You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile

When I was a kid, my mom used to play all the old classic movie-musicals for me. My childhood memories are full of re-enacting classic scenes such as Julie Andrews twirling around on the hills of Austria, arms spread wide singing "The Hills are Alive", pretending to creep through a forest of "Lions, and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!" with Judy Garland and her crew of misfits, and holding a wash bucket and rag and pretending to scrub the floors of the orphanage right along with the orphans in Annie. I find it funny that as we grow up, we think we know more than we did as children, but in truth, sometimes child-likeness and open mindedness is the key.

We are given so much knowledge at a such young age, that I think we don't know what to do with it. Ideas like those in The Sound of Music which encourage us to have confidence in sunshine or in rain, or in The Wizard of Oz when we are told "there's no place like home" or to be reminded in Annie that "you're never fully dressed without a smile" just seem like quippy and fun lyrics to songs. However, just when you think you have outgrown your childhood, that you are too good for the memories of old, you realize, maybe I should pay more attention to what I already know, instead of constantly looking to someone else to tell me who to be.

I know not everyone was blessed with a good childhood, but that doesn't exempt you from this ideal. Maybe the trials of your rough childhood have shaped out exactly what you don't want to become. Instead of running away from it, embrace it as something that has made you into who you are today, and if you don't like who you are, look to those experiences to be a guideline on how to change.

The holidays are a difficult time to take a moment for yourself. It seems that the holidays are no longer a selfless time, but instead a selfish excuse to pull on everyone from every direction. However, if you can, find a moment to reflect and see if who you are today can get you to where you are going. In your reflection, look to those moments that you maybe thought were insignificant when you were young, you may be surprised at what you find.