Be Grace

I hate ordinary time, ordinary things & most of all ordinary Grace.

I do enjoy when things are simple.  In fact, sometimes I long to make myself and my life more simple.  I am first in line to muck up my life with new experiences, new challenges, new temptations and yes, new and exciting sins.

I blame it on the ordinary.  I blame it on being an Enneagram 7.  I blame on blasted genetics.  I blame it on me too.  I keep trying to learn (and re-learn) how to live in the present.  How to make peace with the ordinary.  How to suppress the inner adventurer.

But lately, I’ve been wondering if I should.  The instigator is, Happier at Home a book by Gretchen Rubin full of ideas of how she’s approaching a happier life at home: “Kiss More, Jump More, Abandon a Project, Read Samuel Johnson & my other Experiences in the Practice of Everyday Life.”  There’s a great deal I’m learning from this book, but the primary thing sticking out to me is to fully own your leanings: something she sums up nicely by saying” Be Gretchen.”

Being Grace, means I want a dolphin to kiss my face in Mexico.  Being Grace propelled me to run a marathon, (though I’d never been a runner) finish my bachelors degree (though odds were stacked against me).  Being Grace, in my best moments, produces an incredible momentum of ferocious tenacity.  In my worst moments, gets me in BIG trouble faster than most.

In order for me to “Be {healthy} Grace,” I need to learn to accept in me that “ordinary” is not my favorite.  I’m never going to want to be ordinary.  I will never want to dress ordinary.  I will always have extravagant & new hairstyles.  I will never want the ordinary, every-year-it’s-the-same-family-vacation.  This book is causing me to rethink how I can “Be Grace” in a healthy way that will lead to not only my own happiness but greater happiness in our home.

In order to “Be Grace” I will be an adventurer of sorts, I will likely always adore blogging & writing because it’s enough mental, emotional challenge to stimulate me for 55,000 years.  I will drag my family to weird vacation spots, I will try to make life for others better through advocacy even at personal cost.  I will never stop trying to personally grow.   I will likely never embrace being your average, ordinary gal even though I think it would be somewhat easier to live that way, to settle in a bit more.

I will be Grace.  I will not be ordinary, but I will be the version of me God intended.  And that’s good enough.

How about you? Are you happiest when things are more ordinary than not?  What’s your ordinary quota?  

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“On Fridays around these parts we like to write. Not for comments or traffic or anyone else’s agenda. But for pure love of the written word. For joy at the sound of syllables, sentences and paragraphs all strung together by the voice of the speaker.

We love to just write without worrying if it’s just right or not. For five minutes flat.

Here’s how we do it:

1. Write for 5 minutes flat with no editing, tweaking or self critiquing.

2. Link back here and invite others to join in {you can grab the button code in my blog’s footer}.

3. Go and tell the person who linked up before you what their words meant to you. Every writer longs to feel heard.

OK, are you ready? Give me your best five minutes for the prompt: Ordinary.” –Lisa-Jo Baker’s Five Minute Friday