The Laughter of Children...

I love this time of year.  The air has that hint of cozy winter nights to come and a crisp, clean aroma.  Pumpkins are keeping front doors company and the leaves are displaying their brilliant yellows and reds.  This time of year always makes me think back to my childhood - growing up in the mountains of Colorado.  There are few things in this world that I consider to be more beautiful than a mountain side covered in Aspen trees during the Fall.  And, of course, Fall meant that soon I'd be swishing down the face of one of the ski slopes without a care in the world!

In the craziness of our busy adult lives, it's hard to remember what being a child was like.  As a child, all we wanted was to be a grown-up.  As an adult, I often times wish for those carefree days when the most pressing issue was what role I would be cast in for that year's Nutcracker or which slope I'd ski on Saturday. 

It's too bad that we can't be born old and die young.  If we could, we'd have the knowledge that years of experience brings us that would allow us to appreciate those carefree childhood days and not wish them away.   There's no telling what science will bring us in the future.  Perhaps this will be possible. But for those of you reading this right now I think we're out of luck. 

But that doesn't mean all hope is lost...

I've found myself thinking about my childhood a lot lately - smiling at the good memories and laughing at the things I thought were life-altering when I was 10 years old (if only I had known!) And I realized I was letting myself be a child again - I was laughing just because.  And during that moment, all the stress in the world melted away.  I felt refreshed and rejuvenated.  I felt like I could face whatever "adult stresses" came my way.

We don't need to be children again physically.  But we need to allow ourselves time to be children again.  In an age where all we do is work and worry, listen to politicians go at one another and disagree over the referee's call in last night's game, it's awfully hard to express the light-hearted laughter of a child.

Whether with our loved ones or in private, if we all learned to laugh like a child once a day, perhaps we'd stop wishing to be the carefree child of our past and enjoy the life we've been given as an adult.

Milton Berle once said "laughter is an instant vacation."

hahahahaha!!!  Happy travels!!

-Emily

“What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger…”

Over the years, I have come to loath this saying.  When I was 12 years old, my mother was diagnosed with cancer.  Since then, there hasn’t been a day that has gone by that I haven’t had to face up to this fact.  I’ve lost count of how often someone has told me “what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger,” and I’ve always wanted to hit them for it.  While I still have trouble applying this to my mom’s situation, I find it kind of funny how aptly it describes my own life.  Again, what’s with the irony??

My spinal surgery was awful and the recovery has been anything but easy.  Yet, it didn’t kill me and I am finding that I am stronger in spite of it.  This surgery gave me the gift of time, which in turn gave me the gift of introspective thought.  In the age of email, smart phone and Internet, it’s rare that any of us sit down and think about ourselves anymore.   And it’s sad that it takes a personal tragedy or a major injury to force us to do it.

Something that I have discovered is that sometimes the biggest obstacle to achieving personal happiness isn’t finding what makes us happy, but finding the time in our busy lives to get there.  When I first came to the conclusion that I needed to find myself again, I thought the hardest part of the journey would be finding what was missing.  Funny…turns out that was the easiest part!  Coming to the realization that I had let something that was so important to me take a backseat to the daily stresses of life for so long was a big breakthrough.  It was great that I let my mind clear long enough to find that missing piece again.  But, that is only part of the journey.  Now that I’ve found it, I have to do something with it. 

Perhaps it’s a sign of the times (or perhaps I’m just listening more closely) but recently, I’ve heard a lot of people use the phrase “I wish….”  I’ve always equated wishing with dreaming.  After all, wasn’t it Cinderella who said “a dream is a wish your heart makes”?  And, I’ve always believed it is vitally important to have dreams, for it is in the dream that we find the motivation we need to reach higher and higher.  But, it seems like so many of us (myself included) spend so much time wishing things that we forget to act upon them!

And this is where I find myself currently.  I’ve taken the big step of admitting that I need to find my personal happiness again and I was lucky that I found what it was so quickly.  But, I haven’t done anything with this self-knowledge. Why you ask?  Because I’m back working again after surgery.  I’ve fallen into the same old habits. By the time I finish with work, battle stress, run errands and mark off my “to-do” list, I have no energy left to pursue my passion. And that, my friends, is just plain stupid! 

Life is about priorities and the next logical step in this whole process is to make my passion a priority.  But, life is also about responsibility and unfortunately, I can’t avoid it.  I do have to make a living, after all.  In a seemingly endless battle, priorities and responsibilities seem constantly at odds with one another.   But, life is too short to let one rule over the other.  Life is about finding that balance between priorities and responsibilities – I believe that it is in this balance that we find our personal happiness.  Some days the scale will tip one way or the other, but as long as there is a balance overall, than the opportunity is there for us to achieve our personal happiness – whatever that may be.

So the next stop in this journey isn't my acting classes as I had previously indicated.  It's finding that balance in my life that will allow me the freedom and opportunity to take those acting classes, immerse myself in the performing arts again and find my personal happiness.

Off to find balance in my life…

Emily