Some Real Daily Moxie

The Book of Awesome by Neil Pasricha

It’s funny the way something can completely change from first perception to something completely different when you give it a stronger understanding. This morning I was watching The Today Show and there was an author on talking about his book, THE BOOK OF AWESOME. Really? I thought. An entire book (actually two, he was on to promote his second book THE BOOK OF (EVEN MORE) AWESOME) about little things that we all encounter every day? Seriously?

I turned off the tv and reluctantly started trudging through my day. Then out of pure curiosity, I went to Neil’s website, 1000 Awesome Things.  And you know what? I kind of started liking what I was reading. His posts were short, straight to the point and contained some really cool things about life that we tend to take for granted. There really are awesome things happening around us all the time! I continued reading and learned that Neil has certainly had his share of UN-awesome things happen; his marriage ending, the death of a friend, and just having an unhappy life. He started his blog (which isn’t flashy or complicated, just straightforward and honest) to write about things that he thought were “awesome” and he even included things one wouldn’t really think of as awesome, like crying, but found a way to look at it as something worthwhile.

Such a simple idea but truly something we all overlook and ignore on a daily basis. Think of all the amazing things that happen every day. But what do we focus on? The negatives. Particularly the negatives in our own lives. My job is tiring me out. I haven’t cleaned my apartment in a week. Bills need to be paid. Will I ever feel like I am caught up on anything? Will I always feel like I am making the wrong decisions? Stress, anxiety, inner turmoil. We torment ourselves with the negative. We beat on ourselves repeatedly. Why? Yes, there are big things in life that make us happy. A marriage. The birth of a baby. Big holidays. Vacations. But these don’t happen every day. What does happen every day? Your niece sings to you the song she will be performing in her school recital, but does it in a chair facing in the opposite direction because she can’t get through it without laughing. A bird builds a nest right outside your office window and you get to witness every painstaking part of the process. The sun comes out when you expected rain all day. These are the things that make life worthwhile. These are the things that get you through the tough times. When my aunt died, I was absolutely destroyed. But as my mother and I sat in stunned silence on the moving van that was sitting in our driveway, filled with all of my aunts belongings, something extraordinary happened. Two birds landed on the fence next to us. We looked over and both noticed these two beautiful birds and I said to my mom, “I think it’s a sign that she’s with us.” …And then one bird hopped on top of the other and started doing something that was certainly not PG. And  my mom and I laughed so hard. And that was awesome indeed.