Many apologies for posting this guest post late.  I physically arrived back home from our vacation, but mentally, I am resisting the two weeks worth of laundry, yard work, and unpacking to catch up on. Plus, my body is not dealing well with the temperature change from 97ºF in Florida to 50ºF in Massachusetts.

So without further ado, please give a warm welcome to one of the most genuine and honest bloggers I know, Miss.   Her words often reflect how I’ve felt, but never had the courage or eloquence to express it in the manner she does.  Just read below and you’ll see.  Thank you, Miss!
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How I came to guest post for Sandy is silly in it’s own right. I asked her to guest post for me and she turned it around on me and here I am. Watch out for her, she’s tricky.

I adore Sandy in so many ways. She’s honest. She’s beautiful. She’s funny and sweet and eloquant and I admire her strength. I’m honored to be here and lucky to know her.

Ten Rules for Being Human by Cherie Carter-Scott (http://www.bluinc.com/free/human10.htm)
With my own interpretation following openly.

1.You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it’s yours to keep for the entire period.

I think everyone has something about their body that they just loathe. For me, its my mommy tummy. No matter what I do (such as sitting in front of the computer, watching TV, oh and sleeping) I just cant seem to get rid of it. I even tried going on the coffee and cigarette diet but that just made me dizzy. It is not Miss recommended. Either way, I’ve learned to embrace what I do have and even my tummy, except when it makes me buy bigger pants. Then I don’t like it so much.

2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called “life”.

It took me a long time to figure out that every bad thing, every good thing, and all these tears I shed over both result in me learning something about life. I’ve learned acceptance. I’ve learned how to move on, even when moving on from something seems like that most painful thing in the world. I’ve learned that the best thing to do is to accept every event in your life with open arms, be it good or bad. We won’t know the lesson we are learning, until its through.

3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial, error, and experimentation. The “failed” experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately “work”.

Guess what. This thing we call life? It’s going to hurt. It’s going to feel like its going to kill us, time and time again. We literally ache from the injustice of certain situations. But that’s what life is. It’s a series of moments, of curveballs, of strikes thrown at us time and time again. And sometimes, sometimes we get lucky enough to get a hit off one.

4. Lessons are repeated until they are learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson.

We are our own worst enemy. Most people are creatures of habit. And most people are the one’s that hurt themselves the most. I often find myself repeating my own toxic behaivor, no matter how much it hurt me the last time. I just keep thinking “maybe this time will be different”. And you know what? Maybe it will. Maybe it wont. But I hope to figure out a little bit more of the lesson along the way.

5. Learning lessons does not end. There’s no part of life that doesn’t contain it’s lesson. If you’re alive, that means there are still lessons to be learned.

Be open to life. I truely believe this is the only way to live. If you hide from it, believe me, you will miss some pretty beautiful and amazing things along the way.

6. “There” is no better a place than “here”. When your “there” has become a “here”, you will simply obtain another “there” that will again look better than “here”.

Well this one just smacks you in the face doesn’t it? This statement is my life. I am always striving for an end result, a place to rest and sometimes I think I need to just stop and realize that I am “here”. I have to live in the moment, for the moment. I need to learn how to be ok with being just “here”.

7. Other people are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.

But isn’t that the beauty of relationships? No matter the kind, you find common ground and you embrace what you have together. Or, on the flip side, if you really dislike a person, it may often be that they remind you a little of yourself. Even if that does suck to admit. Because like me, all of you are perfect right?

8. What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.

Sigh. This number 8 here opens a can of worms for me that Sandy’s blog is just not ready for. I hate settling. I think that when you settle, you cheat yourself. Live your life. Don’t be afraid to live it. But I know that for some, it just isn’t that easy. That whole “doing the right thing” bullshit makes people silently suffer so that other people can be happy. Those happy people? Have no clue what someone is sacreficing for them. Sigh.

9. Your answers lie within you. The answers to life’s questions lie within you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.

My answer is mine and mine alone. We all need to figure out what our own answers are. Do we figure it out at the end of everything? Hell if I know. I certainly hope so. How scary to think we might not.

10. You will forget all of this.

You can nod your head in agreement to some of these things. But mostly, you’ll forget. So will I. It is what it is. Guess that is one of those lessons to be learned.

Sandy! Thank you for letting me fill space on your blog while you are off relaxing. Also? You owe me! xo