Just Do It

I think Nike really has it right with their "Just Do It" slogan. Sometimes life really stinks and there seems to be no end in sight to the madness. It can seem overwhelming or even hopeless. Sometimes life doesn't make sense and things happen to people that shouldn't. Sometimes you wonder if you can make it through all that has been thrown at you.

Maybe you find yourself slogging through your days getting only what absolutely needs to get done ever so thankful when your head hits the pillow that you made it through. What got you through that day? You just did it.

Maybe that next day you find that you are able to not only get through the day, but you are also able to find a tad bit of joy, not too much mind you, but a tad bit. And when your head hits the pillow that night you find that your day was better than yesterday - still a long way off from the 'good old days', but still better than it had been the day before. You know what got you there? You just did it.

After several more days of getting through your days you find a little bit more joy in each day until one night when your head hits the pillow you realize that you actually had a pretty decent day. Again, I ask you, what got you to that point? You just did it.

Day in and day out we all just do it. Some of us are able to do it better than others for a while, and then the pendulum of life's circumstances change and where you were once slogging through your days and your buddy was flying high you are now the one flying high and your buddy is slogging through life. But no matter what your current circumstances are you are getting through them by just doing it.

I see a light at the end of the tunnel now because I have gone through so many days just doing it and doing it again and again. Even in the darkness I kept at it because life demanded that I do so as a mother and a wife. Was it always pretty? Absolutely not. Were there times when I thought there was no way I could do it anymore? You bet. But I did it anyway.

I am glad that life has forced me to keep at it even when I wanted to push the 'pause' button and just get my crap together without all of the day to day stuff. To just have the time to figure out some pretty heavy stuff going on in my life. I am glad that I couldn't stop my life because, you know what?  I am super proud of myself now. I got through, and will most likely have to get through again and again, some pretty life altering things. But I am stronger now than I was then because I was able to make some headway even with the daily grinding of life's everyday requirements. Am I out of the woods yet? No way. I still have so much farther to go until the light is no longer viewed through my eyes with tunnel vision. But I know that someday, with a little bit of hope, and a lot of stick-to-it-ness I can get there. I underestimated my strength. I mistakenly saw my despair as a weakness. But I will do that no more. Despair is a blessing in disguise because it reflects to you, from the heights of joy, just how far you have come.

I am a strong, powerful woman - that is Real. I am able to see that now only because I did what Nike encourages people to do every single day. I just did it.