A great pick-me-up poem

Image by spisharam - Back and Catching up =) via Flickr

Hi Friends,

Since my graduation (from both my internship and PhD), I've been trying to sort through my life and figure out what exactly I'm going to do with myself. It's just so weird. I never would have thought that after all this schooling and work, that I'd be hanging out in job limbo land. But, I am.

I am working: at a physician's office for anti-aging and natural medicine (which is super cool - started a few weeks ago and love it); doing personal training and boot camps (been doing that for over a year); and now, also teaching a University level nutrition course in the Fall.

But, it just seemed to me that it would be different and I'd be doing so much more. However a wonderful quote I read recently said:

"Apply yourself. Get all the education you can. But then, do something with it. Don't just sit there."


How true it that? It's not like success always just falls in your lap. You need to work your butt off to get there. So, in these tough times, we all just need to keep our chins up and know if we keep working hard, good things will come.

Here's a poem one of my good friends, Michelle sent me tonight. She's a beautiful, smart and savvy girl that has her hard times, but finds that writing poems helps her get though it easier. I hope you find this poem below as supportive as I found it for me:

I sat beside a bird today
He turned to me and started to say,
“Good day to you, how do you do?”
I said, “Not great, I’m starting to hate –
My school, my life, my food and house.
I only wish I were a mouse,
Who could hide in a hole and eat cheese all day
Then I would have no bills to pay.”
The bird then chirped a mean, mean chirp
He said, “You cannot be such a jerk.”
He said, “Look at the sky, how blue and free..
Look at the trees, how green you see?”
I nodded my head and agreed, “But what has this to do with my plead?”
He said, “It’s not the school, the food, or the house
And how do you know how happy is the mouse?
You have many an opportunity each day
The mouse can barely see over the hay.
You can see for miles and miles
And you, yourself, you need to smile.
You must open your eyes and look at the future
And realize the obstacles that you encounter
Are merely small and large heaps of hay
That you will jump over and then say:
“I’ve done it again - my life is great!”
And then you can notice all the wonders
This small world has to bring us.”
And then that bird flew far away.
I sat on the bench and stared into space.
I noticed the eyes of a little gray face.
It was a mouse – just smiling away.
And I knew then I would love all the world
Because I sat next to a bird today.
It was a bird that said not to be smug
To look at the simple things in life
And you will experience not the strife
But the triumphs that your life does bring
So listen to the birds, how pretty the song they sing.