Sometimes life sucks. Sometimes it seems like the world is against you and everyone hates you and WHY ME, MY LIFE IS SO AWFUL, THIS ISN’T FAIR, GET ME A BEER STAT. Sometimes you get jealous of people that seem to “have it all”: you know the kind. Those people who always have smiles on their faces that you want to smack off on a cranky Monday morning; those people who post exotic Facebook pictures and statuses about being so “blessed” while you post photos of your messy bedroom and statuses about traffic jams and stupid people. Ultimately, life can be rough. But just when it becomes so unbearable that you want to completely throw in the towel and stick your head in a dumpster to numb the pain, good things can happen.
When good things happen, I don’t always know what to do. I don’t expect them, and I certainly don’t expect them to last. Sure, I lead a fairly pleasant life overall. Despite struggles I always tend to be happy – and if I’m not, it’s nothing that a little bit of whiskey and a sappy movie can’t fix. But I’m talking about everything going right. When the stars align and you think, “Wow, how lucky am I?” and breathe a sigh of real, true, utter release. When literally nothing in your life is going wrong, for the very first time in countless months. Those moments are fleeting, and I don’t think we know how to appreciate them, because we’re so concerned about what happens when they pass us by, that “moment after.”
Sometimes, we just need to stop and smell the roses. We just need to accept that, eventually, something will go our way; it’s inevitable. And when it does we need to savor every moment. Because while you’re sitting around musing over familial issues and money problems and the endless piles of stress plaguing every aspect of your life, good fortune may sneaking up from behind and, next thing you know, life could be nice. Next thing you know, you’re loving your family and going to happy hours and enjoying your job and sleeping through the night and being invited to live-read your writing at professional dance performances (okay, maybe that one’s just me). You could be thoroughly happy, through and through, for the first time in a very long time.
Feel the love while it lasts, friends. ‘Cause I’m sure your life isn’t done sucking, by any stretch of the imagination. But what’s life if you don’t appreciate it when it’s great? Life isn’t about moping, it’s about celebrating whenever you possibly can. It’s about truly living when good things happen.
Amanda Matteo