Gratitude

It won’t stop

by Katie Welker

We wouldn’t be able to move on from some of life’s most exhausting experiences if the world went ahead and said: Alright. It’s been pretty tough lately; let me slow down and accommodate to you and your needs. There, there; it will all be okay in the end.

The fact that the world doesn’t stop, or even slow down for that matter, is exactly what keeps us from stopping. It forces us to keep pushing forward even when the only thing we want to do is completely shut down and freeze for awhile.

I bet each and every one of us can think of a string of occurrences where it was just one blow after the next; one more you’ve got to be kidding me right now; one more what the hell am I going to do next? And ya know what? Life will never stop giving us circumstances in which we have no choice but to accommodate and refocus, buckle up and keep going. I may be a true optimist at heart, but I am not naive to the troubling circumstances that each person is susceptible to.

There’s annoyance and pain in the fact that life kicks you in the ass over and over again and doesn’t stop. It’s a stressor that can eat you alive if you don’t find ways to balance it out and shift your focus to what’s still good in the world.

Yet if you’re willing to look around you just a little more intently, you’ll see that there’s beauty in that god-awful frustration. Life is always going to knock you around and try to break you, the least you can do for yourself is fight back.

 

“For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin—real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way. Something to be got through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.“

—FR. ALFRED D’SOUZA

How I Build My Future

by Katie Welker

If you don’t already know this about me, I’m a big fan of the TV show How I Met Your Mother. Tonight was the series finale and, to no surprise, it had me laughing and crying all at once. What can I say? I wear my emotions for the world to see!

One of the main takeaways from the show, and especially in tonight’s finale, was that you want your close group of friends to be there for your “big moments,” aka the weddings, children, career advancements, etc.

Of course, this idea had my mind racing. I’m 24 years old, turning 25 in a few months. I’m at that phase in my life where my friends are starting to get married and have kids, some already do. It’s so exciting to be a part of those moments, yet I keep thinking to myself that there were so many smaller moments that led up to those big milestones.

Before my best girlfriends were in long-term relationships that have or will eventually lead to marriage, there were smaller moments that got them there. There were nights of trash talking our exes and sobbing as we ate out of an ice cream carton. There were the butterfly moments of, “Oh my gosh, do you think he even likes me? Should I say something? What should I do?” Those moments seem trivial in retrospect, but they were imperative to get to the big moments that are happening now.

Before both myself and my friends landed jobs that we were actually excited to have, there were many dreadful moments that we went through together. Moments where I scooped ice cream for hours just to make a paycheck that covered not much more than the gas money that it took to get me there; time spent on the phone complaining and talking about how one day these ridiculous jobs would help us pave the way to where we truly wanted to end up.

Well that one day is starting to turn into today. And looking back, I am incredibly grateful that I was there for those now-trivial moments that brought me here. I know that when my big moments continue to come for both myself and the people who matter most in my life, they will mean so much more because the time it took for them to happen was spent with none other than those who helped me get there. 

It’s fascinating to me that each and every choice, action, and step we take very realistically shapes our lives and the futures we build for ourselves. We may fall and stumble and sometimes cry our way through it all, but if we have the right people by our sides — the ones who we trust, care for, and genuinely adore — then at least we can rest assured that our future will be worth the wait.

The big moments count, but don’t forget that the little moments are what it takes to get you there.