While I’m sitting here with a laundry list of all of the things I could be doing right at this very moment, I find myself paralyzed with a thought that I just can’t shake: perspective is everything.
Here’s how the story goes: Tony and I took a walk together yesterday and he shared many of the thoughts I actually have when we have long weekends or breaks in the winter. I want to be someplace warm! And when we are stuck at home in the snow, it feels like everyone else in the world is someplace warm, having more fun than us. Can I just tell you it’s SCARY, TERRIFYING, how much Anthony and I think alike.
We just so happened to have a 5-day weekend of togetherness. Need I say more.
Anyhow, I let Tony know that when I was his age, I was the kid going on trips to warm weather places over break. And guess what? I always wished I was home with my friends. We talked about how if we’re always looking at what other people have, we’ll miss all of the GOOD right in front of us! So. Drumroll. Guys. This. Is. Huge. Tony then told me FIVE good things that happened each day we were home together.
Perspective shift? You betcha. I think the coolest lesson in all of this FOR ME is that what I’m learning and practicing in recovery is something my children can apply to their own lives. When I was in the thick of my addiction, I could only see the bad. The negative. The doom and gloom. But when I look for the good, or God, or have a little gratitude, my brain slowly starts shifting and I can be happy just where I’m at. Right where my hands are.
Taking a page my from MY MAN, TONY! Here is “the good” I could find from the long weekend together!
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