Authenticity – how and why

What does it mean to be authentic? It is different to each person and each situation, but at the core of our life, we do need to find beauty and gratefulness for our lives which sums up authentic to me. I don’t identify with a glass half full all the time, but I want to. I see people who are joyful walking down the street, grocery shopping, taking the trash out, JOYFUL, that is what I want to be, not because I want to be them, but because I want to find happiness in the small and big moments of our life. Authentically being grateful for each day and each moment.

How do I jump from Authentic to Joyful? This is a stream of consciousness for me so stay with me, the choice to be happy is a conscious decision. We must make the decision to choose happiness, or to stay stuck in the negative. Is this easy, NO (HELL NO), it is beyond hard to remain positive, but it is important. To stay stuck in the negative only allows it to take over us and not see the blessings in our lives. We are not promised an easy or perfect life, free of heart ache or disaster, but our out look and decision to choose happiness is our choice.

The word authentic has always struck me as a bit odd, how can you be authentic without focusing on the negative? I have had a horrible day, I have just __________ enter negative here, how can I be positive, or pretend to be positive. This is a very fine line, and one I still struggle with. But for me right now, Authentic is being real with a spin on keeping my outlook on gratefulness and not continue to focus on the negative. Life is not always rainbows and unicorns, but we must deal with sickness, tragedy and brokenness. As an adult I have been able to compartmentalize these into different parts of my brain and daily life to process through. But raising children it is different, my outlook on life has been challenged in raising these tiny humans, it is not just enough to put negative moments into a box for another day, but to really deal with the positive and negative in our daily life and to embrace what that means to us. This to me is being authentic, living a daily life of the ups and downs, while moving forward and being grateful for what we have. I started this blog as a way to document our families journey, but it has become much more than that to me, it has become a community of like minded people who struggle with the same things we struggle with. A community of people who want to build a strong family structure and to make their family a priority. This is not easy, but it is important. I am so very thankful for each of you who has become part of this journey, reading along and commenting on your own journey’s. This blog has also held me accountable to my growth and my families growth in being authentic. Life is not easy nor is it fair, but we have so much to be grateful for. I wan to create a family that is grateful to be together, to be grateful for warm beds to sleep in, grateful for food to eat…..to be grateful for all the things in their life.

How do you live your authentic life?

My word for 2019 is GRATEFUL, I have awakened daily to remember I am alive and the blessings that our family has; our health, our house, the food in our kitchen and our jobs. We live a blessed and happy life, but the struggle for happiness is always there, how do we balance our blessings with the challenges and negative events in our lives?

The short answer is our outlook, we must always look for the sunshine, the positive, the silver lining. The more you look for the positive the more you will see it. I challenge you, just as I do my self, look for the ray of sunshine in all things, sometimes it is really hard to find, but it is there, just look for it.

-Authentically Amy