The Little Things

Sometimes, it's really hard to take the saying "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff" to heart.  Inevitably, lots of small things put together equal one big thing and your day is officially ruined.  "That's the last straw," you hear yourself yelling when you run out of milk or make a wrong turn or burn your finger on the stove.  And of course, this is after a day filled with insignificant small things - a stale pot of coffee at work, losing your favorite sweater, it's raining, you forgot to pick up the dry cleaning...

I find myself in this boat a lot.  Why is it so much easier to focus on all the negative little things in life than all the positive little things?  Take yesterday, for example.  My Negative Nelly list included:

-a cloudy, rainy, cool day
-nothing in the house for lunch
-whines and tantrums from a certain two-year-old
-Said two-year-old dropping an entire snack bag of Goldfish in Target, which meant I was on my hands and knees picking up crackers in the middle of a busy aisle...
- maternity jeans that I had to keep pulling up (Seriously, could they not have figured out by now how to make maternity jeans that don't slip down?)
-a sad, depressed feeling that wouldn't go away
-the daunting task of meal planning and grocery list making was hanging over my head
-a husband who was gone for six hours playing golf, having a grand old time while I was marinating in my "bad" day

The thing is, it wasn't that bad of a day.  But my brain kept track of those little things, adding them up and adding them up until I was almost at a breaking point.  Sometimes it's really hard to get off that negative path, but thanks to my camera and the ability it gives me to reminisce on the day through the lens, I can now see the tiny little good things that I should've been adding up instead.

Despite the dreary, drizzly day, Ava and I spent time outside, where she reveled in the feeling of the cool drizzle hitting her skin:

We had a tea party:

She posed for me without any prompting:

We played with bubbles:

It doesn't have to be a camera though, and while I love photography, I don't always want to get my camera out.  I think I'm going to start a Thankful Notebook.  A cute little book - yes, it needs to be cute, not a plain, boring one - to write down a few things each day for which I am thankful.  Maybe it will help me focus on more of those positive little things instead of the negative ones.

Today, I am thankful for:

-a new necklace that I scored for $5 in the clearance section at Target
-a husband who gets Ava up and takes her to daycare every day
-a rainy day that gave me the perfect excuse to make a new cheesy potato soup recipe
-a daughter whose giggles fill the house when she plays with her daddy
-the time to curl up in bed and continue reading The Help

And every day, I am really thankful for the time I take to capture all the little moments in Ava's life.

More examples of how she lines things up - a little something that always makes me smile!

Yes, there will be bad days when truly, nothing seems to go right.  There will be that constant feeling of things spinning out of control and it will take every ounce of willpower to not yell or scream or cry or simply fall down and give up...

However, I am hoping that even on those days, I can write in my Thankful Notebook and continue to try, with all of my might, to see the bright side!