DON’T BRING ME DOWN

Okay. It has been a crazy summer. First of all, I got my youngest ready to move to Austin for college and the nest is now officially empty. Despite my exterior presentation of toughness and bravado, I was a bit concerned with how I might handle things after I took him to Austin and came back to an empty house. Then I realized that it was not just an empty house. It was an empty, quiet and clean house! Being the “glass half full” kind of guy that I am, rather than miss both of my sons and get upset about not seeing them every day (cleaning up after them, doing their dishes, their laundry, etc.), I look forward to their trips home. Instead of sitting around the house moping, I take the opportunity to read and to ride my stationary bike. In fact, since July 23rd of this year, I have logged over 500 miles on that bike. This, in preparation for Team Inspiration Texas’ MS 150 experience next year. The point of this rambling is to take the opportunities that are presented to you, whatever they may be, and turn them into something positive and truly good and healthy for you.

That leads me to another topic. I do not know whether it is the obscene heat so many of us are suffering through or misalignment of the planets and stars or what, but so many of the people I deeply care about around me are being dragged down by the people around them. How truly sad that is. One of the most difficult things we face is balancing the negatives in our lives, and attempting to turn them into positives or, at the very least, turning them into a negative that can be used as a learning experience but which will not bring us down. Sometimes, when dealing with a job or relationship or health issue, we can easily be overwhelmed and allow the negativity of the people around us to drag us under. We must find a way to rise above those challenges and learn from them. We must find a way to discover the positives in our challenges. Think of the row of dominoes. Push one over and the whole line goes down. The way we deal with the personal issues in our life not only affects us but, like the dominoes, can have a ripple affect that brings down everyone around us. I am not for a moment suggesting bottling up the negatives. That is equally unhealthy. What we must do is find a way to constructively deal with the negatives in a way which does not destroy ourselves or others. I know. Easier said than done. But like we have said so many times on here, the key too this is to try and to take baby steps. When someone around me is being dragged down, I remind them to smile. There is at the very least one thing in each day that we can smile about. A song. A billboard. A child's laugh. It doesn't matter what it is. Find something.

I want to remind everyone that Team Inspiration Texas now has its own Facebook page. www.facebook.com/teaminspiration. We invite you to “like” us and we especially invite you to post on our wall and tell us how you have been helped by us!

Now that the nest is empty, you will hear from me more!

Good luck, KEEP TRYING and my best,

-Trace