Finding Bliss

I am going to throw some VERY overused and cliche quotes at you.
"“You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching,
Love like you'll never be hurt,
Sing like there's nobody listening,
And live like it's heaven on earth.”
― William W. Purkey
“In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.”
― Robert Frost
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
― Albert Einstein

I lead a small group at church of about 10 or 15 sixth grade girls on Wednesday nights. They are absolutely fascinating and beautiful and wonderful in every single way! Every week, we end up talking about things that are on their hearts. Every so often, a girl is dealing with a divorce of her parents or other family members. Or a family member or friend is sick or hurting, and they are always very quick to express their concerns for that. But EVERY week, we talk a great deal about being bullied. Or maybe a boy that they like is being silly. Or they are in an argument with their friends. Just little things that I remember going through in middle school, and when I look back, I wish I would have just took a breath and let it go.
It's funny, when we're younger, we always kind of want to be able to say, "I've been there. I know what you're going through. And I promise that it is not anything to worry about," to someone else. I remember being in these huge fights with my friends about not being invited to a birthday party or not being the friend that was invited over to spend the night one weekend. My mom and dad would say things like, "Macy, when you're older, this will not matter one bit" or "You're real friends will always be there for you. In a few years, you'll know WHO you really need in your life and WHAT you really need in your life." I would just shrug them off and think they were absolutely insane because my whole world was falling apart because I would not be falling asleep on Friday night at "Susie Q's" house.
It's so weird being at a place in my life where I look at these girls and know exactly what they're going through. I wish so much that they understood that one day, all these things will just vaporize. They will forget the tears. They will forget how upset they were. None of that will matter. The stress won't matter. One day, it will click for them. That life is just too short. We are here for a blink. A breath. Every single moment spent worrying or stressed out is a moment that we'll never get back.
The saddest thing to me is that there are adult people even friends and family of my own that are still waiting for the click. We hold grudges. We let tasks keep us from people. We let stress overtake us, and we lose ourselves completely. The differences between then and now is that we have school and jobs to throw ourselves into, and, furthermore, we have life experience. We've been hurt before, and we do not want it to happen again.
Those quotes that I attached at the top are three of my favorite quotes of all time. The last one always really strikes a chord with me. We can live as if nothing is a miracle or as if everything is. Is it really that simple? When things happen to you. When people hurt you. When everything inside of you hits rock bottom, and you're not sure it'll ever turn up again... Why in the world would you want to try to convince yourself that your life is a miracle? Why not? I mean, really. How is it going to help you if you choose to keep your guard up? It won't.
I live in my own little world. My own bubble, if you please. I am overly optimistic and anything but realistic. I believe in people. I love people. That's not because bad things have never happened to me. It's certainly not because I've never been betrayed or hurt by people. I have been. I just wake up EVERY morning and choose to treat my life like a miracle.
In that, I find bliss.