Give seemed like a nice word

I'm sure many of you read Ali Edwards' blog and have chosen your One Little Word for the year. I'm doing the workshop myself and couldn't resist ordering a necklace from Lisa Leonard to remind me of my choice.

If you've chosen a word, you know they potentially have so many different meanings and applications. 'Give' isn't just about thinking more charitably in the world, although that's definitely a part of it for me. There are so many other ways it can go. When I'm driving, and getting all bent out of shape about the douchebag in front of me who is driving like a nit wit, I think, "Why don't you give them a break." When I'm stepping on the scale only to find that not a single damned ounce has left my person, I think, "Cathy, just give it time." And when I think of my little family I know that 'give' should ultimately be the focus of everything I do.

For a long time—pretty much my whole life—a lot of what has driven me is the idea of 'get.' What is it that I'm not getting? What is it that I think I really deserve and should get simply for being alive?

I'm realizing here in midlife that maybe it's not the ideal way to operate.

I'm also learning that giving doesn't only benefit the recipients.

Paradoxically, I seem to get far more out of the deal. Go figure.