ME, ME, ME!
Trimming the Fat Off Christmas
It’s two days before Christmas, the most celebrated holiday centered around joy and giving. In the past years, I’ve noticed one of favorite holidays get filled with unnecessary fat. Fat is the holiday crap of stressing out over the perfect gift, fighting the post office crowd, and making a gazillion phone calls. This year, I am trimming my fat out of Christmas.
I can’t say it’s been an easy task to push out the fat especially when three days before I get stricken with the stomach flu and my car’s check engine light on. Sucking it up, I still pressed forward 5 pounds lighter into work the next day and placing a reindeer sticker over my dashboard’s light to only drive with hopes it lasts through the holiday. Last week ended with overwhelming phone calls from friends who needed an ear to whine too, but are always unavailable when I need one. Here it is, two days before Christmas and the fat needs to go.
My Fat Removal Process:
1. Don’t answer the phone. All my family is out of town, which means my Christmas will get filled with redundant sounds of my telephone. Fuck it, I unplugged it.
2. Only answer good emails. Not answering any work related, shit filled, whiny all about me emails from friends, family or coworkers. Send me a dancing naked reindeer, and I might consider reading it.
3. Embrace solitude. Phycologist define the difference between solitude and loneliness as the following: Solitude is the personal choice to be alone. Loneliness is the feeling of being deserted and displaced by society. For several years I lived overseas, allowing my holidays to free of “family” obligations. Since returning three years ago, my holidays have been wasting gas on witnessing family feuds, smelly kids, and redneck cross bread cousins. Not this year, for I am staying at home and in my jammies for two days straight. The only one who will smell, is me.
4. Christmas take-out. If my stomach flu lets up, my Christmas dinner will be…take out. Hopefully cheap Chinese, with the back up plan of grilled cheese sandwiches.
Christmas is suppose to be a time of relaxation, celebrating ones religious beliefs, and enjoying the company of loved ones. My suggestion for everyone, is to trim the fat off your Christmas this year. Snub the arguments, save the stress for a real reason, love is not measured in gifts, and realize the Twitter world will live without your presence for one day.
Have a Merry Christmas.
Butting Heads
A person’s decision making process is developed through childhood and adolescence. It is acceptable for children to make emotional driven decisions. As adolescence, emotion is the designated devil for making bad decisions. Growing into our adulthood pants, it is customary for us to weight our options logically in forming pros and cons for each decision. We should not forget how important emotional driven decision making can be versus logical.
In my twenties, I was extremely adverse to accepting emotional decision making as constructive and positive. My aversion was so strong that I even placed my lovers on the logical pedestal of pros and cons. Displacing my emotions, the lovers I picked tipped the scale of logical pros versus cons. Did he have a job? What his spending habits reasonable? Did he have short term and long term goals? Did he have a good credit score?
I dismissed the inner butterflies, or absence there of, as irrational items not worthy of contemplating. I firmly believed being aggressively independent and goal oriented left no room for emotions to play a powerful force in my life decisions. Years later, I am dreadfully wrong.
Every morning I put on my grown up pants but now I leave room for emotional stretching. I enjoy independence to the extreme. Embracing the silence of a house, domestic chores left to only my hands, eating lunch as one, and being solely responsible for my income, makes me an incredible happy woman. Daily living I want to walk the road caring all the weight. Emotionally, I would like another shoulder. Someone else to wipe the tears, speak confidence into me when I am tired, and fall into when I fail.
Emotional needs should not be discarded as being “weak” minded. As individuals we need to allow our emotions to take more precedence in our decision making process. It is emotions that drive a consumer to pick a brand, purchase a house, or a vehicle. If we stopped looking at our jobs as simply a paycheck, but something we love and are emotionally driven to, would we all change the world? Smart employers will want the emotionally driven team members. Those who take stake in their work, self pride, and a deep admiration for the company. Educators who are emotionally driven to change the quality of life for a child will have more impact than one who just wants tenure. Politicians who cry over watching a city in despair, feel emotionally connected to small business owners, and passionately about society will build a country faster than the most logically designed plan. Emotions are the most powerful thread of being human and deserve the most respect.
Thanksgiving Day To-Do
It’s the one day of the year where “sleeping” and “eating” are the top priority. People sometimes misinterpret my “saracastic” undertone with constant displeasure in life. In light of that, here are the things I am grateful for everyday of my life.
1. Roommates - though she only stand hip tall, barks, and has make my attitude look angelic, she’s makes a perfect partner in crime. No matter where we are or end up at, we’ll be there for each other..wet noses and all.
2. Independance - I can enjoy taking a morning walk, breathing in the fresh, cool air and find solitude in the sound of the snow crunching under my boots. Having the ability to move within the world, wherever, and whenever I want, without the approval stamp of another or religious expectations that chain my decisions to a man’s companionship is my biggest blessing.
3. Lack of major fear - I live my life fearlessly - for the most part. Yupp, I have that one big fear but most others are really just weeds under my feet. I cannot imaging living with the fear of flying, driving across the country by myself, change, elevators, crowded spaces, or lighting a pilot light :-). Emotionally somedays may be a bit nerve wrecking, but deep down, I know the next day will be ok.
4. Guy Kawasaki Follows Me - HOLY KAW! The man’s follow’s me on Twitter! WOW! (I know he follows hundreds of others, but don’t burst my bubble -ok?!)
5. Finding A Purpose - This year I finally figured out a purpose for owning my own business. It might be broad in scope, but it’s heck of alot better than my original idea 5 years ago. Without the help of an incredible smart, imaginative, creative, and truly talented individual, I would have still be stumbling around trying to figure it out.
This is just a handful of thankful items in my head. Beyond the frustrations caused by clients, living in a country ran by idiots (not for long! whew!), laziness and arrogance of younger generations, and not living where I would really like to….I am content. I will always be a dreamer and never ceasing to dream.
Gobble Gobble
Pre Thanksgiving Day to-do list is pretty slim, with the understanding that 5 hours out of my “awake” hours will be driving through the midwest.
Call me obscene, but my main focus today is to run my thighs to where they cry and do enough deadlifts / squats combinations that my ass can’t stand a dining room chair. Mixed with a little midday fun with crafting up some videos of me (professional of course!), today will be an easy day ticking off the list.
I just can’t forget that oil checking thing…oh…gas would be good too!
It’s Friday!
It’s Friday..the point where my “work” to do’s transform into my “weekend” to dos.
Realistically, I didn’t get to the lazy portion, and probably won’t. But that is totally ok…I’m not in the mood to be lazy. My energy and dedication was killed off yesterday, and I finally revived it.
Yesterday, I got my feet stuck in the mud. Completely disheartened and tore down by a conversation I had that evening, I wondered why this person was in my life. It’s amazing who we choose to have as our partners. Some partners will cheer you on when you want to change the world, other’s won’t understand.
I suppose we all want our own cheering section. Awhile back BNET had an article about surrounding yourself with positive reinforcements - people who believed in you. It definitely makes a difference in your motivation level, sense of self worth, dedication, and ability to accomplish the untouched territory. You can’t charge on an adventure, if the only ones saying goodbye are convinced you will fail.
During a six year relationship, I fought hard to keep my ambitions quiet, and dreams of leaving a footprint for only my soul to see. Why? My partner didn’t understand, didn’t believe, and ultimately, didn’t want me to succeed. I never let my dream go..but they definitely didn’t flourish. After living months on a relationship hiatus, I began to flourish inside and outside. And Damn, did it feel fucking amazing!
Then one innocent phone call, turns into breathing disbelief into me again. Ashamed I allow someone million miles away to have such an effect on my motivation, but it made me realize something much more grand. Run with a partner who believes in you. If you don’t have a partner, run alone. Don’t ever, ever, take a detour to spend precious time on someone who doesn’t want to believe.
To-Do: Think
Today was a think day. I would be lying if the to-do list wasn’t there, this time fitting on a roll of toilet paper versus a coffee-filter, but it got washed away.
I believe in the journey of life, we meet people who mentor us. These are not the so-called “life coaches” which somehow got so popular. These are your everyday people who share a little wisdom with you. I have had some great mentors: teachers, pastors, friends, coworkers, etc. Their wisdom and tid bits of goodies are priceless.
A great mentor of mine, kept pounding in my head the importance of holding back and just thinking. I “plow” through ideas to get them done, as he eloquently put it. I have slowly become comfortable with just having a “think” day. Forget the to-do list, it will be there in the morning. Somedays, you just need to think.
Today, I got to think, laugh, and get a little work done. Actually alot of work done, if you consider “thinking” something of great importance. Above is a picture of my African Thinker I got from an old friend. He symbolizes the importance of thinking first before reacting. It is important to think and discuss just as accomplishing an action.
