Happy Spring! Now go clean. :)

It's April now. You know what that means. Yep, Spring cleaning.

It's name and representation is fitting. That time of year when everything in you longs for a new start. Maybe you consume yourself with believing that spring cleaning really only concerns your house... or maybe you're the person that believes that it's all about finding the new you. Or possibly even the person that thinks everything is fine just the way it is. 

Or maybe you're none of those. 

I'm the type of person that has pictures everywhere. I kid you not, everywhere, they're all over my room. Pictures of good times. Pictures of happy memories that can take me into another world, with one glance. It's amazing how much things change over the years. 

But suddenly I've gotten this urge to Spring Clean. To clean out my closet, to maybe actually vacuum my room for a change... and, yes, to replace some of those pictures. You see, most of those pictures are happy memories, and they can bring me back to happy times in life, where everything was great, and peachy. But lately, I look at them wondering where the people in the photo's have gone. What path did they take after that picture, where did they go, what did they see, how do they live?

But some of them, remind me of change. The uncomfortable kind of change that makes your heart ache. It makes your heart ache because nothing is the same, those people, those places, those memories, are gone. The most gut wrenching thing ever, for me. 

Thinking about that changing, reminds me of myself. Where have I been? Where have I gone? What have I seen? Am I still me? Did I change too?

All of these questions usually lie there, unanswered. Maybe I don't want to face any of those questions, maybe no one does. Because everyone's past, good or bad, brings regret. Did I spend enough time with that person? Did I ruin the night because I was crabby? Did I miss out on something that will never come back around again? Did I take too much for granted?

Because people change, and life changes, and sometimes, it's not for the better... or so you think. But sometimes, in what you think is a bad change, a gut wrenching change, is something that is bringing you to a greater tomorrow. 

Maybe you were better off without that person. Maybe you were meant to take some things for grated. Because every decision you make, every thing you do, everything you are, changes everyday, and all of those things, define who you are. 

Integrity is what you do when no one is watching... but what about when people are watching?

What do you do in the grocery store, how do you react to the small things gone wrong in life? People are watching you everywhere. Are you alert and smiling when you approach the cashier? Are you walking around the store on your phone gossiping about the latest newsworthy event in the lives of the people you 'love'? Are you conscious of these things?

I'm a cashier, and I see a couple hundred customers a day. This has changed how I act in a store. How I act towards a cashier, how my mood is, am I smiling, am I friendly? 

Let me clue you in on one thing. It makes me incredibly happy at work to have a nice, friendly, present customer at my register. Living in the moment, not on their phone, not in a 'get me out of here', crabby mood. Just there. 

Yes, integrity is important. But so is living in the moment. 

If I were to challenge you to Spring Clean something in your life, that would be it. 

If I were to tell you that the cashier you saw that day, was sad after you left the counter because of the void in your eyes? Or that the very same cashier was put in a bad mood because you were on your phone, and not paying attention at all to what you were doing, or because you were just out-right rude? 

Would all of that make you think twice? Good. I hope it does. Live in the moment. Be happy. Be contagious. Make cheesy jokes about the weather. Make cheesy jokes about anything really. Just be there.

It makes people's day, I promise. :)

When you Spring Clean your house, I hope you take a second and spring clean you. Spring clean everything that people see. Don't hide it, take care of it. Take that rug you sweep everything under, and throw in the trash. Work on being present, and not gossiping, and being friendly to perfect strangers. You will be better for it.

Happy Spring! Now go clean. :)