This Is Bliss

Have you ever thought about exactly what it is that makes you happy in your life? I’m not just talking about your shoes and the $10 coffees and the logo stamped on the inside of your purse. I’m talking about the kind of stuff that fills your soul and makes you smile or even laugh when you roll around in it’s memory. I’m talking about the stuff that makes you a better human being and has the power to lift you up as much as it can break your heart. The stuff that you live for and would move mountains for. Most importantly you associate it with who and what you are to your very core.

This is bliss.

I was recently asked to come up with something(s) that represented my bliss and at first I struggled with it.  I started thinking about what I like doing and places I like going and no matter what I came up with, it all came down to the people I was with more than the places or the things. So that became my focus.

My family camping trip, is my first bliss. We have been camping as a family for almost a decade. We started camping when I was pregnant with Stella and right on thru the birth of the twins. In fact, the first summer after the twins were released from NICU we loaded up the trailer, double breast pump and all and off we went to the mountains. I must have been insane and it wasn’t until I took a moment to reflect that I realized that my kids will grow up to be adults who say, “…and we spent every summer camping together…” And when I say “family”, of course I mean my kids and my husband but I also mean the friends who join us. The friends who trek thru the woods or drive 10 hours across mountain ranges to set up trailers or tents beside us. It is a lot of work to prepare and pack but once we’re set up and the kids run off to visit the horse stables, we just sit back and think…

This is bliss.

Hilary getting new “ears” is my second bliss. She’s eligible for new hearing aids every 5 years so this is her second set of aids in her lifetime so far. This kid amazes me every single day. She works so hard to learn and grow and talk and keep up and most of the time she doesn’t even know how hard she’s working. She always has a smile and a hug for anyone within arms reach. Hilary is a strong and amazing human being as I’ve gushed about HERE, and it is true, I want to be like her when i grow up. Her great attitude about wearing hearing aids, seeing doctors, therapists and aid workers makes me swell with pride. She put on her new hearing aids and immediately said, “mommy, you sound like daddy now!” Quickly, the audiologist offered, “that’s because she can hear the lower tones in your voice that she couldn’t hear with her old aids.” Kids freaking amaze me! And as a mom with a hearing impaired kid…technology ROCKS!

This is bliss.

Finally, my tribe is my third bliss. I’ve talked about having a tribe BEFORE but seriously, I mean it. If you don’t have a tribe, get one. These people started off as strangers who found me and immediately embraced me. They enveloped me in their world and introduced me to all it had to offer. They nurtured me, kicked my ass, hammered my doubt away and filled me with confidence and knowledge. They make me better in their challenges and their love. They are not only helping me follow my dream but they’re pushing me, pulling me, throwing me towards it.

This is bliss.

So I challenge you, now. Click this link and enter the #ThisIsBliss contest at Blissdom Canada. Show me what your bliss is. I’ll see you in Toronto!