I have said it many times. Mondays are my favorite day! Mondays are like January 1st. It’s a time to start anew. It’s a time to begin again. It’s a time to remake yourself. I know people wait until January 1st or the first of the month. But not me. I wait for Mondays. It’s amazing. I get to begin every seven days. Hallelujah!
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I’m trying. I am. Today, I’m trying. I am going to do it. Why? Because I am glorious. Glorious – possessing or deserving of glory. That’s me. Today I start. Truly. I start.
What is distracting me? Myself. I am my biggest distraction. I can’t blame social media. I can’t blame TV. I blame me. Me. I doubt. I falter. But, that changes today. I have no idea why today. But who cares. It changes.
I have mighty plans. Mighty plans, indeed. I’m not listing them all here, but I am a’changin’.
And, you guessed it. This is one of those plans that I have. I have had this blog for who-knows-how-long. I think about this blog frequently. But, thinking doesn’t make me glorious, now, does it?
This is making me glorious. Therefore, I am pleased to welcome all of my new readers. I know you are in similar situations. We are busy. We are all busy. But, we can’t let ourselves distract ourselves. I struggle with this. But, I am pleased to announce that I no longer am allowing myself to be a distraction. I am focused. I am meditating and asking myself to give myself some grace. I need the focus. I do not need to distract myself.
I have mantras to help guide me. I am glorious. I am changing. I am enlightened. I am vibrating at a high frequency.
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Today’s word is Quiet
A few years ago I got a “Shhh” tattoo on my left index finger. It was so I could shush the wee one without making a noise. It eventually evolved into me just showing her that finger. I am a college teacher. My students obviously see my tattoos. They notice my hands a lot – I teach, I talk with my hands. And, I find that I use it with them as well. I don’t have to embarrass anyone, I just flash my tatt to them. They get the hint. In fact, most people around don’t even know I just told someone to “be quiet”.
I still have to use it with the wee one – she’s 11 now, but we all need to be reminded to be quiet once in a while. Her friends know about it too- I can just stick my finger in the room, and they’ll quiet down.
But, who tells me to shush? No one really. I guess that’s my job. This is the season where I really need to focus and be quiet more. I do a quiet time Bible study/devotion reading about 4 or 5 times a week. This is my quiet time. I also attend church 2 times a week. I pray. Daily. Continually. I read thought-provoking Christian literature. I have quiet time. But, I am henceforth resolving to focus my quiet time even MORE. I need to be aware of my quietness and my stillness.
Oh, and I have a moustache tattoo on my other finger. I like to balance the serious with the fun. I mean, we can’t be quiet all the time, right?
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I am! I did not purchase a candle. I have so many candles that need to be used. So, I grabbed one and lit it. I generally light when we’re all home – after school and before dinner. Then I say;
Dear Lord, bless my family,
keep them happy, healthy
and at peace.
I say it all night long whenever I notice the candle. And, I’m mindful to make it count – I don’t want to just SAY the words, I want them to be heart-felt.
This has been a super thing for me to do. No one in the home knows I’m doing it. It’s just a little gesture I can do to bless my family.
candle, candle in glass (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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I demand an awful lot of myself. And, I’m ok with that. Things are ever-evolving for me. What works for me, may not work for you. And, just as I find something that works for me, things change, and I need to adapt my lists.
Right now. In this season. Today, I find that there are three things that are keeping me organized. In no particular fashion:
This stuff works. For me. I am continually reading blogs and advice columns about staying organized. And, that’s all great and everything, but the important thing is to find what works for YOU. See, THIS works for me. It probably won’t work for anyone else. So, look around and see what will help you. It will take some trial and error. And, it will also mean, that you will need to adapt as you change from season to season. What worked for me in high school does NOT work for me now. But, that doesn’t mean my organization or life-planning skills were horrible in high school. It just means that things have changed, and we must turn, turn, turn. Ok, so now I’m singing.
Most importantly for me, I do not live and die by the schedule I make for myself. I allow myself much forgiveness. I know there are surprises that pop-up. I allow myself to work ahead on things, or even let them stack up on another day. I am not TIED to my schedule. I think we can fall into nasty habits by allowing our lives to be dictated by schedules with no room for wiggles.
I think within the next few posts I’m going to blog about a few of the things on my lists. Hopefully sharing some advice and motivation with you.
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sleep (Photo credit: Sean MacEntee)
I got it baby! I did the show last night. Got home at 10:15. And, by the time I showered, did show notes, and checked email – I didn’t get to bed till 11:30. Then I couldn’t fall asleep. It’s hard to turn off my head after a show.
Then, I had a kitten sleeping across my neck at 4:30. And, knowing full well my alarm was ready to go off at 5, that made it damn near impossible for me to sleep. So, I tried for 30 minutes. Then, the alarm went off. Then I tried snoozing till 5:15. I gave in and got out of bed. I got to work at 6. I got so much done!
And, I’m feeling great – not tired at all – yet. I hope I can keep this up. My day is not too crazy. So, hopefully I can crank out some much needed fun stuff.
But first, off to critique last night’s show.
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Yesterday was a great success (you need to say like Borat in order for it to be effective). Anyway, I conquered my list. My uber long, lengthy list! And, the wee one conquered her little list. Much happiness all around.
The biggest news of all – the wee one finished a dress:
She is wearing it to school today, and she couldn’t be more proud! It’s a bit wonky, but she doesn’t care. All she sees is beauty – pure beauty. And it’s with those eyes that I desire to see the world. So, when she came to me asking if she could wear it to school today – the day of school pictures – I said “YES”. She will feel so beautiful in her dress, and I can’t wait for that happiness to shine through. Now, is the dress perfect? No. Does she care? No. It’s the little things guys – it’s HER loving a dress that makes me keep things in perspective. That’s why she is in my life!
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So, I’m trying to make a commitment to myself. One of those commitments is this blog. I am avid blog reader! I really am. But, I skimp on my own blogging. That’s not right. I need to put myself first sometimes. This is one of those times. I am making a pledge to myself. I am officially turning over a new leaf. Here is what I am doing:
Wish me luck! I WILL keep you updated!
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I made a decision last night. I am NOT going to do the Knitting Daily KAL for the Pan-Am Jacket. Here is why.
I had been reading the forums. I still hadn’t received my yarn, but I was totally catching up on the forum and taking notes. Anyway, there are many frustrated people on these forums. Many. They are stressing about the pattern. So, I continued to take notes and hope that I would be able to conquer the pattern.
I had bid on the perfect yarn via ebay. Well, I won the bid. Then the seller contacted me to say she didn’t actually have the correct amount of yarn. She made a mistake. She offered to cancel the sale. So, I had her cancel the sale. Then I made a decision. Maybe I’m not supposed to do this darn thing. Maybe I’m supposed to just work on my current project and call it good.
So, I unsubscribed from the forum and guess what? I felt relief! Relief! I had no idea I was even stressed about doing this. But, the relief tells me that I was indeed stressed. So, I am happy with my choice.
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I put a lot of pressure on myself to do certain things at certain times. But, I really get enjoyment out of it. In fact – I’m gonna act like a little motivational speaker here- but I think I’ve found MY way to MY happiness.
About a year ago I was kind of in a funk. Nothing bad, just a tad lost. Realize, it was only personal, I just wasn’t having as much enjoyment out of life as I wanted. I also decided that “thinking” about it too much was not the right thing to do. Well, I was wrong. Fast forward about 6 months, and I started to really think about WHY I was feeling this way. I couldn’t figure it out. Everything seemed pretty perfect in my world. So, I started to reflect on my past – specifically those times when I really felt “complete” (ok, that’s a stupid word, but it’s what came to mind right now – I may eventually edit it). And, what I realized is that I carved out time for ME. And, again – I’m having a word issue because TIME isn’t necessarily what it’s about. It’s more about THINGS.
For example:
Dansk: Kamillete English: A cup of chamomile tea Deutsch: Kamillentee (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I have a pretty dead tea blog (I’m kind of a tea snob), so I kept track of what I had on my shelf, and what teas I adored. Now, I use Steepster. I have a dead craft blog. I needed a place to showcase my creations. Since then I use Ravelry. I have a dead reading blog. Now, I have my reading list on this blog. But, I have kept track of every book I’ve read since 2004. I have a dead personal blog. That what started in 2004 as well. I updated at least daily. I made tons of friends through it. I blogged faithfully for about 5 years then I stopped for some reason. This blog is an attempt to re-create that experience. I also have 2 blogs I started for NaNoWriMo. They are both a work in progress. Then, I have a couple of work blogs – you know, just a place where students can go to read information I post. But, I think we can all see that I like blogging.
Bread in baking pan Polski: Chleb w foremce (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
These things make me happy. Very happy. So, I have a concerted effort to make time for this stuff. And, it doesn’t mean that I take time away from my family. I craft with Atlantis all the time. She is as crafty as I am. I love that about her. I cook with her. I bake with her. She loves helping me. Plus, we all get to sit down and enjoy the goodness together.
So, I decided to make these things a priority. I started in January. And guess what? I found what I was missing. In fact, I’ve added things to my list. I’ll blab about things later. But, these changes have completely changed my little world. I’m at that happy place again. It really didn’t take much. I just needed to think back to my happy times and figure out what I was doing then. And, I did. I found it!
Here is Atlantis holding up the shawlette I made for Mother’s Day for my mom. It’s blocked and packed and ready to go. This also makes me happy. Yarn and my baby girl!!! I am the luckiest person in the whole wide world!!
Filed under: motivating things | Tagged: blog, Knitting, Ravelry, Steepster | 2 Comments »
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