Thankful Thursday | from joy to joy

A quote from James Clear, a best-selling author:

“Some people get addicted to chain-smoking their problems. They spend all day going from sorrow to sorrow. It doesn’t have to be that way. You can live each day going from joy to joy—like a sunflower that turns to face the sun as it moves across the sky.

It’s not about having a problem-free life, but about focusing on the light. Sunflowers still have shadows, but they are always behind them.”

I think this is a beautiful way to describe what it’s like to focus on the good, although I think it is slightly inaccurate.

I think of it more like a ping-pong from one to the other….going from joy to joy to sorrow to joy to sorrow to sorrow back to joy again.

Authenticity acknowledges the sorrows, but it does not buy the lie that says, “Your life is only sorrows, all the time.”

That lie is what gets us into trouble, I think; when do not lift our eyes from the sorrows long enough to notice the joys that are sprinkled in.

And I maintain that those joys (maybe just tiny ones sometimes) are there for the observing, even in the hardest of times.

This week, I am thankful:

that I’m finally making some progress toward getting my CNA

I want to get a student nursing job by the end of this semester, mainly so that I can get some more hands-on practice.

But I need to get my CNA license to work at the hospital I want to work at, and there are multiple hoops to jump through to get that. Yesterday I got the background check hoop jumped through, so now I’m one step closer!

that one more test is done

By the time you probably read this, I’ll be done with exam 4 in Med Surg.

Sooo, that means I have two more Med Surg exams left (one regular, one final) and in my women/newborn class, I have one regular exam and one final left.

Only four more exams to get through. Yay!

(Wait. I take that back. I have an ATI practice exam and an ATI proctored exam as well. ATI is a nursing education testing company, so these tests are not school-specific. So…I guess six more exams.)

that the string of rainy days is nearly over

Sometimes checking the forecast cheers me up, but this past weekend, it made me feel rather womp-womp because there was a long string of days with a rain graphic.

But mercifully, after today, we have a string of sunny, dry days coming up. Woohoo!

that the basement here does not flood

We had some torrential rain the last few days, and the basement is totally dry. This never fails to impress me because my house is set in kind of a dip, at the bottom of a hill.

Whoever set up the drainage systems here did a good job, because we have never had basement leaks in the whole time we’ve lived here.

(which is almost two years. WHOA.)

for cat snuggles

From Miss Shelley:

And Chiquita.

She was watching immunological disorder videos with me. 😉

If only she could help me with my exam!

for friends to study with

I got together with four other nursing students yesterday to do some exam review, which is both helpful and fun.

I know I say this all the time, but I love my fellow students so much.

that the waves are often small these days

You all are familiar with my metaphor for processing the hurt I’ve been through…that I envision these episodes as waves. They are so much less frequent now, and when they do appear, I feel like they are usually faster to move through.

(as compared to when I first left my marriage)

Last night I was driving to a meeting, and one popped up. I felt indignant and angry, tears sprang to my eyes, and then in less than five minutes, the wave had passed.

I appreciate that these waves are less exhausting than they used to be, and I think that is a sign that I am growing and healing.

a new Hawaii sticker

Lisey did a little island-hopping to visit Big Island, and she mailed me a sticker from her travels.

She can catch a flight from island to island for free because of her job, which is a pretty sweet deal!

What are you thankful for this week?