By Nancy Stoops

Nancy Stoops M.A., M.F.T Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist

When we are young, we can’t wait to turn 18.  When we are 18, we can’t wait until we are 21.

Now that we are adults, we can’t wait to graduate college and get married.  Now that we are married, we can’t wait to have a family and buy a house.

We now have it all:  the family, the big job, and the big house.  Now we can’t wait until we retire.

Why is that we have such a hard time just living in the present?  It’s as if we are literally wishing our lives away.

People seem to believe the future holds the happiness that the present just doesn’t.  I always hear people say things will be different when I get past “that”.  So time moves along and they do indeed get past “that”, and from out of nowhere something else comes along.  Now they are thinking things will be so much better when they get past “this”. And so it is that this just keeps reoccurring.

Do you see a pattern here?  It’s called life, and it seems as if it is always giving us something that we must get through.

Life is not a neat little package; it involves a lot of hard work and challenges.  Even so, there are times that we don’t get what we think we really deserve.  Maybe these are the times to look at what we did end up with and realize it is even better.

We spend so much time looking at what we don’t have and feeling sorry for ourselves.  Life has a way of giving us what we need, if we just pay attention.  Things seem to work out if we are patient and willing to accept life’s challenges and live each day to the fullest.

This article was written by Nancy Stoops M.A., M.F.T. Nancy is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She has a private practice in Diamond Bar and is currently accepting new clients. Nancy is also a motivational speaker who can inspire your employees or group members. She runs free family support groups, a group on loss for seniors, and groups on how to manage anger. For more information about any of these services, feel free to contact Nancy at (909) 229-0727; or you may e-mail her at stoopsshecter@earthlink.net. You may purchase Nancy’s books, Live Heal and Grow and Midnight the Therapy Dog at Amazon.com.