Share sayings that help you get through life

When you're going thru hell, you don't stop, you keep going.

I'm a firm believer in "juice ain't worth the squeeze" for tasks that just aren't worth the effort.

I also believe in "you get what you pay for." I try to tell myself sometimes a screaming good deal is really junk in disguise.

Don't look back, you aren't going that way.

It's your life. Rise to the occasion. -Mr. Magorium

In otherwards, take a stand for what you believe and make the most of every signal moment. Being ill teaches you that life is precious and we only get one go round, so live w/purpose and love.

This week, my mantra has been:

It is so nice when toxic people stop talking to you. It is like the trash took itself out.

I could be wrong here, but, Zee - I’m pretty sure you recently wrote that - Comparison is the thief of joy.

True true double true. Triple true.

This is one that changed my life a good 25 years ago.

I have my own very specific version of it, but it means the same thing.  Once, 25 years ago, I was frustrated by someone I knew who suddenly sort of fell into having several things that I had been waiting some time for.  (Mind you, my life was fine at the time.  I just wanted a few things that I had not yet achieved. ) And so I vented about it to someone else, who knew both myself and the person who suddenly had it "all".

Now, at the time I was married to my DH, we'll call him Ben.  And the "have it all" person was engaged to a man we'll call "Gerald".
Gerald was a creep.  I couldn't stand Gerald and I didn't understand what this person I knew saw in him.  But at the end of the day they seemed very happy with smarmy, creepy Gerald, and the rest of their life as well.

So the person I was venting to listened to my whining, and said to me very simply, with no judgement, no lecture, "But you have Ben & she has Gerald." (I wasn't the only one who thought that way about "Gerald".    )

And it was like the clouds parted and the sun came out, and the heavens sang out Hallelujahs.

Or it was like I just got smacked with the stick of Good Sense.  Take your pick. 

But it changed the very way I looked at the world.  And from that point forward, I could absolutely say with complete sincerity that I very, very rarely struggled with any sort of envy, jealousy, etc.  Because I know could so clearly realize that no matter what anyone else in the entire world might have or be able to do, they almost certainly also had some sort of a "Gerald".  

I could work towards achieving something I wanted. Or I could try to accept something in life that I couldn't change (certain medical issues), but if I was looking at someone else's life as a whole and thinking "Must be nice!", I needed to bear in mind that chances were very high that something about their life would have been a "Gerald" to me.  (Since this epiphany, I've also avoided ever using the phrase "must be nice!", but that's another thread.    )

Maybe their "Gerald" wasn't a creepy fiance. Maybe it was a job that I would absolutely hate. Maybe it was other family issues. Maybe it was medical struggles. Maybe it was a social calendar I would never want to try to keep up with, or they lived someplace I hated, or they had bills coming out of their ears. But whatever they had that was great and that I might like to have in my own life, also came with their "Gerald". I couldn't run around cherry picking parts of someone else's life. If I wanted the flowers and unicorns and rainbows, I had to take any and all Geralds along with them. 

(PS, for those who read the thread about celebrities we have irrational negative feelings about, "Gerald" is the person that poor Ryan Gosling reminds me of.)

“Life is too short to…………..”(fill-in the blank with what ever fits at the moment)

I need to adopt this one for sure.

My favorite quote is attributed to Oprah - "You can have it all but you can't have it all at once."  I try to remember that.  

I’m another fan of “This too shall pass”
Also, “Worry doesn’t take away tomorrow’s troubles; it takes away today’s peace”. I sometimes have trouble implementing that one.

You can’t control the action of others.

A friend d of mine said this to me when I was 18, and I refer to it often. Mostly about minor things, like shitty drivers, people who litter, etc. it helps things slide off my back.

Here is another helpful one that I refer to:

Not everyone has to like you.

My parents were big on expressions that taught lessons, and there were a few that have always come back to me. One was, "If they're talking about someone else behind their back, you can guarantee they will do the same thing to you." I have always been very aware that gossips include everyone in their repertoire.

My dad used to remind me that if it was worth the time to do something, it was worth doing it well. (no half-done jobs). I remind myself of that when I am feeling lazy and want to take a shortcut.

This is a great quote - really puts things into perspective especially as a parent!

My grandmother, who passed when I was 7, was known for saying “The world’s full of cactus, but you don’t have to sit on it.” That one has stuck with me!

Before I go into any challenging situation (or run a road race!), I often recite the great mantra from “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”: “TITS UP!” 😆