A bloggers take on the American Dream

 

Today’s guest blogger is Megan from Mackey Madness. A few weeks ago she wrote a post on what the American Dream means to hear, and I really thought that we all needed to her her thoughts. So here she is.

Hi there beautiful friends! My name is Megan and I blog over at Mackey Madness!

I am SO honored to be guest posting for Zara today! Today I'm talking about my version of the "American dream."

So I'll admit it: I am completely and totally addicted to blogging, tweeting, and pinning. And I have made SO many wonderful friends through it. Here's the teeny little problem with that: we typically portray the happy, pretty sides of life to others. We blog about perfect weekends, killer style, and sweet surprises from our husbands. We tweet about all our accomplishments and the fabulous dinners that we cooked. We pin these stunning pictures from million dollar mansions and hope that someday we will be able to have those things in our homes.

And that is all okay...in moderation. It's okay to dream. It's healthy to dream. As cheesy as it sounds, the world truly is ours to flourish and thrive in. It can be really easy to get caught up in materialistic things, though. I have definitely been there.

When I graduated from nursing school, I was single and felt like I was bringing home big bucks. I volunteered to work overtime and even holidays...anything to make that paycheck head upwards.

When I met my husband, my priorities drastically shifted. I wanted to be able to spend more time with him, to introduce him to all of my friends, to see the city (and country) with him. I lived for the moments when we were off together and had nothing to do except dream up plans for the day.

Sometimes I feel like our society has it just a little bit off. We work ALL the time in order to buy a big house, fancy cars, and designer clothes. It's all about "keeping up with the Joneses." We strive to provide for our family in all these ways, yet sometimes miss out on memories and moments. We forego a picnic in the park to work an extra shift. We skip cuddle time because we need to check our email/facebook/twitter/whatever. Obviously money is a necessity to survive in this world, but I'm working on finding my perfect balance between work and play. 

Don't get me wrong...I'm proud of what my husband and I have earned in life. We work hard. But guess what? We can't take any of that with us when we die.

So just live life...happily, abundantly, freely, slowly, simply.

Suck the marrow out of this thing called life. And enjoy every moment.

Thanks for having me, Zara!

THANK YOU Megan for posting here today! You all need to head over to her page and show her some love. This girl knows a thing or two about being married, happy and living the dream… obviously.