"Attitude is Everything"

Many times, when life isn’t going too well for me, I have to remember that I can’t control what happens to me… I can only control my attitude. It’s all about attitude. 

Elizabeth came into the coffee shop today. She is a middle-aged, attractive woman who grew up in East Machias ME (about 100 miles due east of Searsport… as the puffin flies). She talked about how marriage and work have kept her in New Hampshire for “far too long”, and she has been avidly trying to get back to Maine for the past few years. 

“I really like it in Searsport”, she said, “I can’t put my finger on why. I just seem to like it here.” My sentiment, entirely.

She is here on vacation. “I don’t get much vacation time, but when I do, I like to spend it here”. We talked amiably about how life takes us through hills and valleys, and during the course of the conversation I apologized for the rather abysmal weather we’d been having, and for the poor outlook for it getting much better before her forced retreat back to “reality”. 

“Quite the contrary” she chirped back. “It’s all about your attitude. Everything’s been delightful.”  She continued on… “Weather doesn’t matter to me when I’m on vacation. If it’s a nasty day out, I do ‘inside’ things…. When it’s not, then I go outside. I’m able to get out of my daily routine… see new things… meet new people… change my sleeping habits… listen to different sounds. It’s wonderful,” she said, “when you think about it.” 

In my mind I had to admit she was right. Back when I was working for a living, I couldn’t recall any vacation I didn’t like… and I couldn’t remember what the weather was like on any of my vacations, either. The fact that I didn’t have to get up and trudge to work every day was the real joy. She was definitely “spot on” when she said that “attitude is everything.”

They say people are divided into two groups… those who see a cup as half-empty, and those who see it as half-full. Elizabeth is neither... she is an ALWAYS FULL kind of person…