You dont have a right to the cards you believe you should have been dealt – you have an obligation to play the hell out of the ones you’re holding.

I love this quote because honestly, how true is it?!

This is life.

We only get one. And we don’t get to choose!

We get what we get friend.

We can hope, pray, cajole, manipulate, coerce, bribe, grind, sacrifice – but at the end of the day, we have control over exactly two things… our thoughts and our actions. That’s it!

This life you have, these cards you’ve been dealt … whether you love them or not, whether you think you deserve them or not, they’re yours. And its your job, and yours alone, to make the best out of them!

If you know me, then you know I am not shy at saying ‘I didn’t pick this life” – this is not the road I wanted to walk down; not the path I chose.

This is not the story I had written for myself. There is literally nothing about my life now that I can say “yup, that went according to plan!” (even my career, as hard as I work and as proud I am of what I’ve accomplished – it is not at all what I set out to do with my life)!

There are many wonderful things about my life that I am unbelievably grateful for – but all those blessings were absolutely not because of anything that I set out to achieve or acquire.

God is working in my life in a way that I cannot understand and would be foolish to try.

Experiencing trauma, loss, death – it’s so easy to say that this isn’t fair. Why me? Why them? But what does that do? Nothing! Absolutely nothing! All that energy spent feeling bad just takes attention away from any positive thought or momentum you might have and makes you feel horrible instead. Focusing on the negative does not change anything.

I realize its inevitable and you’re totally justified to feel miserable about your situation. But when the shock starts to wear off, you have to find a way to accept what has happened and commit to doing the best you can with what you’re new life looks like.

I sure do wish I was holding a different set of cards, but I’m not. My mom is not coming back. My ex-husband still did what he did & we are divorced – those are the cards I was dealt (along with many many blessings).

We dont get to pull different cards, either, so we have to do everything we can with the damn ones we’re holding! God didn’t do this to us without a reason behind it. I sure dont know why, but I know we will eventually find out.

Play the cards you’re dealt as if your life depends on it – because guess what, it does!

We only get one, and I really don’t want to spend it bitter, sad, and wishing for something different. There is so much beauty, wonder and possibility for everyone to enjoy.

My prayer for you is that you chose to light a match rather than sit in the dark. You take the time necessary to heal all your wounds, and then when you’re ready, you ask God to help you go “all in” on having the most amazing life possible.

XO Tay