Give Yourself A Break Today

If someone asked you to list some positive attributes about yourself, could you do it? We spend a lot of time apologizing for who we are but seldom spend time bragging about what makes us special and unique.

Yesterday I got a text from my daughter about how excited she was to receive her spooky Halloween college care package. So one of my most notable qualities is that I am extremely and painfully reliable. I am that person who is always there doing whatever it is I’m supposed to be doing until it is obsessively perfect and completed. Image my horror when I discover this text at 4:30 yesterday afternoon and I haven’t even given a single thought to a care package? I was deflated. What happened to Miss dependable? She doesn’t get to slack off or forget because she hasn’t been having a very good week. I reached out for help and gratefully my husband was able to save the day and that package arrived today on time.

This is a reminder to love yourself as deeply as you do others. Forgive yourself and recognize that sometimes you need to get a break too. Embrace your humanness so that you can embrace others humanness too.

It Will Be Okay

It’s a beautiful day here today. The wind is a little fierce though and as I sit here I imagine tiny holes in my body so I can allow all of the nonsense and stuff that doesn’t serve my soul to blow on through. I can feel the weight leaving me as I write these words. Why do we hang onto the things that try and destroy us? Why do we carry the burdens and worry when our hands are overflowing and our minds are already full? Some days I beg myself to put it down, let it go and get on with enjoying all I am grateful for in this life. I am responsible in every way and I feel responsible for so many every single day. Sometimes it makes me feel tired. Sometimes I just need a little break to sit outside and enjoy the wind in my face. Sometimes I just need to remind myself to hit pause and breathe and to trust that in the end, everything will be okay.

Will You Be That Person?

I’m good. That’s how I responded to the text how are you? Inside I was dying. It was only 9:30 on a Monday morning and already I felt defeated. I had a flat tire, a Mountain Dew explode all over me and drove to Zumba only to find a sub there who is much too difficult for my torn meniscus to withstand. If someone said, how are you really? I would probably burst into tears. My anxiety is off the charts and despite my effort to rise above the everyday challenges, I am drowning with no life raft in sight. I am a mess…an awful mess and trying to look like I am holding it together is all I can do.

This is a reminder to reach out to someone today. There is somebody who desperately needs someone to really see them so they don’t have to feel so darn alone. There is someone who needs your encouragement, your time, your support. They need to be seen and heard and understood. Will you be that person today?

Pumpkins

A picture popped up on my Timehop. It was from 4 years ago. My kids were at the table carving pumpkins. It made me smile as I remembered the time and effort they used to put in and how sometimes their pumpkins reflected each one of them so perfectly that it would make me laugh. Kayleigh would make a slightly mean looking pumpkin and Chases would look confused. Those were the moments that I remember often. Life has changed so much since that day. It makes my heart feel a little bit sad. My kids are turning 20 and 17 this year and all I can do is watch as our lives become less and less intertwined. I never really considered that we wouldn’t be together anymore. Maybe I wouldn’t have been able to stand the thought. I was so caught up in the responsibilities of raising them that I never thought about how the phase would end when they grew up. Sure I love watching them become adults and blossom into who they are meant to be but I also really miss them and that family of 4 eating dinner together every night. Sometimes I think about it and I just feel sad. This is a reminder that time slips through your fingers whether you notice or not. It spills right through regardless of whether you open your fingers and willingly let it pass or whether you try and hold onto it for dear life. Appreciate your life for exactly the way it is today because one thing is sure, tomorrow will look quite different.

One Day at a Time

When I can’t make out what’s in front of me, show me the way. My biggest fear is that I am getting it wrong. Everyday I wake up and put one foot in front of the other. Sometimes I swear I will never step foot in a certain direction but on occasion I find myself right back there struggling with the knowledge that I knew this direction did not serve my soul well.

Today may we all find forgiveness for the mistakes we make. May we find the compassion and courage to love ourselves unconditionally so maybe someday we can extend that same love and respect to someone in our life who desperately needs to experience it as well. Be gentle. Soften. Don’t give up.

Will You Do It?

Can you go a day without judging someone? Why do we think we know people that we actually know nothing about? Let’s remember one thing as we go into this new day. We are all human beings. We all do our best to live life the best way we know how. We love, we laugh, we try, we fail, we struggle, we suffer, we win, we lose, we cry, we break hearts and we get our hearts broken. We get up and everyday we try again to get it right. Love more. Judge less. Offer support and encouragement. Just for today, compliment instead of criticize. Love people for who they are and not conditionally based on who you think they should be. You may not be able to change the world but you can certainly be the change someone desperately needs. Will you do it?

Too Many Excuses, Too Little Time

I am curious as to whether or not people really think someone could be responsible for another persons actions. Here’s a newsflash. We think for ourselves. We make our own decisions. We know the consequences. It’s just a whole lot easier to blame someone else for everything we do in our own lives. If I think someone’s words, behavior or actions are harmful I certainly do not run out and mimic them. I definitely don’t go repeat someone’s behavior and then blame that person for my own behavior. This is obviously ridiculous. Number one problem with people these days is they point fingers and blame and use others as a scapegoat for their own poor behavior. People are out of control. They are impulsive and they say and do whatever feels right in the moment even if it’s harmful. The end used to justify the means but now we have turned that whole concept around. We have a people problem. We are individuals completely separate from one another. No one has the power or influence to make anyone do anything. We must be accountable and responsible for our own choices and stop grouping people and behavior together. It just doesn’t work that way in real life. It’s time to stop pointing the finger outward and turn it back towards ourselves. Do no harm period….not in your words, not in your thoughts and not in your actions. Stop with the excuses. Time for the blame game to come to an end.

Breaking…

Breaking news. It’s a constant cycle of garbage meant to chain you to drama. While we are fixated on the wrong things, real things are breaking. Morals, humanity, hope, marriages, common sense are a handful to name a few. The breaking news is breaking each and everyone of us and we are allowing it into our lives, inviting it into our homes.

Work on you. Turn your time and attention inward and bring change to the one thing you are capable of changing. It would serve one well to always walk away from the phone and tv and walk outside in nature. Feed your soul and stop feeding into anger and fear. Just a few thoughts on this Wednesday morning.

How Did I Miss It?

Sometimes what you are searching for has been right in front of you the whole time.

Last year we made several trips to see the beautiful fall foliage. I decided that the area I have lived the last 8 years would never compare to the vibrant colors I remember growing up in NJ. This year my husband put me on a plane to send me back but as bad luck would have it, I was a week too early. Needless to say, I was disappointed.

It’s a beautiful day here in Oklahoma and I came outside to feel the warmth of the sun gently kiss my face. When I looked through the trees in my backyard, I saw a glimpse of color that caught my eye. Funny I hadn’t noticed those trees before. All those trips and searching for something that was in my backyard the entire time. Who would have guessed that all I would have to do was look up and I would find what my heart had longed to see.

Let this be a reminder how easily it is to lose sight of what is right in front of you. Look up from your phone and your work and you may just see the beauty that is right there waiting for you to notice.

Embrace Change

Isn’t it amazing that each new day has the potential to be so different than the one before? We wake up never knowing what the immediate future will hold and sometimes the reality is so much better than the worry that kept us up for a crazy amount of hours the night before. We have to stop living in a state of dread. There is no ball so stop walking around shielding your head with your hands waiting for it drop. There is simply change. Find peace and strength in change. There is no reason to be afraid for it leaves us, if we allow our minds to be open to it, an amazing amount of hope. There is strength in change. Embrace it.