Rascal Flatts, 2006
I hope the days come easy and the moments pass slow
And each road leads you where you want to go
And if you're faced with the choice and you have to choose
I hope you choose the one that means the most to you
And if one door opens to another door closed
I hope you keep on walkin' ‘til you find the window
If it's cold outside, show the world the warmth of your smile
But more than anything, more than anything
My wish for you
Is that this life becomes all that you want it to
Your dreams stay big, your worries stay small
You never need to carry more than you can hold
And while you're out there gettin' where you're gettin' to
I hope you know somebody loves you
And wants the same things too
Yeah, this is my wish
Yesterday, I received an email from my sweet friend and editor that read, "It was just a little all over the place ...". And that really caused me to look at myself. When my writing is disjointed, typically, my heart and my head are disjointed too.
After taking a long hard look in the mirror, I realized that I was looking for encouragement, but I had not been giving any to others. Uh oh.
Life as I know it is difficult. Having a spouse who works a lot and can't help as much as you like is hard. Not feeling like you have the money to do exactly what you want (or what your friends are doing) is hard. Raising three kids is hard. Finding a job is hard.
However, deciding to have a cheerful disposition is easy. Encouraging others is easy. Doing the best you can with what you have is easy. You’ve just get out there and do it. It is a choice, plain and simple.
My last half marathon was hard. I had to get up at 3 a.m. to drive two hours to run this race by myself and then drive home. The course was hard. The race before had been a personal best for me. This race was not.
But during the last mile, just when I didn't think I would ever get to the finish and an EMT asked me if I was okay, it was easy to smile and give her the thumbs up. It was easy to smile at others who were running past me, even though I thought I might die! It was super easy to give a huge hug to a member of my twitter family that finished that race as her first half marathon!
So it is time for me to get back to the root of this column and that root is to be an encouragement. That is what I love about writing it. Military life is not easy, but together, encouraging one another, it is a little easier and a lot more fun.
Give me a shout out on Twitter or Facebook and tell me where you need some encouragement! We are all in this together!
Strength and Courage ... sby