Basics

It's time to get back to basics, I've decided. There's a lot of superfluous crap in my life. School stress. Money (...or lack there of). Friendships on thin ice. Losses that can't be recouped. Desires that can't be realized (at least not yet). Things I've been wanting to do for months or years yet haven't managed to do. Facebook. E-mail.

It's all just stuff. Extra stuff. The good stuff is bonus, and the crappy stuff really just doesn't need to matter to me. I need to learn contentment. Not just in the sense of learning patience or living with less, but learning to see the "extra" stuff for what it is. Learning to constantly re-focus myself on what really matters, when blessings come my way and when bad things happen. The blessings will feel even more special when I realize how truly "extra" they are - that I don't deserve them and that I only have them because my God loves me THAT much. And the bad things will feel even less significant, when I remind myself that they have no bearing on the basics that sustain my contentment.

I have my God. I have my Ben. I have my family and close friends - the ones whose places in my life will never be in question. I even have some wonderful basic comforts like a roof over my head, good food and central heat - but those things ultimately are extra too. I need to learn to live at peace with all that, so that the stresses of every day life can roll off my back. I have been FAR too stressed out and FAR too unhappy, given the truly blessed state of my life. I hope I can make this realization a reality in my life, STAT.