Positively Erin Marie

Ok mommas…how many of you love a good chick flick? I’m a sucker for Hallmark and Great American Family romance movies. I also love to read a good romance novel from time to time. I say from time to time because I have to limit myself. If I didn’t I would probably read all day long to the exclusion of all else. Lol. When you have 3 kids and a house that needs to be run you can’t really do that.

Anyway…as I was just finishing another sweet romance movie full of beautiful people where the guys are always so attentive and creative and love to sweep their women off their feet, I had a realization. This just isn’t reality. Sure during the dating period our guys were way more attentive and creative, right? Then you get married, have kids and life just gets so busy that the romance and creativity tend to take a back seat to everything else that’s going on in your life. And you know what…that’s just life. It doesn’t mean your man doesn’t love you or want you anymore. He’s just so busy trying to show his love in other ways like working his butt off to provide for his family. (Keep in mind too that his love language is probably different than yours. If you don’t know what I’m talking about I recommend reading The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman. It is definitely eye opening.) Then we watch movies or read books that are so romantic and we end up wishing things were different. We start thinking about what life would be like if we had taken a different path. And if we aren’t careful it could lead us to regretting our choices which leads to depression and then guilt, possibly anger, feelings of rejection…and it just ends up causing a whole mess of emotions.

So let’s be mindful of that when we watch our chick flicks or read those romance novels. Let’s think to ourselves…this isn’t real life, and that’s ok. Life is messy. Relationships are messy. Life is hard…and so are relationships! But in the words of Andrew Carnegie, the famous industrialist, “anything worth having is worth working for”. If things came easy all the time…we’d be so bored! Where’s the fun in everything going smoothly anyway? So the next time we watch a cute movie or read a book and want to feel sorry for ourselves that our lives aren’t perfect or the way we think they should be or our guys aren’t as gushy over us as they were when we were dating, let’s just choose to be happy with what we have. Let’s count our blessings. Let’s look into the faces of those little ones that love us so unconditionally and our husbands that work so hard to provide for us and recognize and be grateful for what is right in front of us. Let’s smile…it’s amazing what a smile can do to bring about a positive attitude. Positivity goes a long way in changing your outlook. It takes some getting used to in the beginning but before you know it you’ll be more positive, happier, and more content than you’ve been in a long time.

Putting in the work to be a more positive you is so worth it friends. And when you exude positivity, it’s contagious and starts to change everything around you in all aspects of your life. And a happier you means a happier home, happier kids, and a happier marriage. Maybe not right away but in time it’ll happen…you’ll see.

Until next time friends!