The Glass ~ Do you view your glass as…. Half Full? Half Empty? Or do you feel like someone drank the other half?

The Glass ~ Do you view your glass as…. Half Full?  Half Empty?  Or do you feel like someone drank the other half?

This goblet was given to me by my older son who knew of my love for France.

As I have written before, I attended summer school in the south of France when I was in college.  A wonderful time in my life.  Many, many moons ago.

And this lovely gift reminds me of lovely days long gone…but always very much present in my mind.

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The original post I wrote to you this Friday morning, has been deleted.

It was completed, and I was ready to click:  Publish.

Every letter, word, and sentence. Gone for good.

For some reason, I had another thought….needing to be written.

So here’s my second post this morning.

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A Message for Every Reader

So if you are an empty-nester with college kids (like me)…

Perhaps, you are the college student getting ready for the fall semester…

Could be a young parent of school-aged little ones…

A stay-at-home parent with tiny toddlers running here and there…

Or a young professional just starting your first ‘real’ corporate job fresh out of college….

Read On.

I have some life-changing advice just for you. And only you.

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As I have written numerous times, I was born an optimist.

Kind of a Pollyanna-type. To the point of ad nauseum to those around me.

Forever feeling like my glass was half full – and just waiting to be filled with the other half at any moment.

But over the past 6 years, when I examined the happenings of my life, I sometimes thought the glass was half empty….or worse, yet, that some event completely out of my control took the other half.

Just stole the other half right in front of me.

You have no idea how much a perennial optimist hates to admit this.

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A few months ago, I wrote to you about adopting and incorporating an Attitude of Gratitude.  And I warned you that – at first – it feels contrived and a little disingenuous – but with practice, it will feel like a natural and normal part of your being.

And to that point once again, I will expand on that original post…

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As my husband and I walked around the lake this early morning with our only beloved dog son, Buddy, I had an epiphany.

Not only did I feel gratitude for the blessings and good things in my life like my husband and my sons (the 2 human ones and the 1 with fur) – but I was grateful for every trial and tribulation experienced over the past few years.

In an indescribable emotion, I celebrated the devastating disappointments, the professional and personal betrayal, and the times I felt completely out-of-control in every aspect of my world (which is the worse feeling for a person with OCD tendencies).

All of my life, I naively believed that if I planned everything, researched everything, and followed all of the stated rules of good living…my glass would be so full it would be flowing over the edges.  All of the time.

But we both know … that’s obscenely naïve and absolutely unbiblical.

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So if you are the empty-nester or the college student or the young parent or the millennial who just landed that first job….

As difficult and unreasonable as it may sound, please take it from a woman who has lived a whole lot of life….been on the crest of the mountain, spent some time in the valley and is genuinely finding goodness and value in both places.

A well-known Chinese (I believe) parable tells of a young man who asked an old, wise man, “Where are these beautiful views you promised me?” as they traveled through the flat, grassy valley.

The old man smiled and said, “You are walking in the exact place that you will call ‘beautiful’ when you are at the top of the mountain…so do not save your happiness for when you reach the top.  Appreciate the valley.”