egoísta

Some days, life turns your perspective on its head and spins it around a little. Yesterday was one of those.

While walking back with Nina from lunch at Juan and Mari Carmen's house, we dove under the awning of a fruit stand to shield ourselves from the torrential downpour (not even an exaggeration) that fell out of the pudgy grey clouds. Enormous drops of rain smashed the sidewalk and splashed onto our feet. A Spanish woman who looked to be about 40 years old joined us to take shelter too. Frustrated at the inconvenience, I muttered a sentence that matched the thoroughly miffed expression on my face:

"What HAPPENED?! It was so beautiful this morning...and now the rain's ruining everything!"

All I could think about was the fact that the storm was keeping me from getting home earlier to do my work/messing up my hair/getting my new shoes wet/robbing the gorgeous sunshine from the day so _I_ couldn't enjoy it.

The woman shrugged and with an upward twist of her mouth replied "Well, it's good for the countryside! And the snails!" She giggled and turned to watch the raindrops bounce in the street. I realized the sudden change of climate was kind of beautiful.

Oh how selfish I had been. Too often we think about how life's frustrations inconvenience ourselves rather than ways they might benefit others. And you know what? All my pretentious worrying was really for nothing. In less than five minutes, the crashing rain subsided to a mere sprinkle so we could walk the remaining three minutes to our apartment.

I challenge you to stop in the busyness of your day and reflect on how fortunate we are to even be here. Instead of focusing on the things that are going wrong, count your blessings. Or, even better, count the blessings of those around you.

In summary: It's not all about me.