I have been quiet lately, observing people around me going about their life as I go about mine. They are raising families, running businesses, working their butts off, traveling, fixing up homes, sitting in hospitals, praying, meditating, hoping, reflecting. I have been listening to them share their fears and hurts. I have been listening to them celebrate joys. I am watching as my friends raise their kids and reflecting on how my parents raised me and my brother. No one I know was or is being raised the same exact way. Yet somehow I continue to connect with people regardless of what their childhood looked like. Parents who have probably all at some point thought they were doing it wrong and failing, well it doesn’t matter. Humans keep finding each other, keep loving each other and keep making more humans.
For the first time I am very clearly seeing something amazing. None of them are doing it the same way. None of them. From potty training, to wall painting, to business running, to relationshipping, every single human I know is doing something different.
When I sit down to write, my thoughts come out as my rightness. This is my way of doing life and it works for me so you could try it and it will probably work for you. But it’s not true. For so long I have seen the world in black and white. Good and bad. Right and wrong. And right now I am seeing the world in a haze of sunlight. It honestly doesn’t matter how we start our mornings, what we eat for lunch, how often we hit the gym, how much TV we watch, how much money we spend, or how we choose to care for our spaces. I honestly think we are all just doing life the best we can. Compromising, making sacrifices, setting priorities, making choices, and simultaneously feeling like a superhero and a failure.
I am going to be quiet so I can remember to see the wonder in how we keep doing it and how we keep finding each other and loving each other regardless of our differences.
