Attitude

This has been a busy month of traveling throughout the Midwest to conferences.  My last venture was my longest trip, a nine-hour drive that I had to make alone.  For those who travel for a living this may not seem daunting, but as someone who generally sticks close to home, I was obsessing over this trip. 

The day before I had to leave I dropped in on my hundred-year-old friend at the nursing home to see how she was doing and to share the story of my trip and my concerns.  Without missing a beat she said, "Oh, you're going to have an adventure.  You're going to see new things and meet new people and it will be wonderful."  Reality check.  I thought that the elderly were set in their ways and against change.  Who is the elderly person in this scenario, I wondered.

So I set my GPS and my attitude and took off, ready for an adventure.  I saw new places and I met some wonderful new people and all in all it was a great trip.  The day after I returned home I went to thank my friend for her encouragement and her words that nudged me to look at life in this new way.  "It's all attitude," she said.  "If you look for the good it will be there."

I've been sharing this story with friends and looking at incidents from my life as an opportunity to experience new things and meet new people.  I'm looking for the good.  I read a book that urges people to start their day with the words, "Something wonderful is going to happen today and I can't wait to see what it is."  I just might have to turn in my drama queen crown.