"Dont Sweat the Small Stuff" -Week 2

Well audience, I promised you a weekly mini-version of my own "Don't Sweat The Small Stuff". So here it is; week 2. I hope you were able to use last weeks points to better your life and perhaps make yourself a bit happier :)

Do Something Nice for Someone Else--and Don't Tell Anyone About It

Flashback to the days of your elementary self. You walk into the noisy lunchroom with your Scooby-Doo lunchbox. Frantically you zig zag through the tables to the get to where your friends in their leggings (with the straps under their feet) and jean jackets sit eating their Jiffy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (because this was before anyone had allergies--right?).  You plop down and hurriedly unzip (or flip up the metal lock if you had the metal lunchbox) your lunchbox to see what mom packed. There sitting on top of your lunch is a note from who else? Mommy Dearest of course. Well we all know how it goes, your younger self pushes the note to the side and reaches for your carrots sticks?! Okay Okay, realistically you reach for your pudding cup or Gushers. Mom's note sits stained with grape jelly and chocolate snack-pack, totally disregarded. 

Now flash to today. Picture yourself at lunch. You're either sitting in a noisy student union grabbing Subway before your next class, running down the street to Subway in the 20 minute slot work allots you for lunchtime, or getting a thing of Skittles from the vending machine because work doesn't allow you to take a break at all (this is illegal you must know ). Wouldn't you give anything at this lunchtime moment to be opening up a Scooby-Doo or Power Rangers lunchbox and find a note with X's and O's on it from your boyfriend, hubby, or children.. OR if you're really desperate.. you're roommate (cough cough Lauryn). 

Do you think Mom put that note in your lunchbox for just the hell of it? No silly. She did it not only to bring a smile to your face, but to secretly let you know that you bring a smile to her face. I think we all forget that it's these small gestures that not only get the individual we do it for through the day but ourselves. The happier you are and the more you smile, the more endorphins you release into your body. This in turn makes you a healthier individual. Happier=Healthier. Healthier=living longer. So stop thinking for yourself. The  next time you're in the bathroom leave a post-it note for your hubby that states how much you love him or how sexy you think he is, or tell your wife that she is a wonderful mother. 

OR let your roomie know he or she is the best ever!!

By keeping the fact that you did this to yourself, it will be done in pure selflessness versus when you go around telling people making it look like bragging. You don't need to brag about being a good person. If you truly are a good person, people will notice. No need to flaunt it. 

Let Others Have The Glory

It's easy to get caught up in the limelight of life. I mean who doesn't appreciate being the All Star player of the State Championships or scoring the winning goal for the end of the year game. However I believe that sometimes we forget the others involved in the "games of life" that helped get you to that All-Star status or assisted in the end of the year goal.  It's these smaller part people (as we assume they are) that truly should awarded the glory. I challenge you to this: the next time you're getting glorified by others, take a look around you and see was your wing man during the ride. Then I want you to transfer all your glory to those right hand men or women involved

Learn to Live in the Present

My roommate asks me at least once or twice a week how I can be A-Okay with my ex boyfriend having a new girlfriend and be able to not hold a grudge against him for keeping me in a relationship of 5 years for nothing. There are a few things I tell her each time I answer her.
1. I was happy with my ex for those 5 years and wouldn't want to regret that happiness.
2. Regretting that happiness would in turn mean I regret the path that lead me to be the person I am today. The path that lead me to Hawaii and created the person I am today. A better person.
3. My ex tried his hardest to make me happy for those 5 years and became like family to me. I truly would want nothing more than happiness for my family.
4. Last but not least, living in the past and being unhappy about someone else's life is only going to bring me down, and well I don't want to be brought down.


So here's my advice. Let the past be the past. Stop letting the past control the present and possibly the future. If you continue to let the past rule your world you might miss out on what life is presenting you at this very moment. You may bypass that sexy man, that tried to look you in the eyes, but you miss it because you were too busy grumbling about something that happened a year ago. Be happy. Be present.