It is no secret that I have been a little down and out recently. (Hence the no writing thing — I don’t want to dwell.)

Blame it on the weather, blame it on my job, blame it on inconsiderate people. Whatever the case, I haven’t been myself, and that is bringing me down.

I don’t know what changed, but I want things to go back to normal.

The other night, Lily and I were discussing this, and she passed along the following quote:

“Wherever you are, be all there.”
(Thanks, Lily. And Jim Elliot.)

Read that again.

It’s cool, I’ll wait.

I need to squeeze whatever I can out of my town while I’m still here, looking toward the future but keeping my feet on the ground for now.

I am a firm believer in everything happens for a reason — good OR bad — and there is one behind me still being in this town.

With that in mind, I’m going to strive to do that more: to live in the moment here while I can and to find a purpose in every day.

That being said, I have a few bones to pick that will NOT be tolerated with my new mindset:

I won’t let others bring me down to their level or make me feel bad about myself.
I won’t feel the need to justify, especially something deeply-rooted.
I won’t allow myself to second guess my instincts. (Or let anyone question these said instincts.)

Because life is too short. We should all be seizing the day without the weight of the world on our shoulders.