“For a long time it has seemed to me that life was about to begin; Real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be got through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.” – Albert D’Souza

When I was young I would think to myself, “As soon as I complete ‘this’ or ‘that’ my life can finally begin”…when I was a young adult I would think to myself, “If I could just finish doing ‘this’ or get past ‘that’ then my life will really begin. But the longer adult life went on the longer the lists of ‘this’ and ‘that’ needing to happen before my life could truly begin just got longer and longer…as soon as one “this” would finish another “that” would appear…and for every “that” I made it through another “this” would pop up …and so it continued… until it finally dawned on me that all the “this’s” and the “that’s” were exactly what life was all about.

It is about setting goals and working toward them. It is about facing challenges and overcoming them. It is about going through the hurts to experience those happy times. All of it combined is life. We aren’t waiting for life to begin – we are already experiencing it – and the sooner we realize that and embrace it the happier we will be.

“So many of us are always waiting to be happy. “If only I could graduate, if only I could afford a car, if only I could get married …” For too many, happiness is just over the horizon, never reachable. Every time we climb one hill, happiness beckons just beyond the next.

It is a terrible thing always to be waiting for tomorrow, always depending on tomorrow, always excusing our todays because we are sure that only in the future will we possess the things that will fulfill us.

Don’t wait for tomorrow. Don’t wait for the right job, the right house, the right salary, the right dress size. Be happy today. Be happy now.”   -Joseph Wirthlin

This IS life…so we may as well choose to BE HAPPY while we’re living it 🙂 !

~Amy Rees Anderson