Give & Receive
"Give and you shall receive"; what a true saying that has been around for years and yet means so much! I've noticed after traveling to Texas-spending some time there for about a week-I was surrounded by individuals who actually cared about what your day was like. Everyone is so welcoming..."Hi! How are ya'll!?", "Welcome to Texas","How's your day going?", "You are so pretty!", "Very nice to meet you", and I could go on and on with the mounds of compliments my boyfriend and I received in only the first day we were there. Everyone seems laid back/down to earth and just...well, HAPPY! Life is too short to get caught up in rushing around (which actually led me to an ankle injury late January) and its way to short to be worrying about what others think of you or say. I'll go into further detail and start by saying that New Jersey is one state of many that are always in a rush; we're always in a hurry driving 10 miles or more over the speed limit just to get in front of the person who was blocking your way to find out you then have to stop at a traffic light (you really got far). We're rushing to get to work, class, the bar, a friends house, the gym, grocery store, the bank, your kids baseball game at 7, reservations at your favorite restaurant, etc. I can go on! Point is, we may have only 24 hours in a day but why spend half of that rushing around, stressing yourself out when you will get to where you need to be with in time...I mean seriously, who cares if you're 5 minutes late? No one does unless you have a straight faced intimidating boss who expects you to clock in on the dot which even that is going a bit extreme and taking your role as "the boss" to max level. Waking up happy and stress free would be nice. And second, worrying about what others think of you (and im talking about the negative), just show what type of character that individual has or should I say lack of character. If you go through life as someone who is focused on trying to please everyone else, you will be making everyone else happy but yourself. Find who your true self is and carry that with you everywhere you go; stay true and be humble. We need more of those people around in this state. After a few days of country living, I came back to reality, where I immediately missed the Texas hospitality as soon as I walked through the Philadelphia Airport. That word we rarely hear nor see around us. It doesn't seem to exist in anyones vocabulary (or actions) for that matter and we need to start treating others how we would love to be treated...by giving. Not anything materialistic, but something more than that. A smile, nice words..etc. That is the best gift of all and in return, I promise you, you will feel better about yourself and I guarantee that you will receive the same treatment. That's how the world CAN go round.
