Experiences

Life is about experiences.  I think I've reached a point in my life where I can safely say that's my belief - life is about experiences.  Small ones, big ones, random ones, planned ones...all lead somewhere.  Take you somewhere.  Make you someone.  Think about it.  You wouldn't be you without your experiences.  The thing is, a lot of us are too afraid to start experiencing like we should.  We're afraid we'll fall or afraid we'll fail.  Sometimes we're even afraid we'll succeed.  But in the end, those are the experiences you miss out on and your fear becomes who you are.  Your fear becomes your soul.

Bad experiences teach me so much more than good ones do.  So I've started thinking about them in the context of how they will fit into the puzzle of my life.  Of course I'll still get down at times, you can't avoid it - without lows you can't have highs....but they don't pull me down as far as they used to because I look for the bigger picture.  I've learned from the bad people in my life who I don't want to be.  I've learned that they're suffering far more than I am because I don't have to live their life.  They let me feel how it is to be treated certain ways and in turn, I know not to cause that pain to someone else.  Them making me feel that prevents me from making hundreds feel that.  I think it's a fair trade.  But it's only achieved if you stop, and think about life that way.  If you stop feeling like the bad experiences are the end of the road.  That only happens once in everyone's life at the most.  For many, the stop at the end of our journey is a pleasant one.  But until that last stop, everything will get better and when you are done experiencing the bad....the Universe tends to throw you something good to balance things out.

Good experiences make me remember what life is all about.  It's about relationships and love.  Not just romantic, fall into each other's arms kind of love...but love for a friend, love for a stranger, love for a family member.  Just love.  Laughing with people you care about is the great thing about continuing to breathe and exist.  You are happy, but you also are making others happy.  By being there, you're sharing your positivity with someone else and even if you're close to that person and know all their little secrets...you really don't know all their little secrets and your time with them may be changing their life.  The good is what we live for and it's what we strive for.  It's why we're here.  And yes, the big moments - weddings, child birth, engagements - those moments are the makings of photo albums....but the little moments in between...walking downtown with someone on a cold night, making eye contact with someone you know is going to be in your life for some reason for the first time, holding hands for the first time, seeing a friend smile....those little things are what keep us moving.  They're the uncaptured moments that make our life a wonderful journey.

Experience.  Live and love.  Just experience.  Because even if it is a bad one, you learn from it and are ready for the next one.

Live, Laugh and Above All....Love.