Winning the Lottery

For those that don't know a lottery is a simple thing. Many people buy small amounts of tickets and put the money in a pool then a few people win and the rest lose. It has been around for centuries in one from or another.

For those that don't know I am an extremely lucky person. I have a way to explain, but you will have to read below.

    Now, I don't go shouting this from every mountain every day until now, but I won the lottery. PAUSE PAUSE WAIT WAIT... ok now that you are back in your chair; don't text or call me right away it is not the Power Ball, Mega Millions, Lotto Texas, or even a scratch off. And no I did not win some European Lottery that wants me to send money to collect my millions. So what lottery did I win? The one of life!
   The current Lottery system uses ping pong balls with numbers that are dropped into a bowl mixed around and shot out with air. These six random balls make someone win depending on how many they match. That is kind of like life. A bunch of random events( at least to the average observer) So am I luckier than you? Why did I win the lottery of life? Does God love me more? The answer is easy No, Perspective, No!

Now here comes the thoughts of randomness and rambles.
       I have been through a lot in my short 25 years here on Earth, but everything has taught me something. When I was younger something bad would just deviate me. I was and still am a perfectionist. I have my plan, see it happening my way, and if it doesn't then it must be a total fail(more on how I changed that later) When I was younger and in my early teens though I feared failing. Thus I avoided things I thought I could fail. Something somewhere clicked though one day. I can't put a time or date on it, but after many years of "poor me" I finally said screw it "LOVE ME". Since then I strive to live in a positive manner.  Now I would love to say that at that point everything was just flowers blooming in fields as I walked by. It wasn't, but that's the point...It doesn't have to be. In my first post I talked about letting go... well this is a form of that. Just letting what will be be. It all happens for a reason. The lottery of life is not random, even though it may seem that way, but rather a perfectly imperfect series of events that leads you on you life. So how did I win then?
       It is all perspective. I could sit in an airport and piss and moan about the 30 minute delay I just encountered, or I can thank god that maybe that plane was delayed cause had it left on time it would have been on the runway and someone would not have noticed another plane there and BAM... I mean it could have happened... I may never know, but thankful I don't. Plus it is 30minutes. In that same airport(DFW terminal D) I look up on the mezzanine level and notice a long line of Military personnel in full uniform de-boarding. Not sure if they were coming or going, as for me I was going to Vegas.... I wonder what would they give to be delayed 30 more minutes to spend with their family? That's what I am talking about on perspective. Sure it can always be better or it can always be worst. So why not just be ok with what it is? Poor Poor me. I am now going to be 30minutes late to Vegas HOW AWFUL IS MY LIFE... You see from the outside your thinking UMMM LUCKY YOU GET TO GO TO VEGAS. That is perspective.
       So how does this tie into me winning the lottery of life? How am I so lucky? Luck is in short what you make it. If you think bad things will happen to you then they will! Why? Because you are looking for bad things to happen. You will notice them when they do and point them out. All the while 10 good things happened and you had no clue because you were looking at the bad and waiting for the next bad thing to happen. I look for the good and silver lining in everything. Back in July I got a ticket for my tags being out of date (all my fault) Now, I could have been pissed at the officer as I am sure there was some gang banger causing far more trouble for society that he could be chasing down.(isn't that most peoples rant) but I thanked him. I am sure he walked away confussed. 5miles down the road there was a terrible accident that appeared to have happened no more than 15mintues earlier. Intrestingly enough doing the math I would have been around that area had I not gotten the ticket. Not saying I would have been in it, but you never know. That another point YOU NEVER KNOW. If you are willing to let go and let god handle it, you can by know means ever begin to understand his plan. Trust me HE knows what he is doing. You never know why things happen, but they do. Maybe I got that ticket to protect me. Or maybe I got it because I needed to be humbled. I don't know why, but I don't care why either I did I paid and in the end I was happy(ok am I just making you sick with all this positive stuff) Now, dont get me wrong, I dont want to get tickets and pay traffic fines, but if the alterantive was a auto accident I WILL TAKE IT!
AND NOW FOR THE LONGEST WRAP UP EVER
      What I am getting at is life is what you make it. So you better be sure to make it a damn good one. I won the lottery of life because I choose to feel that way about my life. I have great friends, loving family, great opportunites, and hey I love my life. Do I struggle? YES! There are things that happen that make me mad, angry, and sad. These are all natural feeling and by no means am I saying supress them. It is ok to feel them, but recover from them get mad, but then settle down and be happy for what you have. Does this mean that if someone wrongs you you should not fight. NO... FIGHT STILL always fight for what is right. If someone short changed you at the store don't just say oh well and give up... But at the same time don't feel that it is the most horrible thing you have ever seen and that person should burn in hell...Pray for them maybe...Who knows maybe they have two kids at home, her husband just left her. She can't afford to feed them and well was trying whatever she could just to get by. That doesn't mean it is right still, but I would hope you could see where she needed prayers. Just be happy with what you have we all could have more we all could have less. LET IT FLOW. Let it be what it will be and be happy with that. TRUST ME IT IS HARD. I AM STILL A PERFECTIONIST AND WHAT EVERYTHING TO GO AS PLANNED. So how do I fight that? Well I go with God's plan now which I don't know so I assume it is all going according to plan and thats how I survive.
I make my own luck, you should too. Win the lottery of life by just being happy.

Ryan