Note from me: Part of this was originally posted last week, but it needed to be edited. Holding onto negatives only breeds more negativity and I don’t want to do that. So these are my somewhat edited thoughts on the crap that can happen to us sometimes. I hope that this more positive approach to dealing with ‘crap’ connects in a better way with those who read it.

We all know that life isn’t fair, and that crap happens to everyone. Sometimes some people get big loads of crap dumped on them, sometimes it’s just little nuggets of crap-but for the most part we can’t control that. Maybe some choices could lessen the size of the crap delivery, but for the most part it’s out of our hands. I don’t know who or what controls the shovel, but it’s not me, it’s not you.

What we can control is how we react to the crap. We can choose to let the crap just sit on us and make us really stinky to be around. We can try to shake off as much of the crap as we can right away and then over time tackle the little nuggets that can get stuck in those hard to reach places. We can ask for help getting the crap off.

And then we get to decide what to do with the crap.

If you have decided to stay stinky, well, there you go. No seriously, go – you’re stinky and it’s not nice to be around you. You can decide to take some of the crap and throw it at others as a way to get rid of it. The problem is that when you do that you just get crap on your hands, it gets all smeared around and then you (A) don’t get rid of as much as you want, (B) you still have crap on you and in hard to clean places like under your nails, and (C) people will not want to be around someone who stinks and throws crap. People are not as cute as monkeys-this will not end well as a choice.

Or…we can choose to do something productive with the crap. We can shake it off, mix it with all the good stuff that gets thrown at us in life. We can, well, compost it all together and make a garden. We can grow from the crap.

Yeah, yeah, I know – a cheesy metaphor in a mostly flippant post. Whatever – it’s true. Gardens are constantly evolving-some go through dormant phases then big bursts of growth. There are disappointments, successes, and surprises. Our gardens can be fulfilling and provide us with some great stuff, or they can be left empty.

I know what I want to do with the crap dealt to me, but lately I haven’t been following my own advice. I wasn’t making the best out of what I was given; I was dwelling on it, letting the negative outweigh the positive. Worse, I was trying to get rid of it by throwing it at others instead of accepting that it was my turn for a delivery, dealing with it, and then mixing it up with the blessed amount of good I have in my life.

And it was really, really bugging me that I was doing that. Hence this edit. This is my attempt to fix that.

All the best to you and yours.