Attitude Adjustment

I have been trying to force myself to go walks when I can. It’s hard because it hurts to move and it's still over 90 degrees outside after 9pm some nights. Yuck. Nevertheless, one night last week I forced myself to go and the girls and dog went with me. The dog is part of my motivation because we are refreshing his leash training before an upcoming group camping trip.

I’m going to be honest here - I was cranky. It’s hard to walk when you’re exhausted and in pain. It was hot, but there was a breeze that helped significantly with the heat. However, it also blew dust all over us because of where we like to walk. I was cranky. As I pushed myself to keep going, regretting that I had the long way, I complained. The complaining was echoed behind me from my girls. That was a wake up call. I really try not to do that, and I was neck deep in it tonight. Isn’t it funny how complaining is contagious? Ugh. So I suggested we fix our attitudes by counting our blessings instead of complaining. We took turns listing things for which we are thankful. Things like the dog, the new car, the dad, swimming lessons, etc… Before I realized it my oldest daughter was happily chatting about swimming lessons. My youngest was playing some kind of game with the dog where he tells her a story or something. I couldn’t catch what was going on but she was talking in his voice for the rest of the walk. The complaining had stopped and everyone was happy. It was such a great, vivid reminder of what I should already know. You want to be miserable? Complain. You want to be cranky? Complain. You want to be happy? Be grateful. Count your blessings. Our circumstances didn’t change. It was still hot and dusty. If anything it only got harder as we went, but our attitudes changed everything.