Finding a Balance

Lately my life has been one of startling opposites. 

One weekend I am sweating profusely in a shoe store, trying every single pair of Nikes there are, until Abe finds the one that feels “totally awesome,” while trying to not let Sam knock down every single item that is hanging in the store.

The next weekend, I find myself out at a trendy taco place surrounded by the beautiful people of Indianapolis, sipping a margarita and laughing my cares away. 

One moment I am filled with so much joy and happiness, everything in the world seems funny to me.

Another moment I feel all of the pain and loss I have gone through this year, and I don’t know if I my heart will ever be the same again.

It’s quite an odd life I live now. 

Backpacks and library books, parties and sunsets, vacuuming and peanut butter sandwiches, concerts and beers. It’s all of it, I guess.  It’s just a little hard to get used to. 

I am trying to remind myself, though, that this is my life and I have to live it. To the best, to the most, to the whatever. Things can change in an instant. Joy and Pain are all part of it, and if nothing else it is certainly a reminder that I am very much alive. 

“Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better take things as they come along with patience and equanimity.” – Carl Jung