Question of the Month

One happy little girl!

January Question of the Month: In the daily ‘trying to fit a quart into a pint jug,’ what is the best advice you’ve ever received, or what words do you live by?

The best advice, and words that I live by, I received from my mom. That advice is: Make yourself happy first. Sounds simple right? I'm sure that some may view it as a bit selfish as well, wanting to put others first and whatnot. But for me, this has worked in life. The whole thought behind this advice is that you can't make anyone else happy if you're not happy yourself. And I don't mean you always have a smile on your face or are fake cheerful or something, but generally in life you have to be satisfied with your decisions and know and trust that they are the best for you and those around you.

Since I live by this advice examples are easy to come by. It stares me in the face every day as a mom. If I don't take time to do things for myself, away from Baby K, I start to get a little cranky. This may be a terrible thing to say, but I am a much better mother if I have some time away to do whatever it is that makes me feel like a person again- could be writing, French lessons, some sort of exercise, dinner with friends, time alone with BK- just something that refuels me and things that make me happy. People also often comment how happy Baby K is; I'm a firm believer she is this way because she has two parents who are generally happy people. She can sense it.

As a social worker, this one was easy. Our profession often talks about the importance of self-care, but is the worst about not practicing it. It's the same concept as above though. I cannot care for people in need if I'm in turmoil and not doing well mentally. As a social worker, if you hate your job and the people you work with, what good are you really going to do for people? I'm going to go ahead and guess not very much.

And of course in a relationship, I'm not sure how two unhappy people even begin to build a relationship on a solid foundation. If one person is not happy with their self, it is going to flow over into all aspects of the relationship, making one or both question actions, motives and generally bring in a lot of self-doubt on various levels. Ultimately you're still two individuals who have come into a partnership together, and if one of the partners is not happy, both will feel it.

Okay, so now that you've had my philosophical post for the month, there's only one thing to do...go out and be happy!