When I started my never-ending masters program, I had a professor sit us down and read through a list of student quirks that drive professors batshit crazy. The usual suspects were on there:

• Texting in class with your phone in your lap and thinking no one can see you staring at your crotch
• Missing class and emailing to see if you missed “anything important” (hint: professors think everything they say is important)
• Missing class and expecting a private tutorial to get caught up
• Missing class in general

The one that really struck a chord with me, though, was this (in my own words): Don’t complain. Don’t complain about your work load, your test questions, your class times or anything else you can think of to complain about (and you’ll think of a lot). When it’s all said and done, you picked the classes and times, you picked the field of study, you picked the school. What did you think, they’d hand a diploma for watching Food Network and reading blogs? (I kinda did.)

The point of this rant is simply to say that we all have things to complain about–bills, in-laws, homework, work work, working out, sickness, gas prices, taxes, weather. The list goes on an on. Sometimes when I feel the heavy weight of such burdens bearing down on my life, I step back and remind myself that I’m the one who put myself here. It’s easy to blame my professors, my bosses, my family, friends and enemies. But, truly, I chose this. All of it.

There are other more pleasant times when I think of this, too. Like today at the second Charlotte Food Bloggers monthly meeting. Sitting around a picnic table filled with like-minded food lovers and their vegetarian-friendly potluck creations, I felt very happy to be where I am.

Often times I think it’s so easy to look at the bad things in our lives and blame ourselves for messing up, giving up or otherwise failing our way to that point. We blame ourselves for creating that miserable life. But when it comes to the great times–the picnics with friends, the perfect 15-minute nap at the end of a brutal hot yoga class, the sense of accomplishment at the end of the semester–we tend to forgot that we created that life too.

I’m working hard to enjoy every day, to really celebrate this life. There’s no reason not do. I’ve done the negative/pessimistic/realist thing for long enough. I think I’m ready to just be blissfully content.

 

Our meeting today was awesome. The food was out of control. I was going to start a “Highlights for me included” sentence but then I realized I just loved every single thing that was there.

 

Knowing I was heading to yoga within the hour, I did my best to keep my food intake in check. But when Emma the Southern Cake Queen showed up with her cupcakes, all bets were off. I told myself I’d only eat half and be on my way and, as I’m sure you expected, it was gone before I could say “downward dog.”

I’d like to report that I did not vomit in class despite devouring that cupcakes not 15 minutes before starting. Just another cherry atop a perfect little day.

[Bloggers in attendance that you will love: Taylor, Julie, Kelly, Diana, Julia, Alison, Ensley and Crosby whose blog, we are told, is forthcoming.]