What if the Odds are Actually Forever in Our Favor?

A highlight of my day – {a few weeks ago} was reading the transcript of Arianna Huffington’s commencement address at Smith College. I’d recommend reading it yourself here.

The need to change our definitions of success resonated with me, but not quite as much as the Rumi quote she referenced: “Live as if everything is rigged in your favor.” And it got me thinking about the things that I could choose to see rigged in my favor. And as I did so, it became abundantly clear that this belief is the way to a life of gratitude because it really is only a matter of perspective.

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My days at work can be entirely unpredictable and demanding. No matter how much I try to prepare and plan ahead {lots!}, I get caught off guard and freak out – internally, thank God – pretty frequently. But hell, if this job hasn’t almost entirely evicted me out of my comfort zone. And on those days when I hit the mark, and plan ahead something my boss is excited about?! Those days – well, fleeting moments really – feel fantastic.

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Overwhelmed with the responsibilities of dog-sitting and fostering, to the point of losing my absolute shit recently, sometimes makes me want to leave an open bag of Purina One on the kitchen floor and run away never to be heard from again. But I am needed and I am loved by these four-legged and silent (for the most part… yay!) mutts, and there is so much nurturing to be done in my house. And after all, that is my specialty. And to think I’ve been waiting to find my purpose for so long! Sometimes it really is right in front of your face. {As a bonus I get to wake up to a tiny dog with horrible breath licking my eyelids… which, to be honest, totally grosses and weirds me out, but makes me laugh every damn morning. Chicken is the ultimate creeper.}

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Photoshop is hard. And all I want is to learn how to personally design graphics for my yet-to-be-born online handmade store. So exciting! But it’s all so slow moving as I struggle, and learn, and Google, and get carpal tunnel, and debate my creative endurance, and struggle some more. But nothing worth having comes easy, and I am going to be so proud to figure it out. All of it.

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I got to cuddle with 5-week-old kittens today, and THAT is always in my favor!

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I have yet to fall crazy in love with someone. And all I know is that something fantastic is probably going to happen someday.

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But, damn, that parking ticket I received today – my third for the month – that one’s harder to consider favorable. Although I should probably interpret it as – quit eating out for lunch so damn much, or carry more quarters, or find a parking lot, or eat faster at least. If things are rigged in my favor, I’ll take it as a reminder to be more intentional; but also that usually my lunches out are with co-workers who I enjoy immensely. If an expired meter is the price I have to pay, I’ll do it. Every. Time.