Finding Your Happy Spot to Live Large

The Belle Writer's Studio solved our issues regarding work space and privacy

We’ve been going through some “stuff” here at Our Little House.

What we’ve been dealing with here is a serious medical scare. A routine mammogram on August 28 turned up something “concerning” and I subsequently had a battery more of mammograms and a biopsy.

It was a 6-week ordeal that ended as I hoped. The results were negative. As I exhaled that sigh of relief though, we’ve also been dealing with my mother-in-law’s terminal illness and coming to terms with her mortality, which of course, always makes us think about our own even more.

I’ve learned a few lessons, though, from the stuff we’ve gone through in the past several years.

The biggest lesson in life, I think, is that we all go through this “stuff,” no matter how perfect our house, how pretty the scenery is outside, how happy we are in our relationships with our spouses, our friends/family and even our pets or how satisfied we are with our careers, the saying is true: “Stuff Happens.”

The next most important lesson I’ve learned in my life is that the better spot we’re in mentally when this stuff happens, the better able we are to deal.

It’s when we find those things: The loving relationships, the satisfying career, our “dream” home, that make the challenges, the “stuff” we all have a bit easier to take.

There was a time not too far in distant memory when all of these things were not in place and I felt crushed by the extra challenges life brings to us all.

For me, it was about taking control of my life by leaving a job and profession I absolutely despised and felt did not fit my talents. It was about appreciating my loving, positive relationships more and dropping conventional thinking, which disconnected negative relationships; finding that niche in volunteering helping rescue some of the most vulnerable living beings in our society – homeless animals – and it was about getting to a place of serenity in in our physical space.

While I don’t like the extraneous challenges, having some of my life’s goals in place puts me in a happier spot and a better position to deal with the hard stuff.

For me, Living Large is about happiness in a small physical space, but more importantly, Living Large is about finding your dreams, whatever they may be, going for them and making them happen. When you’re in your happy spot, physically and mentally, the hard stuff may not be easy to take, but it is less of a challenge.

What is your Happy Place to help you Live Large?