Personal mantra(s)

Okay, I haven't been keeping up with the daily topic challenges over at The Red Lily. Bad Dee, no cookie. (Inside joke). Instead of trying to catch up on the last several days, I decided to pick the one topic that spoke to me the most, so here goes.

What is your Mantra(s)? How did you come by them? What mantra(s) did you have in the past that you have changed?

I have a few, and at times it seemed like repeating them was the only way to get thru things.

1. The Good Lord won't put more on me that He knows I can handle.

I've faced some really tough challenges in my lifetime. Rape, divorce, betrayal, being a non-custodial mom, my husband fighting in a war, loneliness, health issues, death of loved ones, and cancer, just to name a few. There were times where I felt like "I can't do this" and "I'll never get thru this", but telling myself this one little quote made all the difference. I don't go to church, but I have faith in God and I pray daily. In my younger years, I had the attitude of "Why me?" when difficult times came about.

Now, I look at each challenge and rough patch in the road as a chance to grow, become a stronger person, and hopefully set a good example for others. As my friends can attest to, personal strength is a HUGE thing to me. I know now that I could've never become a strong person without facing difficult and challenging times. Sometimes, I jokingly say that I wish the good Lord didn't have so much faith in me. But I know that He'll never bring me to something that He won't bring me through.

2. Bloom where you're planted.

I saw a cutesy little flowerbed decoration once with this quote on it, and it struck me as so profound that I never forgot it. As a matter of fact, I took it to heart and live it every day. Being a military wife, changes and moves are inevitable. There have been duty stations that I absolutely loved and others that I hated from the beginning. But because I'm the type to make the best of whatever life throws at me, this quote suits me to a "T". Our current duty station is a perfect example. I absolutely despise this town, and there are times when it feels like it's literally sucking the life out of me. I've had to repeat this mantra so many times over the past few months. I *make* myself look at the positive things this town/base have to offer. It's taken me longer than usual this time, but I'm determined to BLOOM here, not wither away.

3. The most important things in life aren't things.

I even painted this one on a wooden sign and hung it over my kitchen sink. In today's society, so many of us get wrapped up material things and keeping up with the Jones' that we forget what's *really* important. What's that old country song about "a 4-car garage and we're still building on...maybe it's time we got back to the basics of love"? In society's rat race and pursuits to have more and be more, family, God, and simple pleasures in life fall through the cracks.

One of my fondest memories of this past summer was sitting in our back yard watching The Hub jumping on the trampoline with our daughters. Another one was sitting on the floor at my Grandma's house and playing dominoes with my mom and my daughters. That's four generations of our family laughing and having a good time just *being* together. Another was walking along the beach looking for shells with The Hub.

Those who know me know how I LOVE landscapes, the sky, and nature. I have TONS of pictures of different landscapes I've seen in my life. The beauty of it all sometimes stops me in my tracks. When's the last time you stopped and really looked around you? Can you remember the last time you saw a gorgeous sunset and stopped to watch it for a while? Have you ever just picked a direction and drove just to see what was there? The Hub and I took off from South Carolina all the way to just outside Bristol, TN one weekend just because we'd never been there. We ended up in a small mining town that was tucked away in the mountains, and it was beautiful! If we'd never gone there, I'd have a few less mental pictures of quiet, serene landscapes decorating my memories.

How often do you get a chance to be totally alone in peace and quiet with your thoughts? So many people are so caught up in so many activities and going in twenty directions at once that they never just STOP and listen to their own breathing. We've become so rushed and hectic that we (in general) don't take time for ourselves. Do you really know YOU? Do you take care of yourself? I do. I like the woman I see looking back at me from the mirror. She's a pretty cool chick. ;)

I could go on and on about what's important in my life, but in an effort to not write a novel, I won't.

And last but certainly not least...

4. Friends are the family we get to choose.

We are born into and marry into our families, and often our relatives drive us absolutely bananas. But we love them and they ARE family, so whaddya do? But what about our friends?

I see my friends not simply as people I like and have things in common with. We confide in each other, cry on each other's shoulders, lift each other up, laugh together, hang out together, and so much more. We have our ups and downs and don't always agree on things. But we respect each other. We're there for each other NO MATTER WHAT. We love each other. These friends are my family that I *chose*.