Be a Tree

Odd title, right? Well by the end of this you'll see why. So right now is a happy place for all Im around. Its a wonderful feeling. As mentioned before, Carrie got into med school (MY school!! IM SO PROUD). Charlotte called me tonight and Jose Paco Sanchez Rodriguez (her hubby) got a job promotion!!!!!!! Plus, Charlotte for the first time in a long time, was HAPPY! Genuinely. It was incredable to hear the happy laughter of my very best friend. And it got me thinking. What stops us from happiness? Im sure this is a multifactoral question, but happiness is a feeling that one cannot buy, steal, touch, or borrow. Its the ultimate achievement of life I feel.
I like to think the path I am on now will lead to happiness. As I travel it, I find I am happy. At times, I HATE studying and the rigors of med school. But, I wouldnt trade this for the world. I hope becoming a doctor will provide me the happiness that I expect it will. Otherwise, this is a lot of money spent for nothing. But career paths only provide some happiness. I think about my personal life right now. Yes, I am still single. But I am happy being single. I love not having anyone to consider but myself. It allows me to dedicate everything I am to school and my friends and family. I couldnt be anymore happy with this situation.

So why then, do I find patterns and cycles of happy and unhappy in life (as we all do)? I think part of it is fear. We become anxious, unhappy if you will, when we encounter the unknown. We as human beings fear the unknown. But fear is not a God given emotion, it is generated by the devil, to keep us from attaining joy. I find for me, the biggest fear I have is success. I know that sounds strange, because I know I am capable of so much. And i focus my energies on succeeding, but I find sometimes I have this fear of succeeding. I was watching an interview of Tyler Perry (who I am not going to lie, I have no clue who he is but I know he is famous) and he said something so true, so inspiring. He said "Your gifts will always make room for you". This struck a realization for me; When you are given a gift, the gift will be big, but not bigger than you. You see, it is not YOUR responsibility to make room for the gift, for the gift is bigger than yourself. But its when you are brave enough to embrace that gift, to stand up next to it, and own it as yours, it will ALWAYS make room for you. He also alluded to trees. Trees, no matter what, are rooted in the ground, and the ground always makes room for the growing tree. Trees dont grow in fear that the sidewalk will stop their roots from expanding; they get right under that cement and shake it up. We should all be trees. We shouldnt be afraid of success and happiness. In fact, we should chase after it, grab a hold of it, and OWN IT. It may be hard to get under the sidewalk cement, but once you shake it up, and make it your bitch, everyone will see the glory that you are as the tree who keeps growing.