Chippewa Valley 5ive for Women The Chippewa Valley’s Premier Magazine for Women!
Related Articles
Do you ever feel like God, or the universe, or whatever else is desperately trying to tell you something? You know, when the same topic gets brought up time and time again with family and friends. Then it comes up again at the grocery store with the checkout clerk, and then while in the dental chair. All right, maybe I am getting a little too specific. Suffice it to say, the theme of mindset has been on my heart lately.
Each of us face trials in our everyday lives. It can be as small as getting your car booted in the university parking lot because you refuse to pay for a student parking pass (totally not a personal experience) or having a hard day of nursing school. These trials might be something more significant, such as navigating a new family dynamic in times of change or watching one of the best people you know lose her sweet momma to cancer. Life is hard sometimes—and the sadness is real. I have come to learn that some situations will not become “less sad” no matter what I do to try to “move on.” Our pain will not get smaller, but our world will get bigger. Meaning maybe we stop trying to “move on” from the hard things, but allow more room for life to grow around the pain.
Allowing life to grow around pain looks different for everyone in each situation. For me, it’s about shifting my mindset and expectations. I’ve started to appreciate the things that make me feel happiest on an average day, like wearing my cowboy boots and Packer jersey to the library to study. I find joy while watching a live stream of “little” brother Gus playing his favorite game on a Friday night. And it’s there when my best friend sends me a link to our favorite song every Sunday, despite not having time to catch up (grad school, man). I get it by listening to old country music in the shotgun of my dad’s truck and spending the day with him at the cabin. I find happiness when I make silly faces in front of the deer camera in the middle of the woods, so Grandpa finds it later and laughs, and when Grandma and I make lunch together on a fall day. I find joy in planning a visit home to surprise my mom. I find it when I listen to my youngest brother, Quinn, brag about his “strong big brother Henry.” I find joy watching my big brother move from Minnesota to Tennessee to California in less than a year—somehow making great friends and memories in each place despite only being there for a short time. I find happiness when I talk to my grandma about what I am learning in nursing school. It’s there when I dance around in Wisconsin dive bars with my cousins. And when I watch friends I grew up with earn their white coats or pass their CPA exams.
These moments are just the start of what makes this life so special. And these interactions do not make the trials of everyday life go away or make the hard stuff . . . well, they don’t make the hard stuff any “less hard.” But these moments have allowed for the growth of happiness around my sadness.
So, my friends, I’ll end with what I was reminded of in the dental chair last week. Our mindset influences the way we live our lives. When bad things happen, we do not have to ignore them or “move on.” Instead, with time, we allow the light to come back in. I am very thankful that I have so many people who bring that light.
