Stop and smell the roses

This may not be what I see, but I really don't feel like finding a camera. 

As I look out the window of the house I grew up in, I see at least 50 trees taller than the houses, barren of leaves and covered with snow and ice. The houses all have well kept yards and Christmas decorations. None of them look like they're about to collapse. A few inches of fresh snow lay on the ground, and Jeremiah is shoveling the driveway. I'm wearing my warmest sweater, and it isn't too warm. I'm sitting in a clean house with a beautiful Christmas tree, several Nativities, and Christmas music softly playing. And I realize that I am grateful for these simple things.

Growing up I hated snow. My mom's Christmas tree skills were a given. I never even thought of appreciating trees. I hated hearing the wind rattle my bedroom window at night and I didn't like that I needed to wear a sweater. It bothered me that my mom would ask me to pick up my trails. Nativities made me a little stressed because there were so many.

I didn't get to see a decent snowfall last year. Where I live now doesn't get decent snow. When I came home for Christmas it rained and didn't snow again until the day I left to go back to school. The mountains I went back to were brown with dead trees on them.

For the last year I have wanted to see something beautiful. I have to go into the mountains to find that in Utah and I'm used to looking out my window to find beautiful nature. In the spring the greens are bright green at home. Summers are covered with flowers. Falls are covered with bright reds, oranges, and yellows. Hardly anything is brown. In Utah, everything looks a little brown to me.

This past year has been a time where I learned to appreciate the things that are so easily overlooked. I never thought that I would miss trees. I definitely never thought I would miss wind. Now that I have missed these things, I will never overlook them. I can appreciate them now.

Why do I share this story? Because I think this is something that people must learn. So many people focus on the bad things in their lives. They focus on what they can't do, what they can't fix, etc. People get discouraged from the littlest things. Then they confuse discouragement with depression and think that something is wrong with them.

Stop and smell the roses is actually really good advice. As long as you're not allergic to roses. But really, when you're feeling discouraged, just find the beauty around you. Beauty to you might be outdoors, like it is for me. It could be in your apartment, from your friends, at a local coffee shop. If we all stop focusing on ourselves so much, we would be a much happier people.