Pondering with a Purpose...Life or Living?

It's a home alone kind of morning...a preview of what a totally empty nest will be like.  It's 8:30 and I'm still in my pajamas (I can stay in them till noon if I want to) and in a little bit I'm going to have the leftover coconut shrimp from my birthday dinner at Red Lobster for breakfast.  After that, the possibilities are endless.  I could float in the pool (if it gets hot enough), I could pull weeds in the yard (really need to do that), I could figure out some really impressive dish to cook for supper, or I could just enjoy a lazy day and start watching The Hatfields and McCoys on DVD since I think I'm one of the few people on the planet that didn't watch it on television.  Or maybe life will surprise me with something else as the day goes on.

While we're waiting to see how I play out the day, let's see what Brenda has for us to ponder on purpose this week.

• By the way, if you'd like to join in the fun all you have to do is pop over to Brenda's blog, snag the Pondering with a Purpose button, and include it in a post related to the weekly prompt.  Then link your post up with everyone else's.

This week's prompt is: Life or Living?  

Are you living your life . . . or is your life your living?

Are you making choices you WANT.... or choices you are FORCED to make?

And are you okay with that?

Heavy subject... I know... but it gives you something to think about... 

What makes you tick? and are you happily ticking along?

• Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans.
• Life is what you make of it.
• Life is unfair.
• Life is a highway/journey.
• Life is short.
• Life is like a box of chocolates.

Everybody's got a philosophy about life and their walk through it.  My personal favorite is:

Covers just about everything, don't you think?

But to get deeper....am I living the life I want or is life living me?  Am I making choices I want to make or am I forced to make certain choices?

I think for most of us, and certainly for me, life is a bit of both.  There are certain things that happen that we can't change, but there are plenty of opportunities to choose our own path.  The "trick" is in finding balance.  You need to be able to be spontaneous and roll with the punches, but you don't want to sit around just waiting for life to smack you upside the head, either.  

There have definitely been times in my life when I've felt controlled by my circumstances, but as I grow older and wiser I'm figuring out that it's about attitude and what your mindset is in any circumstance.  I have met people living in deplorable conditions and tragic circumstances who can be counted among the most joyful, satisfied people I've ever met.  On the other hand, I've met people who have it all and are so miserable that their misery casts a pall on everyone around them.

I wouldn't say I fell into the latter category, but in my younger days I definitely felt, not trapped, but shaped by my circumstances, most of which I had no control over.  I admit to periods of feeling like life was living me.  I married a workaholic at a young age.  Kids, family, bills.....it all piles on quickly in adulthood.....and like a lot of stay-at-home moms I was completely devoted to my family.  To the point of losing sight of me and who I was.  And that workaholic, though a good man, was not necessarily an available one.  I felt like I was alone in a lot of the things I had to deal with.  And oh, did I go through a spell a couple of years ago....we were going through a tough time with our daughter, I was staring the empty nest in the eye, and my hormones were completely out of whack.  Ugh!  I felt totally helpless then.

These days I've got my feet back under me.  I've adjusted to the idea of the empty nest....in fact, I've been known to suggest our daughter might want to speed the process up.  The hormonal roller coaster seems to have  pulled into the platform for the time being and I've renewed my faith in God.  With all that under control I'm beginning to find out who I am, what I want to do and be at this point in my life, and I'm pretty excited about the whole darn thing!