Appreciating Life

I've noticed lately just being out and looking at Facebook statuses, that most people want or feel like they need more and bigger things to make their lives better. They could have a lot already, good friends, cute boyfriend, good grades, but they'll still complain and say things like "I wish I had a convertible" or "I wish I could go do this and be here."

I won't lie, I wish I could go travel and see London, Ireland, Hawaii, even just New York. They're things I'd love to do at some point but if I don't do them I won't die. I'll be a little dissapointed but I feel that when I'm lying on my death bed the things I'll think the most about will be my friends, family, past loves, pets, and a bunch of little memories that make me smile.

It's just that most people don't see these things as enough. They could have great people in their life but instead of feeling thankful and blessed they keep complaining that either their life sucks or that they want more. I've been known to this myself, a lot actually. Only now I'm starting to realize that maybe I should stop complaining. Of course that's impossible since no one can stay completely happy for a long amount of time but you can be content for a while. I'm just beginning to see that I should be thankful that I have good friends, family, and I like my school.

I used to think about all of the bad times when I would lie in bed trying to fall asleep. I don't know why I did this, I guess I just liked making myself miserable sometimes. Now I see that this is really unhealthy. That's why I think about the good things before I go to bed. Every time I get a bad memory I just replace it with something funny or a good one. I'll think about the time I ran around 6 Flags with my best friend singing "Who Let the Dogs Out", watching Troll 2 with my brother and laughing at how stupid it was, or the time at camp when my friend and I got locked out of our cabin and were trying to find someone who could pick locks. It's stuff that just makes me laugh or puts me in a good mood and I feel really thankful for the people in my life right now. My friends are awesome and I wouldn't trade them for anything.

I wish more people would do that. To be honest life is much easier to get through that way and all of these little things honestly make life worth it to me. Just yesterday when I was hanging out with a friend we were standing outside and petting her horses and I thought, "you know I might live in a stupid little town and IL might not be the prettiest state but at least I have some amazing friends around to make it suck a little less." I guess when I'm older and I have my job, living somewhere else, maybe married, I'll look back at this place and I won't think of how much I hated this town but of the good memories I've had here with my friends.

Sure not everyday is great and it's easy to slip into pessimistic thoughts when things don't go the way you want them too but sometimes they go wrong so a better thing will come instead. At least that's how it's been with me. So instead of spending your entire life complaining and waiting for better things you might as well just be happy with what's going on now. You could be missing out on great memories if you never stop to look around and appreciate what you really have. You find out how lucky you really are and I'm starting to feel pretty lucky.