How to Enjoy Life While Picking Up Dog Sh*t

Just before I sat down to write this blog, our German Shepherd, Akiko, pooped in her kennel. I found myself there—kneeling, cleaning, breathing deeply—laughing at the absurdity of it all. And it hit me: happiness isn’t found in a perfectly ordered life, but in the quiet choice to stay present and light-hearted right in the middle of the mess. This is a meditation on how to be happy… even while picking up dog crap.

So here are three practices—real game changers—that will help you actually enjoy your life.

Because there is a misnomer I believe has quietly messed up the truth of enjoyment for a lot of people, at least once in their lives. Here’s the misconception: that peace, acceptance, and enjoyment are all the same thing.

They’re not.

You can be at peace and still not be enjoying yourself.

And I know—you’re going to say, Maria, that sounds oxymoronic. Because if I’m at peace, what obstacle would be in the way of me having a good time, right? Because that’s what enjoyment means, right? You’re having a good time.

But dear reader, I’ve been there. I’ve been content. I’ve forgiven myself. I’ve forgiven everyone who hurt me. I had made better decisions, I was doing “the work,” and things were going right… and still, I wasn’t enjoying my life.

What do I mean by that?

I wasn’t going out of my way to carve out enjoyment.

Because enjoyment isn’t something that just falls in your lap after you’ve put yourself in a position of power—meaning your kids are okay, your job is good to you, your fitness is on track, and your goals are moving forward. Those are all beautiful things. Those are blessings. Those are stability.

But enjoyment? Enjoyment is something you have to choose on purpose. Enjoyment is something you have to make room for. Enjoyment is something you have to schedule.

And no—you’re not going to enjoy your life 24/7. I have teenagers. I have five of them. And if there’s one thing teenagers know how to do, it’s poop on enjoyment. Matter of fact, they have a PhD in ruining your mood—because when you’re a teenager your frontal lobe isn’t fully formed, and you don’t always know how to show real gratitude when you’ve never had to invest for the things you have. They eat, they sleep, they have a bed, they have a life… and a lot of the time they don’t fully understand what it costs.

So point is: don’t make “enjoying every moment” the bar. If that’s the bar in your mind, you are setting yourself up for total, complete, catastrophic, plane-going-down, nose-diving failure.

But if you’re still with me—if you’re ready to climb out of that casket—

Because like Les Brown said, some people die at 30 and don’t get buried until they’re 80… and when you’re not enjoying your life, it can feel like they’re lowering you into the ground very slowly. But you’re still going into the ground.

And we want to stop that process.

Why?

Because life is so beautiful.

Do you know how beautiful life is? Life is so beautiful that God made us eternal. We are never going to stop living. People say all good things come to an end, but it’s not true—because our life is going to go on forever after we leave Earth. We’re going to be with our Father in Heaven, and we will continue to live.

Have you ever had a meal so good you thought, I wish this didn’t have to end? The other day I had volcano sushi and I literally said to myself, Boy oh boy, I wish I never had to take a last bite.

But it ended. And it was all in my tummy… and then soon it was just waste coming out in the toilet—sorry for being graphic, but I’m trying to make a point.

Life is so beautiful that God said, You know what? If you live this life right, you won’t want it to end—and I’m going to make sure it doesn’t have to.

So how do we enjoy our life?

1. Say no more.

If you want to say no—just say it. Watch how good it feels. Don’t titter-tatter. Don’t say you’ll consider it. Don’t say you need a few days. If your first knee-jerk thought is no, then say no.

Let it be a no because you have to say yes to you.

Most human beings are born with the people-pleasing disease—we say yes when we truly want to say no. For the sake of someone else’s feelings, we say yes. For the sake of “peace,” we say yes. For the sake of avoiding a problem, we say yes.

You know exactly what I’m talking about, dear reader. You know those people—when you say no, they have a meltdown.

Say no anyway. Let the chips fall where they may.

Because I only want to be around people who want me to be me. Healthy people want you to be true to you. Stable-minded people know how to deal with things not always going their way. And I only want to cultivate and nurture relationships with healthy, stable-minded people.

Say no more—and watch how much you enjoy your life, because you’ll start doing things that are actually true to you.

And let me be clear: I’m not talking about sacrifices for the people you love—doing things you don’t necessarily want to do just to put a smile on their face. That’s good for your soul too. That’s not even in this category.

I’m talking about the things that don’t sit right with you. The activities you don’t want to do. The conversations you don’t want to join. The gossip someone tries to invite you into—because they usually ask you, right? “Hey, do you want to know what so-and-so did?”

Say no. Radical no. Yes—I just made up a word. Radically say no.

Watch how much you enjoy your life.

2. STOP multitasking all the time.

I say this with extra dipping sauce of passion because I’m talking to myself too.

If you’re like me, you’re always trying to squeeze a dollar out of fifteen cents. Always trying to do the most. I’ll be washing dishes and in the middle of washing dishes I’m cooking eggs, and then the eggs get a little hard and I’m like, “Oh crap,” so I add more cheese. And then I’m eating while holding my phone, watching a documentary—by the way, I’m pretty addicted to documentaries, and at this point I think I’m half documentary and half actually living in real time.

But hear me: stop multitasking so much.

And I’m not just telling you what to stop doing—I’m giving you the replacement: be extra present.

Not just present. Extra present.

Because a crucial piece of enjoying your life—carving out those moments of real enjoyment—is allowing your brain to fully absorb the experience around you. Unless you are extra present, you’re going to miss what I call the chocolate chips of life.

So if you’re washing the dishes, just wash the dishes. Look out the window if you have one. Notice the trees. Notice the sky. Take in the moment. Pay attention.

Because focus is a huge factor in enjoyment.

And as you strengthen your ability to focus, you become more disciplined. You get more done in less time. You’re all the way locked in. Continuous multitasking is a symptom of a scattered mind. Yes, there are times you have to multitask—especially if you have kids—but don’t make it the rule.

Make multitasking the exception, not the lifestyle.

3. Stop acting out hypothetical scenarios in your imagination.

Okay. Come close.

We’re sitting by my fireplace in the living room—not outside because it’s cold. We’ve got long sticks and marshmallows. No, we’re not making s’mores because I don’t need graham crackers. I’m keto. So it’s just marshmallows on sticks, no Hershey chocolate—and we’re having a heart-to-heart.

And I scooch a little closer and I say: stop making yourself a puppet in a hypothetical world that doesn’t exist.

Let it go.

Our brain bombards us with intrusive thoughts that sound relevant but aren’t productive. How do you know they aren’t productive? Because they sound like:

“I wonder if…”
“What would’ve happened if I said…”
“I wonder what that person would do if I did…”
“Next time I’m in that scenario, I’m going to…”

Let it go.

But, dear reader, I’m not just going to tell you what to stop doing—I’m giving you the replacement.

Instead of replaying negative hypotheticals, overload your brain with positive imaginations.

This is something you can do when you’re washing the dishes and you’re not multitasking, right?

Picture your partner’s smile—really try to see it in your mind. Picture your kids ten years from now thriving. Picture their home, their car, their confidence. Picture your grandchildren. Picture yourself getting the promotion you’ve been gunning for. Play it out. Feel it. Taste it. Touch it. Smell it.

Use your imagination to build a winning future and a domino effect of happy thoughts.

Because I believe actions are keys—they open different doors in our life. Each action has a reactio and leads to a different door.

When you say no and you’re true to yourself, you curate an authentic life, and life rewards authenticity. When you stop multitasking and become extra present, you strengthen focus, and focus produces discipline. And when you stop replaying negative scenarios and start imagining wonderful ones, you stay in a higher frequency—and it’s those higher frequencies that keep good things happening to you.

So you can enjoy life—not just as a concept.

But as an authentic, focused, and manifested experience.

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,
Maria 🌹