When Life Gives You Lemons, You Make Lemonade

Recently my husband and I went for a long walk at a nearby forest preserve. This was a new location for us, and we enjoyed exploring the nature around us.  After an hour or so we noticed that we had been walking in circles around the same spot! We chuckled a bit as we couldn’t believe we never noticed that we kept passing the same bench or sitting area. We began to search for a path that would lead us back on track to our car.

Our traveling plans have been somewhat of the same experience.  Our goal was to travel more this year; however, we have come across some paths that have kept us going in circles. I call these paths the “unexpected,” like when life throws you a curve ball. However, as the saying goes “when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade,” and we have learned to make the best of these moments and grow from them. My husband and I started to think of creative ways to continue exploring and traveling without spending too much money. We started to visit the Forest Preserves in our area each weekend. I started to observe that many families go on these trails, going on walks and picnics. We were so encouraged by this that we started to take our family on our trail walks to enjoy some quality time together. It is free, great exercise, and you can bring a picnic basket with some of your favorite foods.

Though my husband and I did not anticipate the setbacks that we came across this year, we did learn that there are so many other ways to appreciate each other, spend quality time together, and save money. We did schedule a vacation trip to one of destinations on our bucket list and we allowed ourselves enough time to pay it off, all we need to take with us is spending money.

We know that when it rains it pours, and we have learned to keep an umbrella nearby and to not be discouraged. Difficult times have given us incentive to look outside of the box for opportunities to create valuable experiences.