You can't always get what you want

These last few weeks have been a time of reflecting for me. A time where I realize that I'm pretty spoiled. I am used to having or taking control over my life situations (the ones that I can have control over) and getting what I want (within my means). Admitting this does expose how spoiled I am, but I prefer to use the word "blessed" ha ha.

The big example I am thinking of here is where I live. Since college, I have always carefully selected where I live and I have had some pretty sweet apartments. I refuse to live in a hole in the wall, so consequently my paycheck was mainly prioritized for rent. But that's ok with me, because I'm one of those people whose mood is affected by where I live.

Anyway.

So when I come here to Okinawa and have the military completely take that choice away from me and tell me that I have to live on base, end of discussion? Well, that was a really hard pill to swallow. I realized that I was so used to being in control and getting what I want that I didn't know exactly how to cope. I was stuck here on a military base without a car, and thinking about having to live here all the time, and not having a Japanese neighborhood or neighbors, was making me (and Victor) pretty frustrated.

But things got better. We got our drivers licenses and a car which helped a lot in getting out of that "wo is me" attitude. And then came the task of "looking for the positive." At first this was hard, since, let's be honest, it's much easier to let the negative stuff take over as you're making your pro/con list, especially when the whole reason you are trying to look for the positive is because you didn't get your way to begin with.

So, this is my positive anecdote to all of this: if we had lived off base, we most likely would have had to use all our reserve cash for the deposit (which is usually two months worth of rent) and then we probably would have only had one car for the time being or have one on a payment plan. Instead, we were able to get two cars and have them completely paid off in cash, which included me getting this little cutie:

"You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes, you just might find,
You get what you need."

So, I guess I needed a mini-me pink car.
Now I just need to get some HelloKitty accessories to make it authentically Japanese.

And as one more solution to when you don't get your way: you find something to distract you or make up for the fact you didn't get what you wanted. My pink car does that for me. Sounds silly, but hey, I'm being positive here.