Live your life in COLOR!

A year ago, my closet and drawers consisted mainly of black, gray, and blue clothing. Today my closet and drawers are bursting with color! I have lots of purple, pink, red, orange, and green, in addition to my black, gray, and blue. When I started thinking about why my color pallet has changed so much, I realized that it has to do with my outlook on life. It starts with my core belief: Everything happens for a reason. The good, the bad, and the in between are all happenings in our lives for a reason. I believe that God is guiding my life in a direction and the trials and tribulations that I endure along the way are here to teach me something or provide some part of my character that I will need to use down the road. I believe that was true with my miscarriage, the death of my grandparents, the death of my car and subsequently Richard's car, my near-death experience with Preeclampsia when I had Drew, getting laid-off from my job, my mother's breast cancer, and the list goes on and on. I have been through a lot in the last 6 or 7 years and I have learned a valuable lesson or have been able to grow from each experience. I also believe that everything in life turns out better when you look at the positive side. When my mom and my best friend's mom went through their breast cancer treatments, I told them to, not look at it as a death sentence or "I might die from this," but look at it like you would a broken leg. I have a broken leg and these are the steps I need to take to fix it. I believe that the positive attitude, that both wonderful ladies maintained during their treatments, led to the treatments being much less painful and debilitating than they would have been if they had allowed themselves to dwell on the negativity of the situation. Both are cancer free and doing well! When I woke up on a ventilator after having Drew, I was happy to be on the ventilator because I felt so much better. At that moment, I decided that I would have the same type of outlook with my condition. "I have a very weak heart and very high blood pressure and my lungs are full of fluid. What steps do I need to complete to get better and get out of here so that I can see my brand new baby??" I kept a positive attitude through out my 6 day stay in ICU and "remarkably," according to the doctors, managed to recover fully! My lungs are perfect! My blood pressure is under control without blood pressure medication! My heart is at above normal functioning! Positivity can pull you through the toughest of situations. When I have something happen to me or a loved one now I try to reframe the situation and focus on the positive. For example, when I got laid-off, after the initial shock wore off, I reframed the situation and said, "Now I get to spend the summer with my son! I am going to have a great summer!" When a friend found out that her son was diagnosed with autism, I said, "Autistic people are brilliant people! You just have to find his awesome talent and help it blossom!" Yes, there are struggles in your life, but it can be as good or as bad as you make it! See the positive and bring your life into full COLOR!