Let's Put This Into Perspective

So, I have worked very diligently over the past several years to put things into perspective. I've never been very good at perspective. I realized over time that I was complaining about so many things in my life. I would complain when it was time to clean the house. I would complain because of my long commute to work. I would complain about being tired after a long week of work. My goal is to find the blessing in the fact that I have a home and a job and a car when others may not.

I remember when my step-dad was in his final months after a courageous battle with cancer. He was so thankful for everything. He didn't sweat the small stuff. He was happy for every minute of every day. He taught me to put things into perspective. In the grand scheme of things, what REALLY matters?

In my quest to find perfect perpective (say that 10 times fast)...I have found that I have become judgmental of other people's lack of perspective. Here's a doozie for you. I was sitting in the doctor's office a couple of months ago with a woman who was clearly pregnant. I asked her all of the same questions that she probably gets 100 times a day. "Is this your first child?" No, it was her third. "When are you due?" September. "Do you know what you are having?" Yes (she says with a lack of enthusiasm.) So, I just sit there...waiting for her to say something. She doesn't say anything for a minute and then says, "It's a girl," with even less enthusiasm than before. After we talk for a few minutes, she pours out her soul to me. She explains that she already has two girls and that she REEEAAALLLY wanted a boy. She talked about how they were "trying" for a girl. Really? Do people really say things like that? How selfish. It was obvious to me and everyone around (and probably her unborn daughter) that she was clearly disappointed. She has two healthy girls at home and has to complain because she didn't get the little boy she wanted. How arrogant are we as a society that we would tell ANYONE (much less a perfect stranger) that we are disappointed about the gender of a child? If she tells a stranger her feelings, I'm sure her entire family and all of her friends know of her disappointment. It puts a dark cloud over the entire pregnancy. It's one thing to maybe say something to your husband about wanting a particular gender, but to put it out there for the world to see just makes you look ridiculous. When people see her playing with her baby girl, they will always know that she wished the baby was a boy.

Let's put this into perspective, folks. Some people have children who are extremely ill. Some people are carrying unborn children that they can't afford to feed. Some people have countless miscarriages and some people can't have biological children at all. So, I personally don't want to hear if your family isn't the picture of perfection you had in your mind.

I'm DEFINITELY not perfect. When something goes wrong, I still have to remind myself that someone has it worse than me. Here is what I try to do. As corny as it sounds, it seems to work. When something goes wrong, I say, "The worst thing I have going on in my life right now is..." Examples: The worst thing I have going on in my life right now is that I have to go grocery shopping. The worst thing I have going on in my life is that I am exhausted from a busy week. The worst thing I have going on in my life right now is that I am stuck in traffic. I find myself feeling silly for complaining in the first place.

Ok...I'm stepping down off my soapbox now. Thanks for listening.