Wasting Lemons

We are all familiar with the famous proverb, "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade." As simple as it sounds, this task is actually quite difficult. Throughout our lives we are all given many gifts (lemons) by the people and circumstances we encounter. The only problem, is people rarely announce that they are giving us a gift (lemon), but instead just drop it on us. As any athlete or person who has been exposed to pressure knows, when something is abruptly handed off to you, it is anxiety provoking and causes an instinctual response to do something with it, equally as fast. In this rush to do something with this gift (lemon) we often overlook or are too impatient to make lemonade.

We all waste lemons. I know for me, that I have wasted too many lemons to count in my life. Whether it be because I was caught up in the haste of doing something with the gift (lemon) or because I simply overlooked the importance of the lemon I was given, I have wasted innumerable amounts of tart fruit.

Some of the biggest examples of lemons wasted, for me, are lemons I wasted while caught up in my head. I had so much going for me in my teenage years, yet I let almost all my lemons rot. I didn't seem to appreciate the gravity of those fruits and thus let them waste away. As I look back now, I remissness on all the paths I could have taken and all the places I could be today, had I used those lemons and made myself some lemonade.

I think the big take away from this proverb and this post, is that we are all given lemons, and we all let some or most of them decay. It is important to be aware that life is always giving us little gifts, so that we have a better chance of actually making something out of one of them. If we are on the lookout for these small gems of hope, than it is easier to stay composed when one falls into our hands. As always, it is most important to learn from our past mistakes. This said, it is also important to remember that we all waste some lemons. If we get too caught up on what could have been, or how we wasted one of our lemons, we will most likely miss or misuse another.

At the end of the day, life is not about the chances we had or the things we could have been, but about who we are and how we persevered to get there.

I choose a Yellow Rose for our blossom today.
 It symbolizes all the lemons out there waiting for us!