Favorite Quotes for February
1. Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.
I had to start my favorite quotes for February off with one about love. I chose this one because it goes deeper than fleeting and surface level. It is only true love, committed love, that gives us strength. Strength because someone believes in you. Strength because it is a confident love. And it is only true love that can give one courage. Courage to put someone before yourself every time. Courage to sacrifice for shared goals, hopes, and dreams. Courage to be vulnerable to trust someone completely.
2. God grant me the courage to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Otherwise known as the Serenity Prayer. I have always loved this quote. When I was 16 and received a set of my own keys after having successfully earned my drivers license I went to Walmart to find a key chain. I chose a metal medallion with this quote engraved on it. I still have it to this day.
It’s shaped the way I view life from a very early age; to evaluate each problem that arises with this perspective. I believe it’s the internalization of this quote that allowed me to avoid a complete shutdown on my wedding day when our photographer canceled the morning of. I couldn’t change what had happened so there was no point in allowing it to ruin my serenity. Instead I was able to immediately move on to do what needed to be done, find a new photographer.
And sometimes all you can do is cry… Because you can’t change it and you also can’t fix it. I’m still working on maintaining my serenity in those moments.
3. I’d rather be a could-be if I cannot be an are; because a could-be is a maybe who is reaching for a star. I’d rather be a has-been than a might-have-been, by far; for a might-have-been has never been, but a has was once and are.
Read it a few times, out-loud and slowly. I’ve always loved how full of hope and daring this quote is. It’s basically saying “just go for it!” because the worst thing that can happen is you never achieved because you never even tried.
4. We tend to forget that baby steps still move us forward.
This one is so huge for me right now, less of a quote and more of a personal mantra. I struggle daily with patience. I want to see results happen immediately, right now. Very little in life works that way. So the last few months I try to focus on the baby steps, just getting done today the thing that I know will make a difference down the road. So often we look at others’ journey’s and to our outside perspective they look like an overnight success… I don’t think such a thing actually exists. What appears immediate and all at once to us is the result of millions of baby steps, often taken in the dark and unseen, on their part. Baby steps forward are so much better than standing still… or worse, losing ground. Whatever you can do today, just do it.
5. You’re off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, So… get on your way!
So much of what this man said and wrote is wisdom. My favorite part of this quote is where it says “your mountain.” Mountain always makes me think of hard things… but we can do hard things. Avoiding our mountains will not make them go away, they will always still be there waiting for us to tackle the climb. It’s back to those baby steps… there is no way to climb a mountain except put one foot in front of the other. It doesn’t matter how big or small the steps are, forward movement is forward. Period.
Thank you for reading my musings. I hope these words fill you with warm fuzzies like they do me. If you’d like to print them and hang them on your wall you can download the PDF version here.
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