Celebration

I was reading something the other day, the gist of which was basically: "Go where you are celebrated, not just tolerated." It's really worth dissecting this concept. And I think it makes all the difference between joy and mundane...between living and just existing. Going where you are celebrated is like living a real, genuine smile. Every day. Going where you are just tolerated is like a shrug. Every day.

It's good advice for anyone. So often, we forget how much we really deserve...we forget what's possible, because we become so used to the status quo.

Several years ago, on a different blog, I wrote:

The world is waiting for you. It's waiting with open arms and a smile. All you have to do is live.
Though this attempt to live can be the single greatest thing you ever do, it is in fact probably the most difficult thing you will ever do. This is not to say that "living" requires complete happiness every moment of every day. Living life means experiencing the bad with the good, but when the bad consistently and greatly outweighs the good, you are not living. You may be trying to live, but you are not living. 

Do not confuse existing with living. The two are very different indeed. 

Somehow, we forget to live. Really live. It's difficult to even pinpoint exactly how this happens, but it does. All too often. And before we know it, we are lost in the crowd, lost in the troubles, lost in the pain, lost in the life we think is a life simply because it is a reality. Maybe no one ever told you this, but...

You can change your reality.

I still believe that. We don't have to change ourselves. We can change our realities if we are not happy with them. We can choose to go where we are celebrated and not just tolerated. We should do that. We deserve that. 

This is the reason why - in addition to seeking such a life for myself - I will celebrate and not just tolerate. That is what makes life worthwhile. It's about really feeling, it's about not wasting the time we are given, it's about being genuine, it's about gathering close the stuff that's meaningful and discarding the stuff that isn't. If I bother to have you in my life, I care deeply. I will give you my undivided attention. I will tell you my honest thoughts. I will remind you that you are important. I will take care of you. I will make you smile. I will cheer you up. I will not take you for granted. I will do my best. Always.