Fall Apart or Pull It Together?

Life is funny. It's like one big "master class" (to steal Oprah's term) where you are constantly learning one lesson after another. Well, that is, if you're open enough to receiving the lesson and you're willing and interested in growing from each and every experience. Before I even filed for divorce I made a conscious decision that I was not going to allow this huuuuuge life lesson to break me but I would learn everything I could from it and come out stronger on the other end. I decided that before I began. Everything in life is a choice and we get to decide.

I thought for sure when my divorce was final and I had settled into "new normal" things would just sail along perfectly fine and I'd coast through life for awhile. And then I realized today...nope, it's one lesson after another. Life gives you just enough time to catch your breath and then it throws another curve ball at you. It's kind of like resting between sets in the gym, if you will. Once your breathing has returned to normal, it's time to go at it again and hit that next set with a vengeance. With hard work and a determination to finish the total number of reps you decided on going in your muscles burn and you use every once of strength you have to complete the set. And then when you re-rack the weight (because you know gym etiquette and you do re-rack the weight) you feel that sense of accomplishment and pride and reflect back on thinking..."I didn't know if I could do it, but I set my mind to it and I did."

With the big lessons, there's always a choice: am I going to fall apart or pull it together? Sure, when I went through my divorce I was a sobby wet mess on my hardwood floors more times than I can count. I broke nearly every phone in the house and dented a few walls. It's okay to temporarily fall apart as long as you know you're going to pick yourself back up and pull it together. With 4 children depending on me, falling apart is never an option and even if they weren't in my life I know I would still choose to pull it together because that's just the way I'm made.

This morning when the alarm went off I hit snooze. I never do that. I didn't want to roll out of bed. Not so much because I was tired but I just felt like today would be a great day to hide, to be woe and stay under the covers. But I had to remind myself..."this is not who you are. This is not what you do. Get up and face it. Do what you do and get yourself to your happy place." I've trained myself to snap out of my funks and stay in the happy zone. And sometimes I'm faking it, but if I fake it long enough I'll eventually get there.

So, with all of the curve balls, the lessons, the extended sets that life wants to send my way...I say...BRING IT ON!!! I refuse to fall apart and every time I pull it together I will become better and I will become stronger!