"If you can't get out of it, you might as well get into it."

You see them often: Those people who never quite allow themselves to be happy.

When it is raining, they complain about the rain, blaming it for their foul moods. Then, when it is sunny, they grumble and complain that it is uncomfortably bright.These people complain when it is cold, and they complain when it is hot.

They manage to take blessings and gifts and somehow turn them into seemingly overwhelming burdens. 

The families they are blessed to have are too draining, the work that allows them to pay their bills is taxing and unrewarding. The spouses or parents that love them are horribly imperfect.

Such people can easily suck the joy out of you, if you let them.

But they also serve as much needed cautionary tales, reminding us of how not to live our own lives.

Life is not a burden to be endured, day in and day out. It is a beautiful gift to be enjoyed and celebrated as much as possible.

Which brings us to the idea we have been thinking a lot about lately: If you can’t get out of it, you might as well get into it.”

There are times in life that we may have to spend time doing something we would not choose to do on our own. Maybe we have to go to a meeting we think is unnecessary, or we need to go to a training in an area we feel we have already mastered.

We can choose to go and sit passively, to endure the event and count the moments until it is over. But that can be a frustrating, monotonous experience.

How much better, instead, to choose to participate actively – to engage, to ask questions, to participate and to go out of our way to get to know people and build relationships around us. When we make this choice to be positive and engaged, great things can happen.

So today, our challenge to you is simple: Get into life. Make the most of it. And recognize it for the gift it truly is.