We’ve had an unwanted house guest this last week. Murphy stopped by Tuesday last week, and decided to stay with us. Murphys Law states “if anything can go wrong, it will”. Now I should point out that my entire life didn’t fall apart. But I feel like there is a recurring pattern going on in my life.  Every time I decide to start something it seems as if real life stuff always pops up and yells hey deal with me first!! I’m not sure honestly if this is really any different from any other day,  I mean with a family with young kids isn’t that always the case? I kind of wonder if it just stands out more when you have a plan.  I have actually thought about (many times) just not planning ,  going with the flow. Unfortunately I can’t.  It goes against my nature. I love planning ,  love lists ,  love calendars . …did I mention that I love planning? Besides I think having a basic plan helps keep Murphy in his place.  Yes he showed up,  yes he’s interferred with getting all of my plans accomplished ,  but he is not going to get in the way of my long term success.
So what am I going to do about Murphy ? I’m not sure just yet.  I guess he will be like any other house guest, excited to be here at first,  and eventually when the conversation gets boring he’ll move on and leave. Or maybe better yet he’ll be so inspired by my determination to not give up and he’ll change his ways.  Either way I will continue on.  My baby may be teething , my toddler may enjoy being a typical 2 year old, all while my back feels quite sore from non stop holding and rocking. My oldest will forget stuff. And of  course when I finally make that appointment for my physical we are set to get a foot of snow.  But that’s life.  These challenges will pass, and new ones will surface. I choose joy. I may not like everything that comes my way,  but I am choosing to be joyfull. I am a believer and I believe that in choosing joy over anger things will work out much better.  I could be angry that things format go my way,  or I could feel joy that when my baby is miserable I’m the one he needs for comfort .  I could feel anger that I have to stop and pick up one more mess my 2 year old made  or feel joy that she is healthy and well enough to make messes. I could be angry that my oldest is always forgetting stuff ,  or feel joy that he is distracted by all of the things that bring him joy.  As far as my back being really sore. … I’m not going to lie I’m still working on finding the silver lining on that one.  Maybe it will be a good excuse to practice a little self care.  It did get me to pull my back massager out of the closet and actually use it  so that’s something!

Murphy can stay as long as he’d like.  What is that saying keep your friends close but your enemies closer? No matter how long he stays I’ll just keep moving closer.  Even if I have to take baby step after baby step I’ll get to my goals. There is no time line on my journey.  It is a life long change that I’m after.  If nothing else this will just reinforce the fact that no matter what happens in life you have to keep on going.  Maybe today I’ll watching Finding Dory with the kids.  Great inspiration.  Just keep swimming.