Picture of the Week - 6/6/2019

This week’s picture is to remind you to find the Beauty wherever you are - aka – find a way to be grateful every day!

I’ve just spent the better part of a week working in a foreign country, away from my family and friends, forced to walk to work and back home (in the rain) every day, working through tasks that are both difficult and highly visible, while being questioned at every turn, and being constantly behind on deliverables because my team is all out on leave this week.  It’s been a really long, emotionally and mentally exhausting week.

OR

I’ve just spent the better part of a week working for a company that has given me the opportunity to travel to places I never would have visited otherwise. 

I’ve been away from my family and friends, which has made me realize how much I love and appreciate them. 

I’ve gotten to walk to work, which has given me a really great opportunity to clear my head, think through problems, and get some exercise at the same time.  I never would have stopped to recognize the cobblestone streets from a car.  I never would have heard the birdsong along the way. 

I’ve been given the responsibility to work on problems and projects that are very important to my company.  The work I am doing is important. 

I have been presented with challenges that are forcing me to grow, both professionally and personally. 

I’m getting lots of practice at prioritization and making sure I’m using good time management practices to ensure everything that has to get done is done.  (If you want something done, give it to a busy person.)

I’ve learned that I married a man who selflessly and easily shifts into full-time management of our entire household – and does so better than I would.  He has my gratitude, respect, and love, no matter where on earth I am at any given moment.

My boys have been given a real life role model of so many things I find important – hard work pays off, but it’s hard.  Marriage is teamwork.  Division of labor has no gender.  The world is bigger than you can imagine, but smaller than you can believe.

I’ve learned that my limits, as previously defined, weren’t really limits at all – and that stretching is growing in so many ways.

I’ve learned that I can focus on the challenge or focus on the gratitude.  Guess which I prefer.

This little flower, growing out the side of an otherwise boring wall, doesn’t care that the surroundings are hard, grey, and overlooked.  He just sees the sun and enjoys the Scottish rain.  Tomorrow I head back home.  I can’t wait to get there.  I miss my people and my stuff and I need some hugs.  But I refuse to be discouraged by all the stuff that life throws this way.  There are just too many reasons to be grateful.

PS – If you wonder why I am sharing this “self-help” drivel all the time, the answer is two-fold.  1) I really believe that this stuff works.  You can change your outlook – and therefore your outcome – just by changing the way you think.  2) It’s hard and I need regular reminding…  and my hope is that I can create a whole network of people who think this way and help prop each other up when we fall off the proverbial wagon.