Life Onion.

Right now I have a headache. I'm so exhausted that it physically hurts to be awake. My throat is scratchy and sore. I have to work overnights this weekend. I miss my family. I have disappointments and heartache. I have worries. Some days I give in to these negative feelings and allow myself to feel hopeless. I get angry and bitter and sad.

But then I get a reality check and realize that underneath all these seemingly "hard" aspects of my life   there is so much beauty and so much to be grateful for. Life has layers, just like people and just like onions (thank you, Shrek). Sometimes the day-to-day worries and the mundane details or the sickness or the anxiety take over. Those are the top layers. The not-so glamorous parts of life. But when you peel back those layers of your life-onion... you realize how much goodness is underneath.

I am ALIVE and healthy. I have wonderful, loving parents and family. I am married to my best friend who makes me laugh and feel special every day. I have a loving Father in Heaven that leads and guides me and loves me despite all of my faults and shortcomings. I have a job, a home, blankets, food, clean water, warm showers, puppies, clothes, a car. I honestly don't think I have ever been happier than I am right now, TODAY.

Underneath all those yucky, outer layers, I am blessed. You are blessed too. There is beauty in every circumstance. Every stage of life. Every trial. Underneath all the hard, ugly parts of life there is hope. There is joy. There is SO much to be grateful for. Every.single.day.

I needed this reminder today... I'm not kidding in the middle of writing this post, I had something not-so-great happen and I was pretty bummed. It was almost like Heavenly Father knew what was coming and knew I would need this reminder, especially today.

We have the power to choose to be happy. Happy people do not have perfect lives, because NO ONE goes through life without trials (as much as their instagram/facebook/blog might lead you to believe).  Happy people just focus on the good. We all experience hard times and we can choose how we react to them. Do we choose to let it harden our hearts and cause bitterness and anger? Do we choose to wallow in self-pity? Or do we choose to rise above, learn, grow, and move on? We can choose to focus on the good aspects of our life and when we do, we will realize how truly blessed we are. So peel back those crappy layers and don't let them bring you down. Remember that at the core of your life-onion, there is beauty and goodness and there's always SO much to be grateful for. Life is good, friends. Life is really good.

And what's a post without a picture? These two melt my heart.