“You’re not going to master the rest of your life in one day. Relax. Master the day. Then just keep doing that every day.” – unknown
I needed that quote today. I actually need that quote pretty much every day. I have a hard time feeling like I’ve ever gotten enough done in a day even when I’ve literally worked my guts out all day doing everything I could possibly do…it’s a problem…but at least I recognize it’s a problem so that’s something, right??
That opening quote gave me a good swift kick in the behind today – it reminded me that I can’t master everything in a day so I need to learn to be okay with what I’ve been able to accomplish. I need to allow myself to be happy with having done my best, even if I didn’t accomplish everything I wanted to that day. Thinking about that tonight reminded me of one of my favorite talks by Dieter F. Uchtdorf called Forget Me Not in which he shared:
“In the beloved children’s story Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,the mysterious candy maker Willy Wonka hides a golden ticket in five of his candy bars and announces that whoever finds one of the tickets wins a tour of his factory and a lifetime supply of chocolate.
Written on each golden ticket is this message: “Greetings to you, the lucky finder of this Golden Ticket … ! Tremendous things in store for you! Many wonderful surprises await you! … Mystic and marvelous surprises … will … delight, … astonish, and perplex you.”3
In this classic children’s story, people all over the world desperately yearn to find a golden ticket. Some feel that their entire future happiness depends on whether or not a golden ticket falls into their hands. In their anxiousness, people begin to forget the simple joy they used to find in a candy bar. The candy bar itself becomes an utter disappointment if it does not contain a golden ticket.
So many people today are waiting for their own golden ticket—the ticket that they believe holds the key to the happiness they have always dreamed about. For some, the golden ticket may be a perfect marriage; for others, a magazine-cover home or perhaps freedom from stress or worry.
There is nothing wrong with righteous yearnings—we hope and seek after things that are “virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy.”4 The problem comes when we put our happiness on hold as we wait for some future event—our golden ticket—to appear….
The lesson here is that if we spend our days waiting for fabulous roses, we could miss the beauty and wonder of the tiny forget-me-nots that are all around us.
This is not to say that we should abandon hope or temper our goals. Never stop striving for the best that is within you. Never stop hoping for all of the righteous desires of your heart. But don’t close your eyes and hearts to the simple and elegant beauties of each day’s ordinary moments that make up a rich, well-lived life.”
Enjoy the simple and elegant beauties of the day, and remember you can’t master your life in a day. Be happy.
~Amy Rees Anderson
