It was my 12th birthday. My grandmother gave me a date book. On the cover was a rainbow and the quote, “Those who bring sunshine into the lives of other can not keep it from themselves.”

My grandma always called me sunshine and said, “Even on a cloudy day there is sunshine all around you. “

For some reason that quote has always stuck with me. I always felt it was my responsibility to bring sunshine into the lives of others. It’s something I’m good at and I’ve been confident that if I am loving, kind and supportive to the people in my life.. good things will come to me, just for doing the right thing.

The problem is that when you focus your energy always on everyone else in your life… that’s what they come to expect. That’s what’s normal. You become lost.

I don’t regret caring. It’s who I am. But I do have to care about myself at least as much as I care about everyone else. It’s something I have to work on.

It’s hard to know what to do when you’ve spent your whole life taking care of everyone else around you.

I’ll always be glad that my grandmother gave me that book.. with that quote.. and I took it so literally… but now I’m grown and I realize that I have to allow the sunshine into my own life so I can share it with everyone else.

Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others can not keep it from themselves… just as long as they realize that they don’t have to sacrifice their own happiness for everyone around them.

My grandma was amazing. I miss her.

:)

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