This week, I had to face two stressful and unexpected situations.  I felt attacked and scared.  And then I just felt God calling me into a corner to say, “Chill out, girl. I’ve got you.”  It was almost something one of my students would say during my two TFA years.  Chill out, man.  Chillax (remember that one?). There’s only one person in the world who can stop you from achieving your potential and that’s you.  Be patient and persevere.

There’s lot of things that are hard to understand, but I have learned that positive people focus on the blessings of every situation.  I listen to the folks around me.  The husband has cancer?  That same family says, “Thank God his beautiful, resourceful wife got him into the best facility.”  The kid has a rare disease?  “Thank God he is responding to the treatment.” The addict is spiraling?  “Thank God people have come around the family to form a nest of love and protection.”  It’s not that we are discounting the very real pain people are going through.  It’s that these same people who are hurting so much are focusing their thoughts on the positive.

My two stressful experiences (that pale in comparison) briefly transformed me into a walking Munch painting.  And then I  looked for the blessing–I appreciated my friends, who alerted me to one of the problems and made me feel cared for.  I appreciated my mom who said, “You’ll write the posts even better the second time!”  I appreciated myself in that I was able to calm down and look for a solution. I appreciated life, with all of its ups and downs.  As my friend says, “This is only a journey.”  We are lucky if we can just put one foot in front of the other sometimes.

God helps us on our way.  For some reason, God has put the movie Waiting to Exhale in my path four times in the last two weeks.  Waiting to exhale.  I want to say to myself, hurry up and exhale already.  You have had so many wonderful experiences in your life, and you will have so many more.  Just breathe. Instead of stressing, look for the blessing.  Not in an unemotional way, but in a way that says, “I want to keep going.  My story deserves to be told, and my friends are wonderful companions on my journey.  More than anything, I want to be a role model of courage and perseverance for my kids.”  Clarification of why I am doing all this is a blessing I have found and treasure.  Thank you, God.