Happiness Vs Crappiness: A New Year’s Post

It’s 5:18am as I start this post. I’ve been up since before 3am, having gone to bed around 1:30am after a very long night of attempting to get my kids to sleep. My five year old would have gone to sleep, except my two year old insisted on a) needing a diaper change at 11pm and b) doing everything BUT going to sleep.

So here I am, having been working rather productively since 3am, but suddenly feeling the weight of knowing that a full day with both kids at home is ahead of me. Grocery store, laundry, games, clean-up, and dentist visits for both kids are on the agenda. Followed by an evening out with good friends sans kids. Oh and did I mention a shitload of work? Yeah, just always assume that’s in the mix somewhere, somehow. I need more sleep than 1.5 hours to sustain me during the day & night ahead.

And yet. And yet. I sit and write this blog post. Because I always write a New Year’s blog post. It’s a few days away but I have a feeling this is going to be It. So here it is.

I sit here, as I have countless late nights/early mornings before, completely happy. With a big ol’ SEG on my face. Well, craving cupcakes and coffee, but other than that, pretty darn happy. I tend to write about the things in life that make me happy: my kids, my family, my friends, my work. Even just now, at the beginning of this post, I wrote about some of the challenges that come with those points of sunshine in my life. But still, in the end, the sleeplessness, the work, the kids, the madness – they are all worth it. They make me happy. Period.

What I do not write about: the very detailed shittiness of certain days, details of my health, details of horrible family events. Why? Because here, in this space, I believe you and I need peace. Here, and in all of my writing world, I prefer to focus on that oh-so-annoying-to-some-people bright side. Here, where I have the opportunity to connect with others I may never have met, I prefer to try to make you smile. And you know what? THAT right there, in turn, brings me happiness.

This year has been another crap year in many, many ways. How it’s been crappy? That’s my business. How have I made it better, and what are the things in my life that help wash the crappiness away? Those are issues I feel are ok to be your business. You, whomever you are, have your own crappiness to deal with. I don’t want to add to that. I don’t want that to be my contribution to your life. I want you to laugh, I want you to smile, I want you to feel like I’m giving you a big huge hug wherever you are as you read these ridiculous posts because that is the purpose, in my opinion, of connecting with other human beings.

So if I complain a little, I’ll do so while laughing probably with a heavy dose of sarcasm. Because really, even the truly crappy situations have some sort of ridiculousness that can’t escape the opportunity for sarcasm or an inappropriate joke. I’d rather you laugh with me in the new year than cry with me. I prefer to choose happiness over crappiness. I believe in the power of the positive, the good, the light, the silly. My new year’s wish to you is that you find a lot to laugh about in your own life. And if not, then I’ll share a little bit of mine for you to have a giggle over.

It is now 5:51 am. I don’t even want to do the math for how many minutes it’s taken me to write this post; I’m still bitter about being forced to take AP Calculus even after I told my HS counselor I hated hated hated math. Just because I can do something doesn’t mean I should. You get what I’m saying?

Love ya like my morning coffee, folks! Have a safe & happy new year, everyone!