The Power of the Basics: Life is for Laughing

You know that moment in the day where you think… I’m so stressed!!! Can things get any worse? WHY me? Or maybe you’re just having a bad day. Here’s a little friendly uplifting for ya!

I had a choreographer for dance come in a few weeks ago. hilarious guy. He gave us the most profound advice that I will never forget he said, “Be the best you can be in EVERY moment. Be the best dancer (in that moment), be the best sister/brother (in that moment), be the best student you can be (in that moment), be the best girlfriend you can be, because he can find someone better…. Etc.”.  As he said those words, all I could think in my mind was… YES! If every one of us gave it our all in EVERY moment of the day, life would be glorious!  Obviously we aren’t perfect, but if we try more and more each day, we will eventually become better and better. Think of what a wonderful world we would live in. I challenge you to try to be the best you can be in every moment.  

Family helps everything. I promise that if you put more time and effort towards your family, your life will be blessed with happiness.  Lately with everything going on I’ve been leaning on my family more and more. They all play a key role in making sure my love-odometer is completely full. Here’s a little bit about them, and how I’ve noticed what they bring to my life.  My dad is the one that gives the best advice. Whenever he talks I just want to say stop… I need to record this so I can make it into a book later in life. He’s amazing. Tonight as I called and told him a specific situation, he said, “Meagan, remember what we do when life knocks us down?.. We get back up, we put our boots on, and we get back to work. So smile.” As he said this, tears were rushing down my cheeks. What an amazing man. When I was a kid, listening to advice was a chore. Like ok I will sit here and nod my head until you’re done. He always bought it.  Of course I ALWAYS thought I knew everything and anything. Side note: my friend called me the other day and we chatted. The one piece of advice she gave me (she said I could quote her.. HA) “Learn that you don’t know anything”.  When she hung up the phone I thought… why didn’t someone tell me this earlier? Lately I’ve wanted to listen to people more attentively and really take heed to their advice. Learn from their mistakes. Learn from their perspective. Learn from their heart aches. Learn from their successes. Most of all learn what makes them who they are.

Back to the fam damily. My mother. What a sweet, perfect, and all around amazing person. This is my foundation. She gives her all in every situation. She’s the person that I want to be when I’m 30. She’s constantly serving someone. If you don’t know my mother, you should, but she’s always rubbing someone’s back. Or playing with their hair. Or laughing with them. OH MY! My Mums laugh is HIL-A-RI-OUS! You get her going and everyone is rofl. I could go on and on, but that’s just the jist.. there’s so much more!  My Mum is my best friend. I tell her everything and anything in way tooo much detail. I’m so grateful for our relationship. She’s perfect. If you haven’t met her, you’re missing out. The advice she always gives me, is to do my best in everything I do. Onto my wonderful brother Austin! The tall, handsome, Australian accent fella that looks like my twin, but everyone thinks we are married. HA! Anywho, this kid can make me smile in any situation. Whether I’m “bloody” pissed at him, happy as can be, or Mr sad sacks, he’s always there to lift my spirit. I’m so grateful for our friendship. He’s the person I can go to and he will love me no matter what I did. He’s always been my teacher in two different ways. 1) He taught me what pisses my parents off and what makes them content. So thanks for that!! 2) He is constantly teaching my about how to be a better person every day. My beautiful sister Kevin.. (Kenzie) This girl has the laugh that could make the world happy about everything. She is such a strong person.. I mean mentally, spiritually, and DEF physically. (but don’t worry, I beat her in an arm wrestle.. NBD) She is a such an example to me to enjoy life as it comes to you. Take it and love it! For that I thank Kevin. She’s someone I strive to be like every day!

 I gave a talk last Sunday about “Of Things That Matter Most”, by Dieter F Uchtdorf. I was privileged to reiterate what that amazing man talked about. He talks about when we have stresses, we tend to try to go faster in life rather than to slow down and take time to focus on what matters at that moment. He relates it to a speed bump; we all think that if we go faster over the speed bump it will be easier, but as we test it, the end result causes that we spend more in car repair. It’s the same in life. “When stress levels rise, when distress appears, when tragedy strikes, too often we attempt to keep up the same frantic pace or even accelerate, thinking that the more rushed our pace, the better off we will be”. It’s so true. Take a minute every day for yourself. Slow down the pace. BE SIMPLE!

I’ve been reading this amazing book called, The Secret. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it! It has a section that really hits home.

“Think of a car driving through the night. The headlights only go a hundred to two hundred feet forward, and you can make it all the way from California to New York driving through the dark, because all you have to see is the next two hundred feet. And that’s how life tends to unfold before us. If we just trust that the next two hundred feet will unfold after that, and the next two hundred after that, your life will keep unfolding. And it will eventually get you to the destination of whatever it is you truly want, because you want it”.

As I read this I thought. THAT’S my problem. I’m a planner, most girls are. We already have all of our wedding planned, the ring, the house, our career… etc. As I read this I thought, I’m doing it wrong. Ya we can have an idea of what we want, but we don’t need to plan. Go 200ft. Live in those moments. Be the best you can be, and be happy. Let life unfold to you, don’t go stressing about it. Life will work out. Stop stressing the little things.

“If life and it’s rushed pace and many stresses have made it difficult for you to feel like rejoicing, then perhaps now is a good time to refocus on what matters most.”

Make some goals. Write them down. Accomplish them. If you’re not doing little things every day to accomplish them, then maybe you should reevaluate them.

What have we learned?

Be the best you can be in every moment. Spend more time with your family. Put your boots on. You don’t know anything. Serve someone. Teach someone. Be an example. Don’t go faster than you need to. Slow down. Be simple. Go 200ft. BE HAPPY!

Life is for laughing. Take time to enjoy life. You only get one, so live it up!