Eye Twitch and Awkwardness

In 2003 I was a high school freshman with an eye twitch. Still stuck in that horribly awkward middle school stage where I had grown ten inches in three years and still didn't quite know what do with my hair, I was stressed out. I had entered into a high school program that was the equivalent of most people's freshman year in college and I was working hard to keep up. The classes were tough and seemed designed to weed out the weak, and I wondered if someone somewhere was giving me the stink eye, out to get me with integrated calculus and 7:30am classes. Though I was smart enough to get into the program, the other 99 kids all seemed a lot smarter than me. Hence the eye twitch. With awkwardness and stressful schoolwork combined, my nerves were on edge.

So tonight, in 2012, I came home with an eye twitch and instantly recalled that this had happened before. I immediately reassured myself that at least this time I could endure with great hair and good fashion (let's admit, I can still be pretty awkward in personality) which lifted the stress substantially. Because who doesn't feel good when you are wearing a neon yellow shirt? But I was annoyed that I had not learned this lesson among the myriad of others, that stress does not produce results.

So I decided. Not today. Just as I changed from awkward gangly-girl to gorgeous super model, ok, too far..ahem... to well put together and groomed (most days) I choose to also transform from stressed out to...not stressed out.

Over the last year I have been less stressed than ever in my life because I realized that stress does no good. In the end, everything gets done. Life goes on. Sometimes we get As, sometimes we get Bs, and all these years later we forget most of the things that stressed us out, and the things we do remember we can laugh at. Life is too short not to have joy. Even the hard work and busy schedules and lack of sufficient sleep can be a source of joy if we keep the right perspective.

So let's do it! Because, let me tell you, it took some really great friends to teach me the art of eyeliner and a hair straightener. So case in point, if we help each other out, by prayer, encouragement, love, and great advice, then we might just be able to get through this life. Find joy in everything, realize how good we have it even in the midst of trials, and we can lose the stress. Together we can lead happier, calmer, lives.

And along with that, I can get rid of this pesky eye twitch. 

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