It gets easier to move forward with practice. 

Today I am grateful for confirmation.  As uncomfortable as it is, I appreciate confirmation of the path I am on.  Knowing that the discomfort is simply part of growth is encouraging.  Things often look most fearsome when we are in the throes of change, learning to make the unfamiliar familiar.  We must simply press through it as long as there is no indication that something is wrong with the path we are on.  Sometimes all we need is a reminder that things are as they are supposed to be—it can be ugly, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t part of what we are supposed to do, what we are supposed to experience.  We may not understand it to begin with but knowing we are where we are meant to be is a relief. 

Wishing everyone a wonderful week ahead.