As Americans we get so caught up in things that don’t really matter, we judge our success by our large homes, perfect lawns and bank accounts that we lose sight of what is right in front of us.  If there is one thing this past month of living Puerto Vallarta has taught me it’s to stop and just be, just be in the exact moment I am in not yesterday’s problems or tomorrow’s challenges but to just be in this exact moment. I sit on the beach, close my eyes and let the warm sun wash all over me, I listen to the music of the waves as they crash onto the shore and just breath it all in.  The world disappears, the kitchen that needs to be remodeled, what the latest crazy news story is or the latest disaster that will keep us up at nights even though there is nothing I can do to fix it.  Life is always so busy we just lose ourselves and we don’t even realize it. We live to work instead of working to live and eventually we lose our passion all so we can live in the biggest house on the street.  

Now here I am in an apartment that isn’t much bigger than my kitchen back home and I’m content.  Although I do seriously miss my laundry room and huge bathtub especially today, my body could most definitely use a nice long soak but none the less I’m content.  I won’t say happy because I’ve learned that, that word has so many different meanings for so many people and it’s a fluff word.  Content is not a huge word like happy, it’s sustainable, it means being at peace with who you are, where you are and what you have.  Of course, I do have those highs of being happy, joyful but they don’t last for long periods of time and sometimes they are few and far between. It’s taken me a month of being here to become truly content.  I don’t need to make plans or schedule my days down to the minute instead I just live, even cleaning the house doesn’t feel like a chore. Anyone that really knows me will laugh but I turn my music on, and I dance while I clean, even my dog thinks I’m crazy.

On the day’s that my illness has taken over I know it will pass and tomorrow I will be better, it’s not defeating me.  Of course, if I were home right now in the cold this would be a totally different story but I’m not so I’m not going to dwell on that or the place I was in before I got here and life became simpler.  You know what that’s the key…..make life simpler, enjoy the small everyday pleasures and stop trying to be the perfect “_____”.  We are so busy we miss all the beauty that surrounds us every single day, no not that unsustainable “happy” but the beauty of content.  Because content is embracing what you have, not what you want, not what you think you want only to get it and then want more.  I hope I am able to hold onto to this when I return home back to the house that always needs something fixed and the desire to have more creeps back in.