My boyfriend Matt joined me and my family in Dallas over the Christmas holiday. He’d never seen where I grew up and we all had a good time showing him around.
Towards the end of our trip, he surprised me when he asked if he could see some of our family picture albums. He was really curious to learn more about how I had grown up. My mom pulled out all of the picture books she’d put together over the years and we even pulled out my junior high and high school yearbooks. We saw pictures from my parents honeymoon in Hawaii, me and my brother’s baby pictures, my old sports team pics and even those scary pics with my ‘90’s Texas hair that was WAY too big. (fortunately this didn’t scare him off)
As we looked through family history laughing and telling the stories of our adventures, I couldn’t help but notice how simple life seemed back then. Even though I know there were worries, stress and troubles, all I could remember were the good times: friends, sports victories, being with my grandparents, lemonade stands, building rafts for the creek behind our house, the go cart my dad built us, my first car, bike racing and high school graduation.
This got me to thinking. The things I stress about today won’t even be important tomorrow. I won’t even be able to remember exactly what was on my mind today next week! So why even worry? Why let the details of life drag me down? Why not just clear out my cluttered brain, relax and maximize the good times now?
I invite you to join me in focusing on creating more fun memories and letting go of all the silly little details that can bog you down and ultimately make you less happy. I don’t know what usually fills your daily thoughts…unimportant details about work, focusing on what others may think of you or just general negativity about the state of our country and world. It doesn’t matter what it is. Just focus on the good. The simple things are all that matter in the end. I promise you won’t remember the negative stuff later (except that 90’s hair…yikes!)
