What is it about Monday that brings on the blues sometimes? Perhaps it’s because the weekend is over or maybe there’s a busy week looming ahead. Regardless of the reason, we all experience the blues at one time or another. Life isn’t easy, no one is perfect and everyone has down days… sometimes it’s not even Monday!
Maybe you’re going in 5 different directions, already running late, trying to get out of the door and your youngest has to go potty - AGAIN! OR the cows get out OR you have a flat tire. There are any number of obstacles or disasters that can occur at the most inopportune moment. It can be enough to just bum you out. Occasionally, it may even have a domino effect into a series of unfortunate events. Cue the pity party and it’s hard as rip to break the cycle. Sound familiar? I’m reminded of lyrics from an old church hymn, “Count your blessings, name them one by one..” which always helps. Counting blessings encourages gratefulness. It’s hard to be bitter or down when you’re thankful and humbled by your blessings. That song is probably stuck in your head now, you can thank me later.
My friend, Regina, taught me a trick about looking for a yellow car which has done wonders for the morale in our household. I realize this sounds funny so I will try to explain. Sometimes on the road of life we find ourselves SO surrounded by negativity that’s all we see. Envision driving down the interstate, during rush hour and all of the other colored cars symbolize our stressors, our triggers and any other negative situation we are dealing with at the moment. Eight lanes full of black, white, red or even brown cars darting in/out of traffic and speeding to their next destination. Sometimes the distractions and the noise drown out our focus. It can be so overwhelming when all we see are the things going wrong instead of allowing ourselves to see what is going right. If you choose to look for positivity, like looking for that yellow car - you’ll find it! You may have to look long and hard but if you’re determined to find a positive ray of sunshine to bring yourself out of the darkness - you will find that yellow car and you can’t help but smile when you do! It’s all about focus.
Since explaining this yellow car philosophy to my family, the kids have become obsessed with pointing out yellow cars everywhere we go… on road trips or just around town. I certainly can’t take credit for the idea and I won’t pretend that it’s always easy but it’s a fun way to beat the blues - whatever the day. Hearing my kids shout “Yellow car!” from the backseat reminds me that when life seems to beat me down, I try my best to focus on the positives, count my blessings and look for that yellow car.
