Well let me tell you - being an optimist for a WHOLE day is a lot harder than I thought! I think I realized yesterday that my standard M.O. when it comes to conversation is to complain! Until I tried really hard not to - I just didn't know how much I actually did.
It's not that life is all that terrible - it really isn't! I think I just pepper the conversational lulls with a general synopsis about how the world isn't going exactly how it should be - according to Lora. Like, I complained that it wasn't as warm as the day before....that a student in my 4th period was really getting on my nerves, that the traffic on the way home form school was annoying (this I voiced out loud to myself) you get the general drift. All of those things are legit when it comes down to it...but complaining about them really doesn't change them - does it? And it doesn't really make me feel any better either (not to mention those around me...)
My late husband (I don't know if I ever mentioned I was left a widow at a young age) used to have this mantra that absolutely drove me crazy. He'd say it all the time - whenever I'd begin to bemoan this or that. I think it was his own rendition of the serenity prayer - condensed. He'd say "Accept or change - but don't complain!" I'd cringe every time he said it. Because I knew he was right. Sometimes I'll still hear is voice echoing in the recesses of my mind when I start to get on a roll.
Now yesterday - I really, truly thought I could go a whole week without complaining. Geesh! I couldn't even make it past 4th period. But I'm going to keep trying. Just like I'm going to keep trying when it comes to this weight loss journey I'm on.
I know...Rome wasn't built in a day. But brick by brick - it did happen. Now I have to go write an e-mail to the parent of the student in my 4th period class. And I'm going to somehow have to tell her that her little darlin' is making my class miserable - without complaining. Won't that be a feat!
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