If life was one delicious meal…
PHOTO Wendy HungSpreading joy and positivity is key to happiness in life. Kinda like butter.
If life was one delicious meal, I would spread butter all over it. Glazed on half-burnt toasts, obnoxiously melted on hot potatoes, shining in bounteous glory atop delicate and fatty desserts. If butter symbolizes one singular sentiment I wish to pair with this meal that I call life, it would be joy. Rich, luscious, unapologetic JOY.
A few weeks ago, my good friends in Paris got hitched. The honest feelings of a thirty-something attending two close friends’ wedding was candidly shared in a previous post: How I’m Preparing For A French Countryside Wedding Weekend. Some may deem my pre-wedding anxiety as egocentric or narcissistic. How DARE I turn someone else’s day of happiness into something about ME? How ruuuuude! Before you go ahead and judge the heck out of me, let me just say, I’m not judging you. Unless you know what it’s like to be a single thirty-something, attending weddings year after year, you have no idea what this is like. Most importantly, let me repeat: I’m not judging you.
Okay, I lied. THIS is the “most importantly” I wanted to address: I believe life is a series of homework and exams. We’re constantly thrown with life lessons to be learned. As human beings, we’re often trialed, or tested repeatedly, to confirm whether we’ve learned our lessons…or not. If we don’t do our homework, challenges revealing themselves in different forms will continue to occur. Although appearing in various shapes and experiences, life lessons are here to further teach us about ourselves IF we’re determined to become fulfilled individuals, leading happier lives. (Some people could care less, then I’m not really sure what you’re doing on this website. No offense.)
It was no mistake that during weeks leading up to last and this year’s French weddings, I was a little “troublemaker” as my friends referred to me. In my head, I was simply standing up for what I felt was justified. In hind sight, under normal circumstances, I probably would’ve let go of certain things (as most travelers can relate, when you’ve seen half of the world, you tend to not sweat over the small stuff.) But weddings heighten everything. Every little thing becomes magnified in a wedding world. So I magnified my emotions, and admittedly, was a bit of a drama queen. Okay, A LOT of a drama queen. So much so that, one of my friends came to me and said: You need to stop. You’re creating a domino effect. By making one person sad, you’re hurting all of us too.
But I don’t regret it one bit, because I learned. With blood, sweat, and a whole lot of tears, I freaking learned! In order not to repeat the same mistake next year (since I’m already invited to a few weddings next summer,) I made sure to wholeheartedly understand my life lesson after this year’s gorgeous French countryside wedding that initially drove me nutty.
During the weekend, I must’ve socialized with 90% of the wedding guests, many of whom I have known for years. Rather than merely giving “bisou bisou” on the cheeks as most French do, I dove right into hearty questions regarding people’s personal lives, businesses, relationships…etc. After spending at least 20 minutes with everyone, I realized that most people are going through real struggles, some are even life or death-related. I found myself ending each conversation with tons of laughs and hugs. At the end of each serious conversation, I was able to spin a positive take on that person’s life.
Here was my revelation! My Aha moment! Man, I get to live a pretty sweet life. Who gets to live in Paris, work on a platform that she loves and travel the world? Who gets to love and be loved by her family and friends? They are the reasons why I’ve always been a positive person, almost overzealous at times, and definitely exceedingly enthusiastic most of the time. If I’m able to spread positivity as often as I can, then why would I choose to be the drama queen who diffuses the domino effect of hurting others? What good does that do for me besides making a point? Is it really worth it at the end of this thing we call life?
In a few days, I’ll be turning 36. Boy, am I glad that I arrived at this particular life homework. I needed to learn this lesson, because I never want to blindly walk through life, thinking the world caters to me and never the other way around. If I can keep spreading joy – like butter – on top of everything that I do, then life undoubtedly becomes one delicious meal that I can’t stop taking a bite out of. So what’s YOUR life lesson?
What a treat!
With love,
CEO/Founder, Jetset Times
