Whew! It's been a rough week.

On my emergency plane ride home again last Tuesday, I was thinking about memories, and life, all kinds of deep, sappy stuff. If those don't interest you- stop here. ; ) Luckily, I had a pen and paper with me- writing is so helpful to exploring your thoughts.

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"If you keep your face toward the sunlight, you can't see the shadows"

I love this quote by Helen Keller, its one of my favorites. Optimism in the light of adversity- maintaining a positive outlook amidst despair- focusing on the good things in life- very difficult- but important, and can make all the difference.

But I think I have been misinterpreting it's meaning. Lately I've been realizing that optimism runs deeper than just ignoring the bad things. That's not optimistic- that's naïve. The nobler challenge, which will result in more happiness, is not ignoring the 'shadows' at all- but facing them head-on, dealing with them and moving on, back to the sunshine, knowing that it was always there.

Naïvity is a blessing of youth. But letting it go shouldn't mean your life outlook should tarnish. Confront your demons- face your fears- do whatever it takes- but don't cower- and whine- and live your life with fear and regret- because that's not living at all. Conquer the shadows- and face the sun again!

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Slightly cheesy, I know- but that's me. It's helpful for me to think like this in those rough patches, because like many of us, I always find it easier to simply ignore stuff and hope it will all go away. It never does though. So my new plan- deal with in and get it over with- so I can focus more time on the sweeter parts of life, rather than worrying about the icky ones. And there's sure a lot of sweet stuff. : )