I’m going to call these thoughts: The Difference Between Making It and Making DoOne of my all-time favorite movies is It’s a Wonderful Life. No surprise, it’s one of the world’s most beloved films and one of the American Film Institute’s Top 100 Movies of All Time. It’s hard to keep track of all the life lessons in It’s a Wonderful Life but one of my favorite scenes is where George and his wife Mary—newly married—are supposed to be heading off for the honeymoon of a lifetime. This part of the film is set during the Great Depression and that afternoon there’s a run on the bank, and George and Mary painfully decide to use their honeymoon savings to keep the Bailey Building and Loan solvent. They forfeit their dream to stay home and take care of other people. Why? Because sometimes life really sucks. When George is done with that awful day he finds that Mary has transformed a desperately run down abandoned house into a magical space for their wedding night. There are posters of far away lands in the windows, flowers, candles, music playing from a phonograph that is also turning a spit with two chickens roasting over the fire in the fireplace. Mary Bailey has faced a sad, difficult day and made do.I feel her. It feels like I’ve been making do my entire life. But instead of resenting it, I’ve come to the opinion that making do is just about the most important skill a person can master. I’ve also witnessed making do elevated to nothing less than an art form. Making do is making the best out of what you’ve got. It’s about mixing limited resources into a recipe, the flavor of which becomes greater than the sum of its parts.In my opinion there are at least three reasons why mastering the art of making do is so important. First, we all want to be happy and fulfilled. Second, we all have limited resources. And third, life is beautiful but life is never perfect. Some part of life will always be painful, always be difficult, and always suck.Making do is about finding all the good and taking responsibility for the all bad. By the way, taking responsibility for everything that happens to you is not the same as taking the blame for it. All sorts of things happen to you that are not your fault. But if you’re going to heal and thrive then everything has to be your responsibility. Making do is about not becoming entitled, not giving up, and embracing with gratitude what you have. Making do is not about surrendering your dreams. It’s about recognizing that this current moment—not your dreams—is where all life is lived. And this moment will always be far more important than any dream could ever be.Tina and I started our life together in a very different financial place than we are now. We were never poor but we had more struggles than we would’ve preferred—often having to make decisions between keeping the telephone on or keeping the gas on. And that’s ok, because I married a Mary Bailey. Wherever we've lived, be it ever so humble, our home has always been a special place because Tina and I make do. I can honestly tell you we’ve never had a conversation about what will life look like when we “make it.” "Making it” is a bit too slippery and elusive a concept for me. I don’t know if I’ve already “made it” or if I’m ever going to "make it.” What I do know is how to make do. And I am confident of this one thing: for richer, or poor, in sickness and in health, for as long as we both will live, we will do our best to make do. So that every day is a day worth living, and every moment is a moment not wasted. And when it comes to not wasting moments I highly recommend mastering the humble, precious art of making do. Making do works in any and every context. It’s not just about tough times. It’s not just about turning lemons into lemonade. It’s definitely not about settling or letting go of your dreams. It’s about staying as much as possible in this present moment, which in the end is the only life any of us actually have.Making do is being grateful...