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Every Little Thing by April Jeppson

This is one of my favorite mantras: If you look for the good, you will find it. If you look for yellow cars, you’ll see more yellow cars. It doesn’t mean that more yellow vehicles took to the road because you “willed” it to be. They were there the entire time, you just didn’t notice them because you weren’t paying attention.

It helps me focus on the positive and look for the good or the lesson in even the worst situations.

Another one of my go-to mantras is, “Things always work out how they are supposed to.”

No matter how much I search for the silver lining, sometimes I need to remind myself that everything will work out in the end. It’s not my job to worry or fret over things that are out of my control. It’s my job to do everything I can, and then accept the outcome that is presented to me.

I’m a go-getter. If I want something, I work hard and navigate through every obstacle in order to see my vision come to fruition. I understand that sometimes what I want may take years of effort, and I’m OK with that. I honestly believe that if it sometimes stays a bit out of reach for me, it’s because I’m not ready for it. Even if I don’t understand why, I know there’s a reason.

Think about children. If a 3-year-old asks for a doughnut, the parent might say no. There are a number of reasons for this rejection. Perhaps it’s close to dinner time, the child has an allergy or maybe there are no doughnuts in the house right now. It really doesn’t matter what the reason is, because when you tell a toddler they can’t have something, their entire world falls apart.

So when I really, really want something and it doesn’t work out for me, I am no different than a 3-year-old. I think at our core, we are all like that. We worked hard, we feel justified in our desire and dang it, we really wanted it. So I throw myself a pity party that lasts between five minutes and a few days and force feed myself the idea that for whatever reason, now is not the right time.

The cool thing about rejection is that it makes victory so much sweeter. You worked hard, you overcame obstacles and you didn’t give up so you are that much more appreciative when you do finally get it. Let’s think about kids again. Those that always get what they want, tend to turn into ungrateful, spoiled children. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be an ungrateful, spoiled adult.

I will continue on my journey of setting goals, staying positive and doing my best to not give up. I know some days are better than others, but man oh man — if April from five years ago could see me now, she’d be grinning ear to ear. I’ll leave you with the words of George Eliot: “It’s never too late to be what you might have been.”

Albert Lean April Jeppson is a wife, mom, coach and encourager of dreams. Her column appears every Saturday.