StaggShire

I just watched a video of Jasmine Star, an incredible wedding photographer, and her husband JD, who shoots with her. They were at Disneyland with two friends, Amy and David Wenzel, and afterwards Amy made them a video documenting JD and Jasmine specifically throughout their day at Disneyland. For some reason this video touched me a lot and I actually strongly considered commenting on the video, even though Jasmine gets hundreds of comments on each post she makes and surely does not have time to read them all.

But this video really made me reflect on attitude and what a big difference it makes in a person. I have a hard time having a great attitude all the time, probably for a lot of reasons. One reason is that I strive for the best and if the circumstances aren't the best, rather than making the best of them, I get bummed because they aren't the best. Or when I do bust my butt trying to make the best of what I've been given it still falls short. Also, I don't like smiling unless I'm laughing a lot because I have really big cheeks and smiling makes my face look even fatter. But this video made me think about which is worse- smiling and looking fat (neither Jasmine nor JD do, btw) or not allowing yourself to smile and missing out on happiness- and therefore on life? Plus, if I were happier, it would probably be much easier to be skinnier because I would be more inclined to be more active and not waste calories eating junk because I would feel better and have more self-confidence and drive to actively push myself away from that stuff.

Jasmine is always inspirational, and I am constantly amazed by her infinite LOVE of life and her jaw-droppingly attractive personality and attitude. But it took seeing Jasmine, as well as her and JD's relationship, through Amy's eyes to make me realize the absolute need for change in my life.

Okay, Goals...

• Smile more!
• Don't eat sweets. I'm stronger than them!
• Build myself up more.
• Be more patient and more loving with Kevin. He's so incredible and works SO HARD.
  
• Compliment Kevin to other people more. To avoid mushiness I try not to accolade him in front of other people, especially those who are single, but too often I tend to go to an extreme and publish what I'm annoyed with that he's done in the moment, NOT trying to be mean about it, but just- feeling the need to let the frustration out in a way other than letting it out on him. But now I know I can be grown-up enough to move beyond the complaining-to-others-as-to-not-criticize-the-person-who-did-it stage to the give-him-compliments-to-his-face-as-well-as-to-others stage. Not that I don't compliment him to his face, because I certainly do, but I can always improve upon that and I can definitely improve by keeping my mouth shut about what I'm bothered about and one-upping that by praising him to others. He so deserves it.
• Try not to be personally and permanently wounded when someone would rather do such and such than hang out with me. Variety is the spice of life!