You Do You, Boo!

So, as many of you know Bru, my husband, has been working on his master the past couple years (I think we are finally done!!!) and the first year one of the people at his Master’s Program said this very statement and it was revitalized both of our lives!

The world we live in is dark and dreary at times and it can seem like there is absolutely nothing good and that can be depressing, overwhelming, and disturbing to all of us, a lot of the time. Many of us that are facing this want to just “fix it” and put bandaids on it and make the world a better place. Ultimately, there is nothing wrong with that however, in an effort to make the world a better place, a lot of the times we lose the one thing that makes our world beautiful- free-will!

Our choice to choose is so precious and has made the world we live in today. Now, you may be in a dark place currently and be thinking that the world we have made isn’t all that great and you aren’t wrong, we have made many, MANY mistakes but we have also made many beautiful things! Think of our forefathers that have fought and built this country all because they believed in the notion of a nation with free-will. Free-will that allowed people to invent, create, grow, learn, and educate.

Sadly, we have lost perspective on the gift that we are granted. Yes, our world is broken, yes, our world is dark, yes, I believe that we should work to improve it everyday, but we have taken this gift of free-will and have drug it through the mud as we have forgotten that there are many people that don’t get to experience free-will due to their own choices or the choices of others around them.

To quote one of my favorite lines from the Disney movie Ratatouille “How about I serve you a little perspective” (Ego) You see we live in a county where we can vote for who leads us, not everyone gets this right in the world, and I will be the first to admit that our voting system seems flawed but at least I get some sort of say. How about the fact that we have freedom of speech? This is one that I believe has done more damage than good this past year but I glad that I live in a country that I can speak my mind about the things I believe in. What about the fact that we can believe, or not believe, in whatever we want. Whatever “god”, “superior-being”, “item”, or lack there of, you have the ability to believe in. You can even believe one way today and change your mind tomorrow and that is okay. We are free to send our kids to public schools, private schools, charter schools, Christian schools, or home school them, and many places have even more options. We have hobbies, extra curricular activities, and options that are given to us every day. To shine a little perspective on my own life, I am not really sure what all my whining was about. Sure the world is broken, it always has been, but me whining about it isn’t going fix it, which brings me to my final point.

Be Solution Finders, not Problem Whiners!

It is free-will that gives each of us the ability to be uniquely us but hey, that means that everyone else gets to be uniquely them. Which raises the issue that I see our world facing entirely this year; we don’t like it when our “friends” are not unique with us. But the fact is they need to be uniquely them and they have their own ideas, plans, life experiences, choices, family, and the list goes on and on if you made them agree with you, you would be taking away their free-will. Just like if someone told you the way you need to feel or think about something would be silly. You have your own emotions and experiences that give you your feelings and you don’t want to tell someone how to feel and lose your free-will. We need to be patient with each other and understand that we are all unique and see the world differently and that is totally okay. It is great to ask advice and opinions from other people but ultimately, you have to make your own choices and do what is best for you in your life, as does everyone else. You do you, Boo!