Welp :-(

That about sums up my current feelings.
I've been a little let down and disappointed lately and, you know what? It's starting to poop me out. It's tiring swimming in negativity, don't you agree?

So I'm in the market for some positivity! You too? Let's swap ideas...

As always, strange coincidences are in my cards for today. This morning, still not feeling quite myself, I came across two blogs--one about ways to start fresh and another about how everything works in cycles.

One of the fresh starts that Dragos Roua suggests is changing the way you interact with people. I'm pretty sure that old social habits of mine are responsible for my current state of negativity. See, I have these expectations of people. I expect them to treat me how I'd treat them, or I expect them to offer up their love and support without pause or question, forgetting that 1) I shouldn't put my standards for myself on other people and 2) people change. After being let down, I'm beginning to realize that I shouldn't BANK on others, for they are no more solid than I am. I have to leave the door open on people. And somewhere in that open doorway, come to find that I can always count on myself. There's some serious strength in that.

That's when I happened upon Holly Renee's blog where she talks about the cycles of life, beginning with the example of trees...

"Trees go from blossoming in the spring,

thriving in the summer,

losing their leaves in the fall,

and freezing in the winter.

All in one year.

They take it without resistance."

Things happen in our lives that force us to accept that only one thing is constant--change. People change, which follows that our expectations and attitudes about those people change, which follows that our relationships inevitably change. But, Holly Renee says, even that is "going to change in a few weeks anyway, and then it will change again in a few more weeks," so we shouldn't dwell on what's been lost or how things are different. For, "When [we] recognize that things move in cycles, [we are] able to move outside of [our stories] about how things should be." Stories that, for awhile there, I couldn't get outside of! We simply have to acknowledge each cycle as it comes, knowing that it will pass. Which is really less frustrating and more refreshing, is it not? If everything stayed as it was, life would be stagnant. Nothing would grow! And I think Biship would agree that GROWTH IS GOOD!

So, what do you say? Shall we reboot?!

Join the Erins next month, as we participate in another Blog Carnival about vision boards! Ain't nothing like an art-and-writing combination to refresh yourselves!