Reality check: What's really important to you?

The last few weeks have been crazy busy. Seems everytime Patty and I saw a little light at the end of the tunnel it was an oncoming train. I'm sure you know the feeling, every time you try to savor what you hope might be a break from the madness, someone or something jumps in your space and takes over your free time. To me, this is the very definition of the too often used term, stressed.

Hey, we all get it - and some handle it better than others.

This past weekend I was reminded how uptight I can get sometimes when I let negative notions pile up on me without managing to keep things in proper perspective. I was running around making preparations for a grage sale we scheduled for Saturday (never again) and nothing came together as we had planned. Signs were lame, not enough cash on hand for change, price tags falling offf, etc., etc., ...

I allowed this to get to me to the point where I felt like just heaving everything in the truck and dumping our "treasures" at the door of our favorite charity, The Shepherd Center. We had planned to give them the leftovers after we sold enough to make our annual donation to our granddaughter's college fund. Hey, it's not much, but we do it together - and it also dovetails with our summer house cleaning.

Which basically means getting rid of junk we purchased at area garage sales throughout the year. I guess this is a rather odd concept for recycling ...

... but, I digress.

Patty and I knuckled down and forged ahead with our sale, I was still on edge. Then a phone call changed everything ...

Granddaughter, Alexis called from Colorado and reminded me she and her mom were looking forward to their upcoming visit. "Only 11 days and we will be there," she declared.

Patty looked over at me and later said by the look on my face she thought I received a call confirming my winning the Florida Lottery. She told me I was "beaming" as I hung up the phone.

It was at that point I realized that the "stress" I allowed to cloud my vision was self-inflicted, and all it took to clear the way to peace and happiness was to focus on what really matters in life - which in my case is family.

So the next time you are feeling down in the dumps - or, dumped on, close your eyes and focus your mind's eye on something or someone who means a great deal to you. I promise you a brighter picture will appear and your stress will suffer a mighty blow!