Perspective

Sometimes when I am feeling down I try to think hard about what is that is really missing from my life. It's far too easy to convince myself that if I had more money or was thinner or had something I could be happier. But the fact of the matter is what is almost always missing is just perspective.

A true story: David was gone for most of the summer on a consulting job. One morning, I awoke to find all 5 of our cats WAY too interested in my slippers lying beside my bed. I got out of bed and lifted my slippers to find one very unhappy frog under them. The cats all converged, and with my husband 500 miles away, I had no choice but to wrestle the poor frog away from the cats myself. This is probably TMI, but I generally sleep nekkid... so there I am, nekkid, holding a very unhappy frog with 5 very excited cats wanting their toy back. With one hand holding the frog, I wrapped as much of myself in a blanket as I could, and went out onto the side porch to release the frog. I muttered to myself and the frog, "Dang, it, I bet no one in the world is having a bad a day as I am already."

The frog turned around, gave me the stink eye and said, "YOU? YOU? You are having a bad day? I just got attacked by 5 freaking cats!" Well, okay, he didn't actually say the words, but I saw it in his little froggy face. And I realized that no, I was not having the worst day in the world, and in fact, I probably was not even in the top 10. And I most definitely was not having a worse day than the frog.

The next time you are feeling down, perhaps needing a little motivation, step back, take a deep breath, and remind yourself, "At least I'm not the frog!"