Stop and Smell the Roses

I'm not going to lie- I don't spend enough time living in the moment at all. I have bad days, I wish them away, and I start each new day off fresh. I don't realize the good that could be happening around me when I'm so focused on the negative. In addition, I spend way too much time with my face buried in my phone. A couple weeks ago I had one of those moments that just catches you off guard... I was on my way out the door to go somewhere with my dad, probably checking instagram or texting, and he said "Is that a cardinal?". There was this beautiful red bird in a tree in front of my house. I kind of just stopped, flabbergasted, and was simply amazed at how I missed that because I was so busy on my phone.

Now a days, who isn't always on there phone? When you go somewhere and feel awkward, you take out your phone (or at least I do) and check twitter until you figure out what you're actually doing there. For me, that simple question was so eye opening. What else am I missing daily? What other beautiful things could brighten my mood that I don't notice?

I'm not just writing this to reflect... One of my brother's friend's brothers passed away earlier this week. His name was Greg, and he was diagnosed with bone cancer early fall of last year. Greg was so well known, and quite frankly, sort of famous here in Wisconsin. He was such an inspiration to us all that he even trended on twitter with 20.1K tweets. A friend of mine went to the visitation for his funeral yesterday and told me that it took over an hour and a half just to get in the door. Greg was my age, and it was probably 0 degrees outside, and still so many people showed up to celebrate his life and mourn his passing.

People like Greg are so inspiring... they may not have as much time as the rest of us, but they prove that we should take time to appreciate all of the beauty and positive things  in our lives.

Today in honor of Greg's funeral, I encourage all of you to take a minute to stop... and smell the roses.

xoxo

#YellowForGreg