Today was a good day. Technically, it was yesterday that was a good day. Anyway, apart from the sudden death of the King of Pop, everything went well. It’s great to be in an upbeat mood after a week of sulking and yelling.
I had been cooped up the whole week, mainly my fault though as I became too lazy to drag myself out of the house and to the library. The kids had two days off right smack in the middle of the week - one for a city holiday (Araw ng Maynila) and the other because of a typhoon which, thankfully, did not live up to all the anticipation that preceded it. I guess this explains why I was getting grumpy the whole week. One stressed and so-sick-of-studying-mama + a bunch of pre-schoolers with nothing to do = a lot of grouchiness. Not that these are legitimate excuses for my bad behavior.
As I brushed and flossed and washed my face a few minutes ago, I pondered: why is today so different and much better than the previous days? Aside from the fact that I didn’t get to accomplish much as far as my review is concerned. Analyzing the situation as I brushed today’s grime off my face with Cetaphil, the reasons became clear:
- Today was a break from my routine. I did things differently. I woke up and instead of beating myself up for not having woken up earlier as I ate my cold breakfast, the big distraction of Michael Jackson’s death was enough to keep me eager to hear more about it and, therefore, kinda excited about the rest of the day.
- My aunt dropped by. Unexpectedly. For a few seconds, I, being my usual negative self, thought it was an unwelcome intrusion into my “schedule”. But then, this was a close aunt, much beloved by the kids. We spent the day catching up on each other and were glued to CNN. In essence, an unexpected break from the usual turned out to be just what I needed.
- After months of getting irritated on a daily basis over our front gate that badly needed repair, we finally did something about it! We got ourselves a new door. It’s astonishing how much one rather small change gave something a disproportionately positive boost… our home now looked more presentable. For the longest time, I have always been greatly embarrassed by our front door when guests came to our home.
- Today was the second day in a row that I exercised! Can I call that a row? Maybe it should call it a line instead (two points make a line, not a row). Corny. Anyway, yesterday and today I spent half an hour doing hip-hop abs. I really sweated it out. I followed it up with another half-hour of yoga/stretch. After two days, despite mildly sore hip and back muscles, I feel lighter and limber! Never mind that I still cannot reach my toes. I felt remarkably less tired than when I lay in bed the whole day watching re-runs.
- To cap it all off, hubby surprised us by bringing us out to dinner. The whole family enjoyed Chinese food which, again, was a much-welcome breather from the usual fast-food. Hubby then drove us to the open area behind the largest mall in the city. It was good that he convinced me to resist the urge to walk the whole length of the place and back (as we usually do). Instead, we mostly sat down and hung around the pretty fountain and watched the three kids blowing bubbles until it was time for the fountain to “dance”. Such simple pleasures.
Having re-examined the whole day, I have come to this conclusion: the key is to find opportunities to break away from the usual. Being a creature of habit, I have always found great comfort in routine. Now I discovered that once in a while, it helps to embrace change. You know, just living life one moment at a time, welcoming each second that comes with open arms.
“Happiness is a matter of one’s most ordinary everyday mode of consciousness being busy and lively and unconcerned with self.” - Iris Murdoch
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