Wednesday, January 29, 2014

frozen

the great sneauxpocalypse of 2014! it's actually been a pretty nice day--didn't have to go in to the office, so i just did a little work from home and have mostly been pretty lazy--watching tv/movies and lots and lots of weather/news. the chaos of the weather does make me think about a few things: i'm really quite self centered, and it shows itself most highly in times like this. i wouldn't say that i totally don't care about others, but my level of concern for them pales in comparison with my concern for myself, my desires, my well being. yes, staff, you can drive in the crazy weather, but me? no thanks. totally pissed that the boss wanted us in the office. how ridiculous? don't they care about us??? i'm sure they do, maybe not as much as i think they should, but the real issue is me. i want to be happy and comfortable and have exactly what i want, and then, i might consider others. sure, there are times when i do a better job of extending myself towards others, but it's rare that i'm really willing to give up my comfort and/desires for someone else. i'm also not good with staying focused when my routine gets thrown off. it's nice to have a day or two off of work, to be able to relax, but i'm not really good at being productive without at least somewhat of a game plan, even if that game plan is just a few little things, a small to do list. i realized that this morning when i was eating breaking fast and looking over my little prayer cards (once again, a plan, a strategy): one of my "bright spots" is strategy, plan, organization--to do list, etc. i get so much more done, and feel focused, productive. it also ties back in with the whole "priority determines capacity" thing--making an effort to map out what's most important and then get it done first allows me to really get the most done. i did that a little better today than yesterday--yesterday, i totally got sidetracked reading lists on buzzfeed...so addictive. but today, i got a little more done, with work especially. and now, to move on and map out the next few weeks of weekends so i can have a game plan for packing/moving/etc.... :)

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

sidetracked...

It's January 8th, the second Wednesday of the year. 2014 is still a wee baby, but I, like many Americans, humans, etc, am already facing quite a few set backs on goals and resolutions for the new year. For example, writing. Haven't done that since the weekend. Bike riding? Been waaaaay too cold the past few days (that is a legitimate excuse, I think, especially since my little ski mask things haven't come in yet). Eating just smoothies for lunch and breakfast this week, for a healthy detox? Nope. Made a ton of the super gross smoothies on Sat, with beets and carrots and what not, but have been eating pretty much anything in sight, using the excuse of the surveyor being in at the office and my lack of sleep yesterday from late nights and early mornings. So yeah, I'm sidetracked. There have been a couple of things that I've done ok with on my little check list, like eating carrots every day, and 5 or more vegetables/fruits. And that's all a result of planning ahead. So there's another bright spot for you: planning. Preparing myself, physically and mentally, for what may await me--at work, etc. I tend to do ok with the physical prep--fixing my lunch in advance, setting my alarm to get up, etc--but the mental prep is never so easy. Actually, it's funny, because it really should be even easier. There's no time consuming actions involved. But some how, mental prep almost always seems harder. Or maybe it's more the follow through. I can tell myself 100x to let go, let go, let go--think about different things, don't obsess, don't panic, etc. But the follow through? May be good for a bit, and then a song comes on. A conversation. Anything. Something shifts and all the good intentions are derailed. Sidetracked. I know there is a lot of value in rehearsing things, in mental prep--maybe I'm just not doing it right? Maybe the combo of the two factors isn't getting set up right. Maybe I need to find the right balance of mental and physical prep. Maybe I need to try harder. Those words kind of haunt me. Try harder. Be good enough. Failure. ugh... Maybe my focus is off. On Monday at the leader meeting, we talked about influence vs concern--what you focus on just gets bigger. Definitely need to think about that some more. For tonight, however, I think I've met my goal enough to check writing off my list, so I'm out.

Saturday, January 4, 2014

WHO DAT!

So, the Saints just won their first play off game! And their first playoff game on the road ever! (not really a topic to blog about, but it's making for a great end to a nice Saturday!) A few thoughts on the game: -watching it with Anna, my roommate, is great. She likes to stand on the edge of the big green recliner, clap her hands and jump up and down, yelling, come on, come on!!! She actually hit her hand on the fan during the final field goal kick :) Thankfully, it was not on because... -it's freezing. It was freezing a few years back when we went to the Super Bowl...hmm... -would have been fun to watch this game with a big group, but I'm also pretty ok just being lazy at home. But next week's game, that's another story! -brings back lots of good memories from 2010, and all the amazing games leading up to the Super Bowl In other news...today's been a pretty productive day. I rode over 20 miles this afternoon--perfect weather, lovely new trail out by the lake. Rode all the way out to Kenner, just past the Treasure Chest. Would have loved to keep going, but it was one of the those situations where you realize, I've got the energy to keep going, but I also have to make sure I have the energy to get back to where you started! And it turned out to be a good stopping point, because the wind was stronger coming back, and a nice bit more chilly. But days like today reminded me why I really love riding my bike. Like so much. It makes all the difference in the world to find something you love and then just get to do it, over and over. I would love to find things that I love like that in more, maybe all, areas of life. Like with work--what do I love? What just gets me going? Dreaming, moving, thinking, hoping, creating? And in dating and relationships--meeting someone who just inspires, excites, etc. Sometimes I start to wonder if that's really possible...but a good, beautiful, inspiring ride like today gives a little bit of hope, if that makes sense. It's like, if there can be as much goodness and joy as I feel right now, in just this small thing, then why not elsewhere? Why not take a risk and dream and hope big, and see what happens? 2014, let's do this!

Friday, January 3, 2014

in the beginning...

So when I first looked at the date of my last blog post, January 5, 2010, I thought, wow, it's been 3 years since I last blogged...Crazy! And then I remembered that it's 2014. 4 years. Oh well. I don't live overseas anymore, and my adventures these days are far more run of the mill. Living in New Orleans does lend itself on occasion to some pretty fun moments, but that's what Facebook and Instagram are for, right? If I lived overseas now, I don't really know how much I would blog...I'd probably have more today, but then again, pictures really say much more than words, so who knows... But that is not the point of this. I admit, I'm not 100% sure yet what the point is. My new year's resolution or goal was to write, and I figured blogging is the easiest way to get back into the swing of things and maybe stretch my creative muscles. It's more free form and unedited than an essay or something, but also more focused and edited than journaling. And, I mean, it's new year's--everybody's blogging! So we'll see. I had to stop myself from piddling and actually creating a whole new blog, just because it's new and a new year and a new resolution. I end up focusing a lot on stuff like that, stuff that really doesn't matter, in order to prolong the more important stuff, the harder things...like forcing myself to actually write. But one thing that's already proved helpful is the idea of a "trigger." A few years back (maybe spring of 2010?), I read Dan and Chip Heath's book "Switch." It's all about making change happen when change seems hard or impossible--perfect new year's book. Anyway, I don't remember as much as I should or would like to remember, but recently, I got an email from their newsletter and it gave four suggestions for making new year's resolutions stick. They were all great, but I'll focus on the trigger idea, for today. A trigger is something that you do to automatically prompt yourself to take the next step, whatever that next step might be. It sets into motion a sequence of action that might otherwise take some degree of will power and/or self control (which are limited resources--another fascinating topic they cover). Anyway, my trigger for writing today was, when I have my coffee, I'm going to write. Pretty simple, pretty logical, really--coffee and writing just seem to go hand in hand. But it's really amazing the difference it made. I think it was two nights ago that I was skimming over the email and came up with the idea, and even though I just put it into play today, I thought about it several times yesterday and last night, and it had somehow already become this thing, this normative action: get coffee, write. Hopefully, it's a jump start to a habit. We'll see. Until next time!