Happy Simplicity/Merry Christmas!

               Today, a girl started talking to me about the Holidays, and what I had planned for Christmas. As I finished telling her of my Holiday traditions, she smiled and told me how her family doesn't do much for Christmas. I asked her about it, and she explained that her Father works on Christmas Day, and how when she was younger, her family didn't even acknowledge Christmas. She told me that her family doesn't exchange gifts, or cook a big meal or anything. It evidently made me more sad than it did her. This was her "norm". She definitely was not sharing this as a complaint.
               The past two or three years, Christmas has kind of died down in my family. We haven't had a tree, and gifts are picked out ahead of time and either received well before Christmas, or just not wrapped, and all fancy Christmas morning. We haven't even put up a tree. And this had made me sad. Nothing about my house is Christmas-y, and there are times I stop myself from trying to feel jealous when I see other people having lights on their houses, cute decorations in their lawns, and as I scroll through the endless (yet beautiful) pictures of decorated Christmas trees. But as I said, it's because I've seen the Christmas spirit sort of...die over the years. This wasn't my norm.
               But listening to this girl tell me how simple Christmas was in her household, and just the smile she had on her face, made me take a step back, and again use my mantra, someone always has it worse than us. Sometimes around Christmas, we can get caught up in presents, and decorating, and it's definitely normal, and understandable, but things like this can really "bring you back to earth" so to speak. Like I said, not only her situation, but the fact that she is just so positive about it. She wasn't complaining, she wasn't wanting sympathy. It was just as if you were to ask "what are you doing for Christmas?" and her normal answer was that she wasn't really doing anything.
               Over the past eight or nine months, I've really stuck to the saying that someone always has it worse than us. We hear these stories on the news, see them all the time quite honestly, but do we actually stop and think about it? You might be saying "Yeah Becka, you've said this a million times before." and my response to that would be yes, I know that, and I won't stop. Everyone has their own way of being humbled, and taking that phrase into consideration is mine.
               Today has most definitely made me more appreciative of what I do have, and made me not dwell on the things that I don't. Christmas has never been about gifts for me, but little things like not having a tree made me sad, but not anymore. This will definitely not be my last blog beforehand, but I'd like to wish you a very Merry Christmas! I hope reading this will make you appreciate it this year a little bit more. =)


Prayers&Positivity
Becka

I Believe in You

        I believe that what goes around, comes around. I am mainly talking about the positives. "Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself."(Ralph Waldo Emerson). Not only does good karma repay you, but it just feels good to know that you can help someone, and make their day better. 

              I've written another blog on this topic specifically, but people often ask me how I stay so positive and how admiring it is. I stay positive because I know what it is like to feel the complete opposite. I've been in that place where I felt like no one cared, everything was so negative, and I didn't feel like it would matter if I wasn't here anymore. But one thing I've learned is that even if it doesn't seem like it, someone out there loves you. Someone wants the best for you, someone wants you to stay strong and be happy. You could be reading this and saying "yeah right, easy for you to say." Maybe you have a bad relationship with your family, and your friends are drifting away from you. If you can't think of one person that knows you are worth it, I do. I want you to not look at how far you have left to go, and not look at how wrong everything may seem right now. I want you to focus on how far you've come, and what could be going right in your life. If you don't think you're blessed, feel your pulse. You are here for a reason.

            I met a young girl recently, who was crying by herself. I had never met her before, but I approached her and asked her what was wrong. She proceeded to tell me about the hardships she faced, and fought my advice with "but you're pretty, you don't get it." I started to share personal stories with her, and how I overcame difficulties I was faced with. For the first time in thirty minutes, she cracked a smile as I wiped away her tears. I gave her a hug and reassured her I was there for her if she ever needed someone to talk to. 

             These instances are what motivates me to keep doing what I do. If I can help or inspire one person, I am fulfilling God's purpose for my life. We need to encourage one another, and lend a hand to those in need. When I reach out to other people, or even get surprised when people approach me and tell me that I've unknowingly helped them, I can guarantee you that I am even happier about it than they are! 

             Sometimes all it takes is ONE person to say "I Believe in You". 

Prayers&Positivity 

Becka