Believe

Believe you can and you’re halfway there.

Theodore Roosevelt

Believe in the person you are and will be. I had a hard time believing in myself for a long time. I’m still learning to believe in who I am and what I’m capable of being. I think that’s something we should always be learning and challenging. It took years of unearning all the lies I was told about myself. Today, I trust myself. I trust my body. I trust my intuition. I believe in the functions and systems that are part of me and the only reason I do is because I took time to listen and learn. And I keep learning and listening. I believe very much in myself so let’s see where that takes me.

Fell?

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

Confucius

I’m here with this quote and a story. One time in about 3rd grade, I was riding bikes with my brother, hit a pothole, flipped over the handlebars. I scraped my forehead, got the wind knocked out of me, and ripped my t-shirt. It was no fun. Cried the whole way home. No broken bones. No er visit. For weeks I refused to ride my bike down that hill. Took me some time to go down that hill again but eventually I got my courage back.

The only other time I got the wind knocked out of me was when I was on the monkey bars. I landed just right on my back. That didn’t keep me from climbing the monkey bars a few minutes later.

The point here is to share a relatable story because we all fall down sometimes. Some accidents don’t cause much of a negative impact. Others require more intentional focus and rebuilding.

How about you?

Strawberry Raincoat

and yard work in the rain

In the beginning of the week, I asked my little one to pick up sticks with me over the weekend. When the weekend finally arrived, I told her it was raining. Before I could get to the bad news, that we would have to reschedule our yard work day, her eyes light up and she says with excitement, “I can wear my new strawberry raincoat! I can go get my boots and my coat on!” I smiled and of course said yes! because this exciting adventure is free and right outside my front door. She left and returned fully dressed with her raincoat and boots on before I even finished my morning coffee, and like we planned, we got the wheelbarrow and picked up sticks together around the yard.

We finished the job and now we’re ready for our next project when the sun comes out again. Plus, I got some great bonding time with my little one. Imagine all that success while we were outside in the rain.

There’s a few things here: Let the things that excite you, be your reason to keep your commitments. So what if things happen that are outside of your control. Don’t let that keep you from you own success.

If you’re around the right people, your joy/excitement will bring others joy.

Kids really are great mentors.

It’s much easier to face adversity when you have someone by your side that’s excited to do the work!

And Together

We can’t all be good at everything. This is partly the logic behind having a team in the first place, so each role can be filled with the person best suited for that role and together, every job and every strength is covered.

Simon Sinek

Tonight I want to share my instagram post here.

Being on an amazing team in the workforce is new to me. I’ve literally never had a better job than this.

Make a Life

Don’t let making a living prevent you from making a life.

John Wooden

I have always loved the quote. I never knew who said it until today. John Wooden was a basketball coach who went to several championships. I don’t think he has all the answers but I do think he has great insight on working in a way that creates success. Imagine winning 7 championships in a row!

I have always focused on doing work I’m passionate about. And the quality of my life has always been something I valued. When I get into places where I no longer prioritize those two things (or for some reason I no longer have access to the two things), I feel disconnected, burned out, depressed, some call it “out of alignment.” Making a living for me goes hand in hand with making a life for myself.

I wonder how people think about this quote when making a living isn’t part of making a life?

But You

You’re imperfect, and you’re wired for struggle, but you are worthy of love and belonging.
Brene Brown

There’s going to be days when you screw up. I don’t like those days, most of us don’t. On those days I want to crawl into a hole and hide until it all blows over.

Believe it or not, I used to shame myself with my own weird self-punishing rituals like not allowing myself my favorite foods, or not allowing myself the tiny joys that I would allow myself to have on good days. But over the last 10 years, I’ve learned to accept myself with all the silly little flaws I come with. Now bad days are the days I treat myself especially if my mistake is really bringing me down.

In order for me to have gotten to that point, I had to realize that sometimes my mistakes feel like giants, when in reality they aren’t as big and bad as I’m making them out to be. Also the toxic environments I allowed myself to stay in, swelled my silly little mistakes to be bigger than they were. These moments can feel very big, but misunderstandings are part of language and communication. So is forgetting. So is accidentally crossing a boundary that’s new to you. Whatever it is, it’s part of learning those around us and learning ourselves. It’s all about what you’re doing to learn from it.

So since learning all this, I do my best to add to environments in positive ways. It took me a long time to unlearn self-punishing. I don’t want to add to anyone else’s overbearing inner disciplinarian. If they have one, great, they don’t need me to punish them.

We are all still worthy of love and acceptance with all our struggles and flaws.

Pain with Patience

It is easier to find men who will volunteer to die, than to find those who are willing to endure pain with patience.

Julius Caesar

Wow, that’s a bold statement.

There are some ways I’m pretty patient. It’s mostly with people. Other ways I have very little patience. Waiting for someone to stop feeding me excuse my language, bullsh*t is one thing that’s really hard for me. Then there’s writing a novel, wooo-weee the patience required here is tough. The uncertainty is killer. Some days I’m like heck yes I’m going to finish this book this year! I think it’s ok to have confident days. Makes it much easier to endure. Then there’s days where I’m questioning whether I’ll ever be finished with it. Does that make me prefer to focus on projects that I can actually finish? Yes, yes it does.

I think what the point is though, is that I’m still invested in my writing. The slow process still counts as writing. I don’t want to just write one book and fizzle away. I want to write many books and touch the sky.

Let’s keep going.

Mediums

Literature is one of the most interesting and significant expressions of humanity.

P. T. Barnum

I like art. I like most mediums (some gorey things not so much). So what I’m saying is, I can’t even come close to agreeing that literature is the most interesting or significant form of expression. There’s too many creative ways to express yourself to appreciate only one medium. So I share this quote as a reminder that first, we don’t have to agree with every quote out there and second, let whatever piques your interest be you guide for a time. And then give yourself room to find new things or stick with your favorite.

Joy for the Sake of Joy

Joy for the sake of joy is a simple but powerful way to live a happier and more fulfilling life.

Bard the AI

Have you tried flavored honey? There’s a place I went to with the family that has all sorts of honey flavors! I’m talking honey mustard or dark chocolate honey, to your traditional Clove honey. My daughter lit up and asked if we could go honey tasting and of course I said yes. If it brings her joy, why not? So I walked over with her and a friend and between the three of us we must have tasted almost every single flavor! So we leave buzzing and excited about our day. I’d like to remember this day. We were so busy tasting we forgot to take pictures. And that’s how you know we were fully immersed in the experience.

Thank you Daughter for adding so much sweetness to my life, I’ll forever be grateful for your existence.