Tears of Joy

I heard the term “tears of joy” the other day and it made me think about it a lot. It made me think of some great memories that have hit me with so much pure happiness that I just cried. It’s happened to most of us in life. And if it hasn’t happened to you, I hope that you get a chance to experience it someday because it is truly amazing.

Of course we most often associate tears with sadness, but that’s why tears of joy are so, well for lack of a better word, amazing. It’s the moments in life that you take a step back and enjoy what life has presented you with. The moments when you are so overwhelmed with the amount of happiness in your body that you don’t have any other way to express it. That’s a great feeling, the feeling that your body is overloaded with happiness. Everyone should feel that at some point in their life. Tears of fear and sadness are normal, but tears of joys are so much stronger and hard to come by.

When I think of the very important moments in my life where I experienced tears of joys I can’t help but smile. It shows me that there are so many awesome things in my life and in the world that are worth being grateful for. Think about it, the first time you meet a new edition to your family, whether it be your own child or just a new baby in the family. You’re so happy that you can meet this little person that has only been here for a short time, but can make a huge impact on the lives of the people around them.  That makes me happy, just thinking about that.

 Honestly, I tend to hide my tears of joy for no apparent reason. When I met my niece a few years ago and my godson recently, I teared up I’m not going to lie. I feel like he’ll probably be the source of more moments of tears of joy in the future, as will my future children. When I think about it, my future is filled with moments of potential tears of happiness. Marriage is a likely occasion that will make my cry tears of joy. I will probably get to the point where I’m so happy that I can’t hold it in, but hopefully that won’t happen in front of people…When my children are born I’m sure that it will push me to the limit as well. And frankly, I can’t wait for those things. I’m looking forward to feeling my whole body overcome with joy to the point where I just sob. Bring it on.

Stop reading for a second and think back to a moment or multiple moments that made you cry tears of joy. Focus on those for a bit. Now how did that make you feel? Happy? It’s definitely a good way to bring light to your long days at work. When you’re stressed just take a breather, relax and think about one of those moments. Amazing things happen in life and I don’t think that we take enough time to fully enjoy them.

That being said, when you come to a moment that leads you into tears of joy don’t rush it. Embrace it and enjoy it as much as possible. Don’t only enjoy it in the moment either; enjoy it in the future too. It’s something that you can look back on realize how in our complex world something so simple can bring you into this pure sense of joy. I urge you to look back on these moments often, because at times these moments will turn a not so great day into a day that you can get through. Smile, it’s better for you.

-Eric Proulx

Give Thanks

So apparently Thanksgiving is tomorrow and it really got me thinking. Do we even give thanks on Thanksgiving? I feel like we just eat turkey and hangout with our family. Is that what it’s supposed to be? And if we are supposed to be giving thanks, what are we to be thankful for and who are we to be thankful for?

I don’t know about you, but in the past I can’t remember ever giving thanks to anyone on Thanksgiving. I guess I never really understood the essence of Thanksgiving until I went away for college. By that I mean that I was always used to seeing my family every day, and I was never thankful to spend Thanksgiving with them. Yes I had a great time with them every year, but I never understood that I should be thankful to be able to spend that time with them.

 Now bear with me as I tell you what I’m thankful for. First and foremost, I am thankful for my family. I am thankful that they are so supportive of me in everything that I do and that they’re always there for me when I need them. I am also thankful for my amazing girlfriend. She always knows the right thing to say in every situation and I love her to death. I am thankful for my health and the health of all of my friends and family. I am thankful that I am able to go to such a great college and play baseball, my one constant and true love. Basically, I’m just thankful that I have a happy life with people around me that I can count on and that I can help when they need it.

I hate thinking about the fact that some people don’t have people in their life and aren’t happy in their lives. Hearing stories about the things that some of my new friends have gone through absolutely break my heart. Some people don’t have family to be thankful for, and they keep going through life as strong as ever. Be thankful that you have that family, and be thankful that you can spend Thanksgiving with them.

Still, these people that have gone through unthinkable things go through life thankful for everything. I’ve been so blind to how lucky I am. And that is why I want to thank everybody in my life for everything that they have ever done. Everything that they have ever done to help me and hurt me. Because those things that hurt me were never permanent, and I always grew most from those things.

For those of you that think you’re going through something really hard know that there are people that have it worse than you. Be thankful for the things that you have despite any of the hardships in your life. Know that no matter what it is, you’ll get through it eventually. Be thankful that those hardships are there to help you grow.

  

The world doesn’t owe anything to any of us; no one owes anything to us. We are all blessed to have the things we do in life. Even the little things. I think Thanksgiving is about being thankful for life in general. It means being thankful for every little thing in life that has made you the person that you are today. Naturally, that includes being thankful for all of the people that have shaped you in life. I’m disappointed that it has taken me so long to be thankful, but now that I am I don’t think that will ever change. Thank you all and I hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.

-Eric Proulx

Taking Life As It Comes

I have always worried about everything too much. Being the worry wart that I am, I would just stress myself out even more than I already was by worrying about things. I’ve always been a “what if” kind of person. Thinking about things far into the future was common, but things often didn’t turn out the way I thought they would. I needed something to stop me from worrying.

Lately, I’ve definitely been worrying about things less. I’m finally feeling settled in at college and feeling okay about my studies. I know my place on the baseball team and I’m working hard to show everyone why the coach put me there. But I still have my moments where I am completely stressed and don’t know how to stop worrying about everything going on. Today was one of those days.

I don’t know why professors feel the need to swamp us with homework right before we leave for Thanksgiving break, or any break, but they do. I figured that since I had no classes today I would work on my homework and be relaxed and done by now. That is not the case. This is my break time. I have a research paper due tomorrow and an online blog to write about a reading for the same class, I have a test tomorrow in what is supposed to be my easiest class but it isn’t seeming that way anymore, I have a history essay that I need to start because I need to bring my grade up in that class, and to top it all off I have a lecture transcription to do for OT because I’m stupid and did bad on the first test. I couldn’t help worrying about how if my GPA isn’t high enough I’ll lose my scholarship. Stress level=too high.

Then I talked to someone that turned my whole mind set around, my dad. Somehow he always knows when I’m upset. Somehow he always knows the right thing to say. He calmed me down just by talking to him through email for a half an hour. He told me not to worry, to take a break and listen to music, and that we would worry about my scholarship later if we had to. It was honestly all I needed to hear.

After that I looked at my dry erase board on my wall for some reason. A friend had led me to the Bible when I was stressed not too long ago and I had printed out Luke 12:25-26 and put it there to remind me not to worry. Luke 12:25-26 says this “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?” This just seems to resonate with me and makes me realize that worrying doesn’t help anything, it makes it worse.

With that being said, it’s normal to worry about things sometimes. When you do worry about things, take a break from whatever it is you’re doing. Remember that worrying isn’t getting anything done faster, it’s probably making it take longer. Go listen to music for 20 minutes and just relax. Talk to someone that will make you happy. Do anything to get your mind off of it for a little while.

You always need to remember that worrying makes things worse. It’s better to just deal with things as they come to you. It may be cliché, but you need to “Cross that bridge when you come to it”. If you’re always worrying about the future, you aren’t fully living in the present. And the present is awesome, so you’re missing out.

-Eric Proulx

In the Spotlight

A while back I talked about celebrities making mistakes in life and how they are in the spotlight all the time. I’ve been thinking about this more and it has got me wondering if being a celebrity is something that people actually want to do. I don’t know about you, but I think it’s a little ridiculous to have to worry about what you’re doing because your fans will see it. It’s kind of hard to live your life when you have to worry about everyone else. And that is why celebrities do things wrong, because they stop caring about what everyone else thinks as we all have been taught and they just live their lives.

As a kid everyone wants to be famous, it’s just a stage. Kids don’t understand the stress that comes with being famous, and no one truly does until they have a first-hand account of it. It is important though that we allow kids to dream to be famous. Crushing their dreams and imagination that early will definitely hinder their creative thinking. So let them go through that stage, the majority of kids do.

 

I urge you to take a look at what has happened to people being in the spotlight. Everyone knows about Lindsay Lohan’s struggle and that it was likely related to her being in show business for her whole life. Being in show business at a young age can definitely take away from someone’s childhood. They’re always in the spotlight and can’t have as much fun as they want to. They may like being in movies or on TV, but that’s their job and eventually if they change their mind and decide to get out of show business they’re stuck. If you were on TV all your life and decided at 30 that you wanted to be a veterinarian you would have to go back to school and learn everything later in life. I can imagine that starting over at age 30 and leaving everything you have known for the last 25 years behind isn’t easy.

Then there are those celebrities that do one thing wrong in life and it hurts their entire career. Drivers get DUI’s every day, but when a celebrity gets a DUI it is seen by everyone. People make mistakes, and celebrities are people. Celebrities should be kept to the same standard as everyone else, but in some cases they are held to a higher standard. They’re expected to be as close to perfect as possible and I just don’t think that that is realistic at all. Celebrities make mistakes just like everyone else, so why should their careers have to suffer for the same mistake that would barely affect people in everyday society?

Some people can handle the stress of being a celebrity. I admire that because I can imagine that it isn’t easy at all. There are so many factors in a celebrity’s life that they have to think about; whether it is what the fans will think of their actions or whether they’ll be able to spend time with their family without the paparazzi being all over them. They aren’t given the chance to be alone and just live their life. People who aren’t celebrities value their privacy, but celebrities value it even more because they know that it is very limited.

If you think you can handle being a celebrity, I say go for it. More power to you. Just make sure you think about every aspect of it before you do it. It’s a completely different life and, as I have already said, celebrities often crack under the pressure. It isn’t for everybody, but some people can handle it. Going forward you need to realize that it isn’t always all fun and games. At the end of the day, it is your occupation and yes it will be fun but it won’t be fun all of the time. Think before you go into show business, there are so many deciding factors. I know this probably isn’t much coming from a kid who has never been a celebrity and maybe will never be, but just take everything into consideration.

-Eric Proulx

Fear of Change

Change isn’t something that I’ve been known to take easily. I used to freak out at minor changes and get anxiety about new things in my life. I guess I got better with that as I grew up, but sometimes I still fear change. Sometimes it’s really hard to explain why change scares me. Why does change affect some people so much?

I remember reacting terribly to two changes in my life. Both are things that the vast majority of kids go through and I probably shouldn’t have reacted the way I did. The first one happened when I was changing schools from elementary school to junior high school. Of course going into a new school most people are nervous, but they have some excitement too. I was not excited at all. I over-analyzed everything when I thought about going to junior high and I tried my best at throwing temper tantrums so my parents wouldn’t make me go, obviously to no avail. Being in the same school for my whole childhood then going to a bigger school with more people, harder classes and more homework just really intimidated me. I was worried about making new friends and keeping my old ones. I was a mess.

When I got there I soon found out that I had nothing to be afraid of. Yes the school was bigger, there were more people and there was more homework but it wasn’t as bad as I had thought it would be. This change definitely set me up for a new change that would happen two years later: high school. I was nervous going into high school, but I wasn’t scared this time. Junior High was good for me and was the first thing that began to show me that I shouldn’t be scared of changes.

The other change came late in high school. A lot of people growing up change houses and it is definitely a big change for everyone. I hoped that I would never go through that and for a while I didn’t think I would. Eventually my dad sold the house and we had to move out, and I didn’t take it well. I lived in that house for 17 years of my life and it was just surreal to me to think that it wasn’t my house anymore. This probably shouldn’t have been a big deal to me, but for some time I felt like I didn’t have a place that was mine. Obviously that wasn’t true at all; I had more than one place for me. I had my mom’s house, my dad’s new house and I distinctly remember my girlfriend telling me that I always had a place with her. She even went as far to let me have a wall in her room that I could put stuff on. That meant more to me than I had the words to explain.

Personally, I think that I just get too used to my life as it is that I fight change. I’ve had numerous occasions where I rejected change because I was afraid to try something new. I feel like that is one of my biggest flaws. It makes me mad to think about how much I probably missed out on in high school because I wasn’t open to trying something new. That is without a doubt something that I am trying to work on before it’s too late.

Sometimes I get really attached to people too, and when my relationship with them changes even a little bit it’s hard for me. I get used to how our relationship is and as soon as it changes I don’t know what to do. I’ve been working on telling myself that changes aren’t always for good. Relationships change all the time, but most end up going back to the way you are. And even if they don’t, you’ll get over it in time. You don’t need other people there for you to be you. I really have nothing to fear when it comes to that.

My fear of change has begun to get better, but I still need to work on it. I know that change is good in some cases, and that I should be open to change because I could be missing out on something amazing. I’m assuming that I’m not the only one that is afraid of trying something new. For those of you who have the same fear, don’t be scared. Trying something new, maybe even out of your comfort zone, could teach you so much about yourself. Get out there and embrace change because change teaches you lessons and it shapes you into a more well-rounded person.

-Eric Proulx