Happiness, compassion & success

I was 10 the first time I discovered it.  

I wanted a job desperately.  For independence mostly.  I figured that growing up without items that having a job would cure that problem.  A job equals things.  It also created success... right?  How about happiness?  It seemed to fit the bill.  More money, more items, more happiness more freedom.  

Well, part of this is right... 

which part?  

Let me digress

I said I was 10 when it was the first time I discovered “it”.  

I asked to get a job but was told I was too young.  So, I went over the the local pool and asked if there was a volunteer group I could get involved in.  There sure was and I plunged in with two feet.  Millwoods Rec Centre.  I helped with a few events, ending up with the Halloween party.  

What is “it”?  Happiness.  

I discovered that what I did, I did it without pay and it gave me something I enjoyed doing, completely.  

Before all this, my mother had made a choice to help out the less fortunate by giving the only thing she had.  Hope.  

She had fostered children for 10 years.  It wasn’t the typical foster home though.  She opened it to children in emergency situations.  For 10 years, I saw children come and go in various degrees of life stages.  Some I thought I’d never encounter.  Although I didn’t understand some of it, the lessons I gained were something you cannot be taught in school.  Compassion.

Years later in my life, through my own personal journeys I discovered the last.  These past 24 years, being a mum I drew on the happiness and compassion and raised two wonderful boys.  (not completely on my own) but I hope that some of the choices I made came through them.  

Life isn’t about the items we gain or the numbers on our bank accounts.  It’s about the success from failures, how we come through the tough times and develop as our own people.  No matter the hardships we can face in life, it’s about the successes from the falls we should count.