I am in quite a quandary right now. I enjoyed the best summer vacation--I got to blog, travel, relax, enjoy family, get creative, and develop myself as a person. Then the school year began and although I like my job, I don't love it. And when things get hard, like when one of our staff is gone and we have to do double duty, then I really don't love it. (In fact, it approaches intense dislike) That is why I've been absent here for awhile. When work gets stressful, my routine suffers. I neglect my health more because I don't take the time to plan my eating routine and work out, etc. My husband starts acting really needy because I don't have time or energy to give him the attention he seems to crave. And my blogging suffers because I am tired and am basically in survival mode.
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Right now, I need to make sure that I have the right mindset because the most important thing for me is that I am happy during stressful times. If it means I need a pint of Haagen-Daas chocolate ice cream, (which I did "need" today) in order to survive and feel like I am happy, then that is what I'm going to do. However, if over the course of a week, my pants start feeling uncomfortably snug, am I doing a myself a favor? I think not. But are these stupid little stresses even worth worrying about?
I used to think that once I met my husband and got married, that my life would be set and I would achieve my happily-ever-after. Wow, was that delusional or what? I had so much living yet to do and so many experiences that would make me the awesome, cynical, sometimes-depressed, introverted, and opinionated person that I am. And I know that I'm not even close to done yet! I love the photo below because it really illustrates that one may have done quite a bit to be where they are at an exact moment, but we are certainly not ever done! I believe in continuous movement. Whether that is going backwards or forwards, it is constant. I am the one that will choose which way I want to go!!
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| Image - Colleen Awsumb |
Today is "My Post Monday!" It's
all about original content from bloggers who care
to share what is on their minds--from Crafts to Camping, Wellness to
Wealth, Fashion to Food, and whatever else is on the brain! I
open up with a post of my own and then follow it up with a linky of the
week's top original blog posts! It's all about what the writer thinks,
believes, and
knows--in other words, they are active, writing blogs. If
I happen to find a great original, non-sponsored post, I'll link it up
and share
it with you
here and on Twitter via the #MyPostMonday hashtag! I can miss some amazing posts, but I don't want to!
So, in addition,
if you'd like to link up yourself, you can do that too! I'll visit your
site, comment, promote and publicize! (Affiliate links welcome!)
In The Middle Of Nowhere
The school year has begun and I'm saying a fond good-bye to my summer! I enjoyed it so much! I feel rested and energized.
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As I walked into the high school early this morning. it was still practically deserted. A few students were sitting in the hallways and on the stairs, probably dropped off by parents who needed to get to work early. They were still rubbing sleep from their eyes, just like I was. Eventually the students that are assigned to my charge arrived on the bus or were dropped off. They seemed happy to see me. One of them offered to buy me a treat from the snack machine! We continued down the hall to breakfast, where I greeted my friends there. Lisa, the head of the cafeteria, one of the nicest women I know, greeted me warmly. There was Steve, the maintenance guy, wearing his familiar kilt. He was high on a ladder, seemingly oblivious to the fact that people who walked underneath might get an eyeful. Maybe someday I just may do that, walk underneath out of sheer curiosity! I'm almost sure he must wear shorts or something underneath, unlike the original Scottish men, who.....didn't! My only question would be, why wear a kilt if you need to wear shorts underneath? Wouldn't it be more comfortable to just wear shorts minus kilt?
Some people may wonder why I continue to work as a learning assistant, commuting over 30 miles each way, when I have a degree in Special Education. It's easy. I tried the teaching route and I don't like it. I don't like the hours, the paperwork, the meetings, the answering to several groups of superiors--parents, administrators, district officials, psychologists, and the school Special Ed coordinator. Each of them has a specific agenda, each of them has an idea how your classroom needs to be run. However, I love working with the students and my co-workers. We have become really comfortable and we understand the philosophy of our teacher, Troy, who will be retiring this coming year. I'll miss him when he leaves. He has dealt with everything so well, but he leaves a little disappointed in the whole system and the seeming lack of appreciation for all that he has done over the years. I hope that when he leaves that he will be able to get a sense of how much good he has really done during his tenure!
Because of his and our efforts, there are a few kids who actually will have a chance in life. They have learned things that they may never have otherwise learned. Possibly not things like reading, writing, or math, although that has been a huge part of the day. But more likely things like learning responsibility, how to work for what you have, what to expect when you don't have someone to catch you every time you fall, how to act when you are on the job, how to talk properly to people in public, that you're stronger than you think, and other important life lessons you can't learn in a textbook! It reminds me that no matter what background you come from, there are those who will always find a way to thrive with just a little nourishment!
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| image - Scott Morgan |
Today is "My Post Monday!" It's
all about original content from bloggers who care
to share what is on their minds--from Crafts to Camping, Wellness to
Wealth, Fashion to Food, and whatever else is on the brain! I
open up with a post of my own and then follow it up with a linky of the
week's top original blog posts! It's all about what the writer thinks,
believes, and
knows--in other words, they are active, writing blogs. If
I happen to find a great original, non-sponsored post, I'll link it up
and share
it with you
here and on Twitter via the #MyPostMonday hashtag! I can miss some amazing posts, but I don't want to!
So, in addition,
if you'd like to link up yourself, you can do that too! I'll visit your
site, comment, promote and publicize! (Affiliate links welcome!)
Waiting For Perfection
The wisdom in the image below applies to everyone except for Olympic Athletes! "Don't wait for everything to be perfect before deciding to enjoy your life."
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Yay Team U.S.A, off to an amazing start with Women's Gymnastics, Swimming, and more! For an Olympic Athlete, everything has to be as physically perfect as possible in order to bring home the Gold! This saying is wrong for them, because they can't wait for everything to be perfect, they have to work for everything to be perfect! No waiting about it! For the rest of us, we should neither wait nor work for everything to be perfect before we find ways to enjoy life while doing both!
Things are definitely not perfect right now for me, I'm going through some issues that aren't fun. But I'm sure you are too. If picked apart with a fine-tooth comb, pulling aside the curation of Instagram, Pinterest, and blog posts, you would see that there is no one in ideal circumstances. That's life, there's no refunds. But does that mean I don't enjoy many aspects of my life? Absolutely not! I have found just a few things that I truly enjoy no matter what is going on, that won't make me regret it in the morning! One of those is my love of nature. If you haven't noticed, most of 'My Post Monday' installments will have a nature shot, and more specifically a nature shot from Utah, the state where I live. That's because I love it, and it puts me in a better place! If I can get out into nature once a day, I can handle just about anything. Thank goodness, every place that I have lived has had some sort of out of the way place I can go where I feel at one with nature.
If you can find just a couple of things that you truly enjoy, preferably that don't set you back mentally, physically, or spiritually, you can always default to them when things just aren't going your way! Anyway, nothing heavy here, just know that we deserve to be happy. We deserve moments of pure pleasure, no matter what is going on around us!
Today is "My Post Monday!" It's
all about original content from bloggers who care
to share what is on their minds--from Crafts to Camping, Wellness to
Wealth, Fashion to Food, and whatever else is on the brain! I
open up with a post of my own and then follow it up with a linky of the
week's top original blog posts! It's all about what the writer thinks,
believes, and
knows--in other words, they are active, writing blogs. If
I happen to find a great original, non-sponsored post, I'll link it up
and share
it with you
here and on Twitter via the #MyPostMonday hashtag! I can miss some amazing posts, but I don't want to!
So, in addition,
if you'd like to link up yourself, you can do that too! I'll visit your
site, comment, promote and publicize! (Affiliate links welcome!)
Dreaming Vs. Living
Which of the following two philosophies do you subscribe to? 1) Dreaming is essential in order for you to visualize what you want in life. Imagining what life might or could be like gives someone motivation to eventually achieve their goals. Life without dreaming is not life at all. OR...
2) Don't waste your time daydreaming and live the good life that's right in front of you! A dreamer will never accomplish what a doer always will!
Do you see the difference in these two philosophies? One of them comes from good authority, Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling!
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| Image by Rochelle Chee |
Can these two life ideals live peacefully side by side? I think it definitely depends on the situation.
Philosophy #1 - Dream. It is so important to dream, to visualize, to ponder what it is that you want in life. Without it, one would never figure out what to aspire to, what you are capable of achieving, and what you need to look for if you indeed want to attain a certain goal. There is definitely a time and place to dream. But when and how much? My definite feeling would be to do that sometime at the start of the day and also at the end of the day, like a planning session in the morning and a debriefing session at night, leaving it all behind until the next day. During those moments, incorporate those powerful positive affirmations, prayers, meditation, list-making, and list check-offs. I think it is essential to do that. And it takes about 60 minutes total.
Philosophy #2 - Live. The rest of the 23 hours in your day are for you to live, to grab life and make it yours! We're here on this planet called earth, there's nothing we can do about it but relish it. Acknowledge our shortcomings, our inabilities, our abilities, our handicaps, and our misgivings. Take it all and live it because it will be gone before you know it! And that is where we get stuck a lot of the time, because we are afraid to live!
I don't think living means that we are active and going full speed 24 hours of the day. Sometimes it means enduring things like waiting for others, doing less-than-exciting tasks, resting our bodies, strengthening our minds, and learning new things. That's OK! It's part of life and sometimes part of living means finding satisfaction and enjoyment in the most menial of tasks.
But if we can find a balance between dreaming and living, I believe we have just found the sweet spot in life and are on the road to true happiness! Have you found the perfect balance between dreaming and living?
Today is "My Post Monday!" It's
all about original content from bloggers who care
to share what is on their minds--from Crafts to Camping, Wellness to
Wealth, Fashion to Food, and whatever else is on the brain! I
open up with a post of my own and then follow it up with a linky of the
week's top original blog posts! It's all about what the writer thinks,
believes, and
knows--in other words, they are active, writing blogs. If
I happen to find a great original, non-sponsored post, I'll link it up
and share
it with you
here and on Twitter via the #MyPostMonday hashtag! I can miss some amazing posts, but I don't want to!
So, in addition,
if you'd like to link up yourself, you can do that too! I'll visit your
site, comment, promote and publicize! (Affiliate links welcome!)
Exploring One Way Or The Other
With the trending craze and obvious popularity of the new "Poke Mon Go" App, I've been a little dumbfounded by the whole thing. There are things that I can see which are very detrimental to a generation of children, raised on staring down at a phone for inordinate amounts of time. But I just know if I was a kid when this came out, I'd be all over it too! To be given a certain amount of time by my parents to roam freely around a neighborhood, letting the game dictate where the next stop is would be amazingly liberating. But what about all the phone neck injuries from staring down so long, and the accidents that will inevitably happen to the unobservant? It was bad enough for me as a teenager, without Poke Mon! For example, I rode my bike into a road construction hole because it wasn't clearly marked and the sun had gone down. I was fortunate to avoid the rebar protruding out at all angles. I spent a mere two days in the hospital with bruised kidneys. Imagine what I'd be like staring down at a game!
It has been a really hard few months for everyone and I'm not just talking Americans. With the advent of the internet, we are painfully aware of many of the world's tragedies unfolding before our eyes. And since it is so easy to hop on a plane, and be in another country in a matter of a few hours, we feel more connected than ever to our brothers and sisters overseas. There is anger and outrage, no matter what side you're on, and either side feels they have the monopoly on being right. There seems to be no shortage of those who will take matters into their own hands and wield out punishments they feel are deserved for injustices caused, not even to them personally, but done to others who may be similar in circumstances, beliefs, color, religion, politics, etc. The list goes on and on.
Personally, I feel like crawling in a little hole and just letting it all pass by, hoping I somehow won't be affected by it all. Not saying I'm doing that--I am very tuned in to Social Media, like everyone else. I get the news. I get at least several reports per day on the things that are going down. It is disturbing. Those who do nothing are as bad as those who go against the cause.
The Olympic Trials ended yesterday and it has been so much fun watching them~~So many exciting moments and some heartbreaks. I loved watching the track athletes the most, just because of the sheer discipline they have! My heart goes out to Allyson Felix because of her foot injury that has been plaguing her this whole time. She didn't make the 200m cuts to defend her title at Rio, but she will be there for the 400m. Hopefully her foot gets better! And what about Justin Gatlin, age 34, getting to make yet another trip to Rio to represent the U.S. in the 100m and the 200m! He is the oldest sprinter to make an American Olympic Team!
Sometimes things happen and it just seems wrong! Long story short--if the beauty of nature is formed under duress, I guess we can assume that as humans we take similar patterns. Here's my thought--
Our untold potential lays dormant, waiting for us to make of ourselves what we have the potential to do. We have the power within to mold something spectacular. No excuses. It doesn't happen overnight. But we are eternal beings of intelligence and light. We have the ages on our sides. Each stage of life holds an opportunity if we but take hold of it. Just as beauty is created from opposing forces of nature, so is the soul. Take the things that happen which are painful, cataclysmic, and searing to render a masterpiece!
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Image by Kris Moffitt
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As the warmth of spring turns into the heat of summer and we all want to be outside, don't fight it! If you are blessed right now to have a semblance of good health, appreciate it, nurture it. Don't take it for granted! I think about myself never having been satisfied with pictures of myself. The photo was never good enough. The look was never good enough, that is, until I looked at it again 10 years later. Then I realized that I was amazing. I was enough! I was the only one standing in the way! We don't notice what we have until we lose it. So go outside and be happy with you, because you are awesome!!!
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| Image - Dustin Erksine |
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Today is "My Post Monday!" It's
all about original content from bloggers who care
to share what is on their minds--from Crafts to Camping, Wellness to
Wealth, Fashion to Food, and whatever else is on the brain! I
open up with a post of my own and then follow it up with a linky of the
week's top original blog posts! It's all about what the writer thinks,
believes, and
knows--in other words, they are active, writing blogs. If
I happen to find a great original, non-sponsored post, I'll link it up
and share
it with you
here and on Twitter via the #MyPostMonday hashtag! I can miss some amazing posts, but I don't want to!
So, in addition,
if you'd like to link up yourself, you can do that too! I'll visit your
site, comment, promote and publicize! (Affiliate links welcome!)
Why hello there! It HAS been awhile, hasn't it? I took a much-needed break from social media this past few weeks and let me tell you it was refreshing and it served to put my priorities in order! It was so nice to not have to answer to social media deadlines and to realize if I drop out of circulation for awhile, the world will definitely continue to revolve. It made me realize that nothing is more important than my own little world, family, circle of friends, and loved ones. I mean, the world is going to do what it's going to do, and what I might have to say in this space won't really do much to change it. What I CAN do is make sure my own garden is well tended and those around me know that I am there for them. And how better can I do that than to take care of myself? Oddly enough, there are a few other people out there who feel somewhat the same, although they are much more vocal and definitely have a way of expressing it! For instance this little lady, apparently is walking away! After being a part of the cookie cutter, in it to win it, daily sponsored post club, saying exactly what the companies want her to say, she is now supposedly done with it all! (We'll see...) She is revolting and revealing what she feels are the dirty little secrets of the mom blogger! Then there is the more positive sister who talks about how the mom bloggers have saved her and also how her own blogging is more of a therapeutic exercise for her and if she helps someone else along the way, wonderful!!! One thing is for sure, social media is here to stay until such time that it all blows up in our faces, which I think it eventually will, but that's another discussion entirely! Until then, I don't feel bad for hopping off the train once in awhile! You should too, it's like a breath of fresh air!! In the meantime,
Today is "My Post Monday!" It's
all about original content from bloggers who care
to share what is on their minds--from Crafts to Camping, Wellness to
Wealth, Fashion to Food, and whatever else is on the brain! I
open up with a post of my own and then follow it up with a linky of the
week's top original blog posts! It's all about what the writer thinks,
believes, and
knows--in other words, they are active, writing blogs. If
I happen to find a great original, non-sponsored post, I'll link it up
and share
it with you
here and on Twitter via the #MyPostMonday hashtag! I can miss some amazing posts, but I don't want to!
So, in addition,
if you'd like to link up yourself, you can do that too! I'll visit your
site, comment, promote and publicize! (Affiliate links welcome!)
I'm also linked up to Monthly Coffee!
Can you imagine saying to yourself, "I'll work on my marriage/relationship when things improve." Hello.....that's why we work on our relationships...so things will get better!!! But that's exactly what is going on in so many relationships! Two people in a relationship are waiting until the other one makes the move to improve the relationship. And guess what happens? Bingo! They end up parting ways because they are each waiting for the other person to make the relationship better! Waiting until everything is just right may not be the right thing to do. If possible, maybe you should do it now, and not wait until you are sure what the end result will be. Of course, it's always best to go with your good, well-served intuition! Practice first on small things. Get that beautiful blouse, even though you may not know of anything that will go with it. Chances are, you will find that you do have things that will go with it because you love it! Who knows your tastes better than you? Buy that flat of gorgeous spring flowers. You won't regret it, even if you never get them planted! Sign up for that 5k, even though you can't even run a 1.5k. Just signing up will motivate you to train harder! And so what if you end up walking the last mile. Who even cares? You did it! Once you have practiced with small things, you realize that more ambitious projects can be implemented in the same way. Watch your confidence grow and grow! But in relationships, don't wait to be the first one to act. It may never happen if you don't, and you may miss out on some amazing experiences!
Today is "My Post Monday!" It's
all about original content from bloggers who care
to share what is on their minds--from Crafts to Camping, Wellness to
Wealth, Fashion to Food, and whatever else is on the brain! I
open up with a post of my own and then follow it up with a linky of the
week's top original blog posts! It's all about what the writer thinks,
believes, and
knows--in other words, they are active, writing blogs. If
I happen to find a great original, non-sponsored post, I'll link it up
and share
it with you
here and on Twitter via the #MyPostMonday hashtag! I can miss some amazing posts, but I don't want to!
So, in addition,
if you'd like to link up yourself, you can do that too! I'll visit your
site, comment, promote and publicize! (Affiliate links welcome!)
We are a visual society. So much eye candy that we don't know what to do with It! The problem is that when we are supposed to react to what we are looking at (because everything we see has a message that goes along with it) we don't. We've become desensitized and we often don't get the visual signs we're supposed to!
I don't think the children were meaning to be insensitive when the 17- year-old waitress handed them their ice cream and they blankly stared and didn't react by saying thank you. They were desensitized because of all the visual and sensory stimulation. I don't think it warrants grabbing their ice cream and tossing it in the trash because none of them said thank you. (Yes, this happened just the other day and is in the process of going viral on Facebook.) Save your money, mom, and gently remind them that there is a visual message that they missed.
'Cause we're all guilty of over-looking things that we're supposed to see in this visual, sensory-overloaded world that we live in!
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| Image - Junling Huo |
Today is "My Post Monday!" It's all about original content from bloggers who care
to share what is on their minds--from Crafts to Camping, Wellness to
Wealth, Fashion to Food, and whatever else is on the brain! I, for one,
love to
explore other sites for original, non-sponsored posts, tips,
pictures and videos! Sponsored posts are great and I appreciate the
information from well-written and authentic sponsored posts, I write
them myself! But this linky is for non-sponsored
posts because they are all about what the writer thinks, believes, and
knows. It's not about a specific brand and what it compensates the
blogger to promote! If
I happen to find a great original, non-sponsored post, I'll link it up
and share
it with you
here and on Twitter via the #MyPostMonday hashtag! It's like
being featured! I can miss some amazing posts, but I don't want to!
So, in addition,
if you'd like to link up yourself, you can do that too! I'll visit your
site, comment, promote and publicize! Remember, any link to your posts
helps your blog numbers
increase! (Affiliate links OK)
Alice in Wonderland was at a crossroads when she met up with the Cheshire Cat. She asked him advice about which way she should take. He said, "That depends on where you want to go. If you do not know where you want to go, it doesn't matter which path you take." Such a profound thought! Before you decide on any path in life, decide where you want to be. Ask yourself, Where do I want to be in 10 years from now? Where do I want to be 20 years from now? Where do I want to be next year? And based on your thoughtful decision, you can then start to choose between the many different crossroads that come up each and every day. It's not as if we choose between two distinct paths and then forget about it once we've chosen. It's more like we choose between two paths many times each and every day and that ultimately leads to our final destination. If you have a clear picture of where you want to end up, it will be much easier to make those small route choice each and every day. Most of the time, the route choice will be the harder one because Murphy's Law says that everything you want to do ends up being harder than you thought! But if we have that clear picture, it will definitely be easier to choose that harder way because we know we want it!
Today is "My Post Monday!" It's all about original content from bloggers who care
to share what is on their minds--from Crafts to Camping, Wellness to
Wealth, Fashion to Food, and whatever else is on the brain! I, for one,
love to
explore other sites for original, non-sponsored posts, tips,
pictures and videos! Sponsored posts are great and I appreciate the
information from well-written and authentic sponsored posts, I write
them myself! But this linky is for non-sponsored
posts because they are all about what the writer thinks, believes, and
knows. It's not about a specific brand and what it compensates the
blogger to promote! If
I happen to find a great original, non-sponsored post, I'll link it up
and share
it with you
here and on Twitter via the #MyPostMonday hashtag! It's like
being featured! I can miss some amazing posts, but I don't want to!
So, in addition,
if you'd like to link up yourself, you can do that too! I'll visit your
site, comment, promote and publicize! Remember, any link to your posts
helps your blog numbers
increase! (Affiliate links OK)
Sometimes it's hard to continue doing something that we don't see reaping immediate rewards. But know that as long as you continue to move forward, it isn't failure. Granted, sometimes one needs to step back, take stock, and possibly reinvent themselves or their strategy, but that counts as moving ahead, not failure! There are so many successful people who had, in their minds, abysmal fails at what they were trying to achieve. But they got back up and kept going! And eventually, their persistence paid off. Some well-known examples of initial failed attempts at success are Oprah Winfrey, Tina Fey, Arianna Huffington, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and so many others!
Challenge: Find someone that you admire and do some digging about what their life really looked like before their success. Most likely you will find that the very things that challenged them or looked like failure, made them stronger!
As for myself, I consider emerging out on the other side of winter only 7 pounds heavier than when I went into it a resounding victory! And that will spur me on to continue working on my health and wellness during the spring and summer months. What are your goals for this Spring? Is it health, organization, a project, relationship nurturing, or something else? Is the project you started currently out of commision? Don't worry, just dust it off and get started once again, if only just a tiny step forward!
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| Image - Cole Gleave |
Today is "My Post Monday!" It's all about original content from bloggers who care
to share what is on their minds--from Crafts to Camping, Wellness to
Wealth, Fashion to Food, and whatever else is on the brain! I, for one,
love to
explore other sites for original, non-sponsored posts, tips,
pictures and videos! Sponsored posts are great and I appreciate the
information from well-written and authentic sponsored posts, I write
them myself! But this linky is for non-sponsored
posts because they are all about what the writer thinks, believes, and
knows. It's not about a specific brand and what it compensates the
blogger to promote! If
I happen to find a great original, non-sponsored post, I'll link it up
and share
it with you
here and on Twitter via the #MyPostMonday hashtag! It's like
being featured! I can miss some amazing posts, but I don't want to!
So, in addition,
if you'd like to link up yourself, you can do that too! I'll visit your
site, comment, promote and publicize! Remember, any link to your posts
helps your blog numbers
increase! (Affiliate links OK)
Posts
