Sunday, June 15, 2014

The 3 G's

GRATEFUL, GENUINE, GENEROUS -- what are your three words?

I am writing today for Friday, Saturday and Sunday so it is a three part blog.
What better topic then to use this time to talk about my three words....
As most of you know, I love inspirational quotes (seen my Instagram lately?) and I love to have a new theme for each new year. 
In 2013, it was Love/Luck/Purpose and now it's Fun Fearless 14. 
It got me thinking about choosing another theme or set of words for myself personally -- traits that I want to be known for or words I would aspire to have people use to describe me.
Again, as most of you know,  I am a "go with your gut" and "fly by the seat of your pants" kind of girl and it did not take me long to land on three words: grateful, genuine, and generous.
No surprise that I like "g" words and groups of three having grown up as the youngest of the three Goebel Girls.

Why these three?

I'll start with grateful.  
I know when I choose luck as a word in 2013, there would be people who said there is no such thing. I respectfully beg to differ.  Life really is one big crap shoot. I could have been born the Queen of England or I could have been born into poverty. I'm not really sure how life gets "decided" but I am god damn lucky that I got what I got. So, since luck has been on my side, the next step is being grateful for the life I ended up with.  Gratitude for it all -- the easy times, the tough times, the sadness and the laughter. Grateful that the luck of the draw found favor on me.  If you have had a chance to read some of my previous posts - heck, I'm lucky to be alive and I'm so grateful that I am.  My entire perspective on life changed after our infertility struggles.  I could have become bitter, jaded and pissed off.  And, to be honest, for a while I was. Mad at the world, feeling cheated, feeling like I drew the short straw. Quickly, that became tiring and it drained me of all the joy I had.  I once looked at a picture of myself taken a year or so after my second surgery.  The minute I saw the picture, I said (out loud) - "oh, that's what my smile looks like!" I had not seen it for a while and I was so grateful that it came back. 
I want to be a grateful and gracious person and live my life at every moment, aware of just how lucky I am.

Genuine.
If you ever ask Matt, "what do you think Margaret's best quality is?", I can guarantee he will say this:
She is a genuinely kind person.  Authenticity has always been something that is important to me and it feels good that my husband can see to the heart of me -- I'm a nice person. There, I said it. I'm proud of it. For so long, I used to think that being nice made me a pushover or opened me up to being manipulated. It was definitely not a badge of honor to be called "nice".  However -- deep down inside, authentically, I really can't be anything else.  Like I said in a previous post, being nice, being genuine and kind, has got me this far -- why stop now? It's not a surprise that when I saw a psychic (think backyard party fun, not sketchy roadside neon sign) she told me -- "the  first thing I see about you in how pure your soul is.  You should never lose that side of you."

Even though she could have told me a lot of the same things that she told everyone at that party, that statement stuck with me. I'm far from perfect and I can be a bitch sometimes but I try to live my life from that pure soul, that place of kindness. I want to earn that best quality and be genuine. 

Generous
If I have never bought you coffee, hit me up next time we are together. Generously is the other quality I want to be known for -- not just with my money but with my time. Giving of myself makes me happy.
I love being asked to help people and I enjoy being able to make an impact on other people. I have been given so much and I want to share it -- easily and without expecting anything in return. 
The "without anything in return" is the hardest part but the most rewarding as well. I want to be known as someone who has a generous heart and as someone who gives of herself - time, talent, or treasure.

So -- readers.....I want to know what your three words are....

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