Head Above Water

I read this article on Gretchen Rubin's blog the other day.  I've been slowly reading her book, "The Happiness Project" and have been quite enjoying both the book and her blog.

This is the line, though, that caught me from the article:

"So, if someone’s stubborn, “fake” refusal to acknowledge the dark side of life is annoying you, consider whether he or she might be struggling to stay afloat, to resist being dragged down completely by someone or something. We think we know people, but really, we usually know very little."

I make a list here, every night, of the things in that day that have made me smile in those last 24 hours.  If you talk to me these days, I'll be honest about the major challenges that I'm facing in life right now.  About the mess that my life is.  But I'm also probably going to try to laugh at them.  I'm probably going to try to get you to laugh with me.  To recognize the mess, but to laugh with me.  I'd hardly be declared "fake" in my glee and cheerfulness.  I'm not exactly known for that.  But for the last year and a bit, I've been making an effort to choose joy, daily, amidst some pretty crazy circumstances.

It so happened that I read Rubin's blog post on a day where I was barely staying afloat.  Where any ability to laugh at the current disastrous state of my life had deserted me.  And that day, I found myself nodding my head in agreement.  And knowing I wanted to share this thought with all of you.  To remind myself to be less hasty in judging that super cheery person, and pause to remember all the times I've joked recently, in a last ditch effort to keep my head above water.