52 Weeks of Gratitude

week 24: A book you have learned from

I have taken away a variety of things from many different books, but when I read this week’s challenge, one book stood out in my mind; that book is:

Tuesdays with Morrie.

In the story Mitch, a former student of Morrie’s meets with Morrie for 14 consecutive Tuesdays. Mitch learns more about life through these Tuesdays than he ever has in his lifetime. I sympathized with Mitch, because he greatly describes his feelings when Morrie is put on oxygen. Although I was very young, I remember having similar feelings when I saw my grandmother on oxygen, and even more so as I got older and realized what life must have been like for grandma, needing an oxygen machine in order to “live” if you want to call it that, and then going through the same emotions with Neil’s grandfather.

My initial take away from this book is that life, no matter how difficult or unfair it may be,  is worth living! Our lives are a privilege, that every single one of us take for granted. We are able to love, dream, imagine, create things, explore, learn, feel, have passions. Do you ever just stop and think about how majestic that is? We all started as itty bitty beings, no bigger than an apple seed, and now we are full grown adults, with the ability to think, to inspire, to learn, to do great things! Our minds are capable of  so much!! I gave up my desires of chasing money, and now I’m doing something that I absolutely love, and I work for an organization that helps people!! One of my many passions! I am actually making more than I ever have, and it’s a decent amount for the area i live in! I am working with my husband to make changes to our home, so that it will be our own personal oasis. It’s not a huge house, and it needs some work, but right now it is ours, and no matter where we go we always enjoy coming home,and  once we are finished, we will love coming home that much more! I don’t know about you, but when I am on my death bed I don’t want to have any regrets, I want to be able to say that I chased my dreams, and even if I don’t get to knock off any of the items on my bucket list, at least I can say that I was genuinely happy. It really is that simple! Life is too short to be anything but happy.

So my advice to you is chase your passions, do what makes you happy! Stop focusing so much on material items, you do not have to keep up with the Jones’! More than likely, they are living above their means, spending money that they don’t have to impress people that they don’t even like. Don’t be like the Jones’ be like (insert last name here)! Be YOU! Be HAPPY! Do things to encourage others to be happy,  and if you haven’t already, read Tuesday’s with Morrie. Just make sure you have a box of tissues next to you!

Love & Life lessons,

K