Slamming a door does nothing.  It brings no positivity nor joy nor peace into our lives.  It does one thing.  It lets anyone within hearing distance know just how mature you are.  That’s about it.

I’ve had it with letting someone else dictate how my life goes.  I refuse to let anyone else but me make my life a living hell.  No, we can’t control the things that happen in our lives but we sure as heck can control how we react to them.  That’s the hard part, though.  It is by no means easy.  At all!  But that’s what makes it worth it.  Working through the stress and the anger is like trekking over a hill.  Taking that first step is the difficult part but once you get going you are determined to get over this hill and you feel so accomplished once you’re done.  But the hills keep rolling.  Trust me, they’ll never stop.  We will encounter many great, or small, hills in our lives and that’s just the way it is.  They help us grow, challenge us, make us question ourselves and make us realize what matters and what doesn’t. 

Starting today, right now, at 3:33p.m.  on the first day of October in 2013 I will no longer let anyone but me be in charge of my emotions or attitude for the day.  Only I will decide if I want to have a bad day and I decide that I never want to have a bad day again.  At least not like this one.  I quit.  I quit letting someone else influence me so much and hurt me so much.  I quit hurting other people in return because they hurt me first.  I want to love like Christ and only see the good in people yet, realize when there is no use in the situation and be able to walk away accepting the fact that I tried. I promise to respond to anger with calmness and respond to sass with silence.  I vow to ignore hurtful comments and looks instead of paying them back immediately like I always have.  I promise to open my eyes up each morning and making my first thought “I’m glad I have another day to make things different and make them right.”  I promise I will fail. I know I will.  But I promise to not let one failure deviate me from this journey I am about to begin.  Someone payed much too high a price for me to be able to have as many do-overs as I want and I refuse to let that go to waste or be in vain.  I will make the most of it and try to repay Him in the only way I know how…by repaying evil with good and love and it starts now.