This is a random post from my archives. Written in 2016 but still relevant today. Scarily relevant actually. With some updated tweaks of course. November 2023 In the midst of the decorating, cooking, cleaning and prepping for the holidays, in true marketing fashion, it’s also the time to figure out… “What amazing things (Lose weight! Get organized! Get your finances in order! Pay off debt!) What are YOU going to do in the new year?!” OR “Who do you want to BE this year?” (That wonderful “don’t think you have to DO anything” just decide to work on yourself and…
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(and why how we think and talk about it all matters) November 2023 Today is Thanksgiving day in the United States and I’m still ambivalent and frustrated…So today’s post comes from my pent up frustration and anger at the stories we tell ourselves that don’t serve us or the people around us. If the words “I am” are so important…(and they are) Why are we putting them before jobs, before roles, before hobbies, before things we prefer, when all of that can disappear in a heartbeat? We know that “I am” is so much bigger, so much larger and encompasses…
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November 2023 I am asking myself this question about my cozy mission. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, I got ALL the feelings. Trying to be cozy has definitely soothed my system. Though, I think sometimes I think I can ease and soothe my way out of any and ALL emotions. Well, that’s not honest. Honest Truth: Holidays are a disastrous free-fall for me, physically, emotionally and spiritually. I have a strong desire to turn toward the warmth and light at home, imagining simple holidays that I can, if not enjoy, then at least be present and somewhat comfortable.…
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November 2023 Every year the holidays come around and every year, I just want to opt out. Not because of trauma or bad memories – those are there – they just aren’t the reason. It’s all just TOO much. Even a hermit such as myself who tries very hard to distance herself from the news, the ads and the pressure, I just want to throw up my hands and give up. I want to consciously opt out. I know of many people who just mention it like they are brushing their teeth or getting gas in their car. I want…
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October 2023 Many people know and live a “multiple lives” reality. This is above and beyond “Don’t mention politics or hot button issues” in certain situations. Or by just not saying anything because it doesn’t matter and/or to keep the peace. It’s not just refraining from sharing certain parts of yourself. It’s knowing you truly have to put on different pieces for every part of your being to “be presentable” and “go out into the world.” It’s like putting on a spandex costume three sizes too small. Yet, millions do this every day – to support themselves, their families, in…
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October 2023 “Do what you can, with what you’ve got, where you are.” Although this quote is widely attributed to Theodore Roosevelt, he credits it, in his Autobiography, Chapter IX, to Squire Bill Widener of Widener’s Valley, Virginia. I rephrase this a bit to myself all the time. (It’s what I do. And what we should do – make things work for YOU.) I rearrange the phrasing Do what you can, where you are with what you’ve got! We ignore the middle parts of the sentences. Not because we want to or even realize it, but because our brain actually…
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October 2023 There are choices we make in life. And there are choices we get to make again and again. I was (and continue) to struggle with putting myself “out there.” In person, online, on social media, etc. I came across something I wrote last Spring, which gets to the heart of the matter Why am I afraid to be seen? Why am I afraid of exposing who I really am? I have nothing to fear, nothing to hide.The things that have happened to me, the things that have caused me pain and suffering (and exponential growth) are not my…
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January 2024 Thank you to Beth Kempton and the Winter Writing Sanctuary for this piece. January has me cleaning, organizing, settling things from the old year before I get into the new. (Because as far as I’m concerned, February and March actually start the New Year.) And as the dust settles from December, I notice there is SO MUCH stuff. I get nervous with too much stuff around. It piles up and all of a sudden, I have to get rid of it. All of it. More than I probably should. It’s like a light switch goes off. And I…
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January 2024 January is the perfect “excuse” to embrace contradictions – hell, it seems like we are all for it as a society. Just only in a certain way. “Start your goals NOW!” In the dead of winter, without processing anything really from last year, without resting and letting things percolate. Then beat yourself up when you crash sometime mid-January and tell yourself that YOU are the problem. “Of course I am the problem. How could it be the society and systems that give lip service to rest and balance but just use them as a way to get more…
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I actually wrote most of this in November of 2022 – again, I am baffled and frustrated that it still is relevant February 2024 I’m awake. I got up and meditated, did my morning routine and even read for about 20 minutes. Then connected with the world by checking email. That’s the only extent I ever really want to connect with the world. I feel so defeated regularly. I feel like everyone walking around are polar opposites. I fear that at any point, someone is going to decide they don’t like something I say. They will decide I’m a threat…