Straight talk about the small stuff: don’t sweat it

I possess little patience for complainers although, admittedly, complaints come far too easy for me. Yet, if you say it’s too hot—and you live in Minnesota where winters last forever or you live in Arizona where, you know, it’s a desert—I will likely show little to no sympathy. #SorryNotSorry. This has become larger than life over the past couple of weeks as I watched a dear and beautiful friend of nearly two decades lose her fight against cancer. As I embraced a husband who prepared to say goodbye to his bride of 22 years. While I hugged a daughter about to lose her mother and a best friend about to lose her confidante. Several years ago, I, myself, walked through the shadow of the valley of death—the days and months following my husband’s near-fatal car accident. But, once life resumed an air of normality, it was easy to forget how unimportant the little things are. Let’s try not to.

Do you sweat the small stuff?

Photo source: http://www.peacetothepeople.com.

Stop and smell the ocean breeze

[Image credit: Rawich]

Yesterday I had one of those days where I spent a little too much time pacing myself (i.e., looking for excuses).  My 15-minute breakfast after working out took almost an hour.  My chore time turned into chatting with friends and “playing” online.  I did get a good 40 minutes in at the gym, however, plus wrote out my grocery list and menu for the week, showered and wrote a little bit.  But if I plan to make more time to escape into my literary fantasy world, then I need to do less pacing and more crossing tasks off my list.  Or maybe I simply self-inflict too much in too little time and who cares if there’s cat fur all over the floor and that the dusting hasn’t been done for four days.  I’m definitely my own worst enemy.  Especially when I know that 20 or 30 years down the line I doubt I’ll be thinking: Wow, I’m so glad I kept up with all my chores.  Instead, what I like to believe you’ll hear me say is: I’m so thankful I followed my dreams, stopped to smell the ocean breeze and quit sweating the small stuff.  

Are you a work first, play later kind of person or just the opposite?