- 6:15 Derrick's alarm clock wakes me up. He has an early job, I hear him getting ready while I dig deeper under the covers and enjoy being warm under the blankets. He's ready in under ten minutes. He kisses me goodbye, and I go back to sleep.
- 6:45 My alarm goes off. I lay there for ten minutes looking at Facebook and Pinterest, trying to give my eyes time to get unstuck and focused before getting up.
- 6:55 I finally get up. I take a quick bath, fix my hair, put on some make-up, and get dressed. Call out into the living room so I can put Kloe's hair into a ponytail.
- 7:30 Give Derrin a hug goodbye as he heads out the door for the bus.
- 7:43 Kloe and I hug goodbye. She heads to her bus, and I head to my car to head for work.
- 7:52 I stop at 'The Black Horse', my favorite coffee shop. My punch card is all filled up, so today my coffee is free! It's a beautiful day AND my coffee is free? Can it get any better than this? I submit it can NOT!
- 8:00 I get to work ON TIME (yippee!!), unlock doors and turn off alarm systems, get coffee going, and generally start my day.
- 8:30 Have a couple of nasty people come in and demand assistance from a program that simply does not exist. Am accused of withholding information. Have my name written down and then hear a sarcastic 'God Bless' as they walk out the door. It is too early for this interaction. Backspace and delete any emotion attached to it. Work day continues.
- 1:00 Leave work. Head to the store to get any remaining items needed for activities this weekend.
- 1:45 Go home eat lunch and get ready to go.
- 2:15 Frantically throw some clothes and toiletries into a bag for the weekend.
- 2:25 Go to store again for a few last items I forgot.
- 2:45 Pick up Derrin from school.
- 3:00 Pick up Kloe from school. Find out Derrick has to work later than planned.
- 5:15 Arrive at the Hamilton fair to hang out with out buddies :) Eat lots of fair food, see all the animals, go to the rodeo with Deana, hang out with Deana and the guys while the kids go on rides. Great night!!
- 11:15 Arrive home. Get ready for bed. Go to bed. Start thumbing through facebook and decide to post a couple of pics from the fair. Realize I posted pics to private so only I can see them. Get frustrated because I can't fix it from my phone, so I get up to use the computer to fix the post. Realize I didn't finish my blog post for the day. Am currently finishing the blog post so I can go to bed. Dreading the fact that I have to wake up at 5:45 tomorrow. Goodnight!
August 30, 2013
Challenge Day Four- Bullet My Whole Day
August 29, 2013
Challenge Day Three (part two)- Something with Which I Struggle
I did not feel like writing about struggling yesterday, but I actually do today. Every body struggles, so what's the big deal with writing about ones personal struggle, except for that whole icky vulnerable feeling that results from exposing oneself.
One of my favorite quotes is, "Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind." In my experience, this is true. Every.single.person. I know a lot of people who have big and sometimes heartbreaking struggles. I know one young lady who has rheumatoid arthritis at the age of 20. I have several friends who are guiding their kids through difficult challenges. Some of them are raising kids by themselves while working full-time jobs. I have friends who have battled cancer and won, yet still have to look over their shoulder for any recurrence. I have friends whose mothers have cancer, and they are working their way through that difficult journey. Watching them fight through their challenges is so inspiring to me, and makes me realize that mine aren't as big as they sometimes seem to me. My life in general is full of blessings that far outweigh what I am going to write about here. With that said, here I go.
My challenge is really... myself. Managing myself, that is. I've written about it in here before, but I struggle with keeping the chemicals in my brain balanced. Between hormonal shifts and seasonal changes, I tend to be up and down a lot.
I am pretty balanced for a couple weeks every month. Some months I stay balanced longer than other months. I feel good without even trying. I am more outgoing, and socializing comes naturally to me. I smile more and people reflect that back to me. I like to think that this is who I really am. BUT, the other part of the month always shows up, even as I pray the good times will never end. It comes with different intensities, but it always comes. If you look up PMDD, it will describe a lot of what I am going to talk about here. This isn't just a pms thing, it's something that takes over my life for weeks at a time, every month.
Although anxiety is the main issue I will talk about here, I also experience major loss of interest in pretty much all areas of life. Total lack of motivation and concentration. I've even experienced dizziness so bad that I have had to pull over while driving (that happened last February, a particularly brutal month). There are times I just feel.so.very.angry, and so on edge that something as small as the television being too loud will make me feel like losing it. I get crazy migraine head aches some months. I have other physical symptoms too, but they are nothing compared to where I go in my head during the bad weeks. The world smiles back at me during my good weeks, and then world also has a way of reflecting all of my swirling difficult emotions during the bad weeks.
I know that it probably is confusing to the people I am around the most- my friends at the hall, probably even work. Smiling doesn't come as naturally because of the brain fog that shows up (once again in different intensities). Socializing, especially with large groups, becomes almost painful. Being in enclosed places with large groups of people gets really hard. Going to the mall or the store loses any enticement. I try to go on weekday mornings, if possible, because there won't be as many people there. If I do have to go, my heart is usually racing. Eye contact makes it worse so I tend to stare straight ahead or at the floor (this last month when I had to do some last minute school shopping with Kloe, I intentionally didn't wear my glasses or contacts, and it really helped). Sometimes (like a slightly crazy person), I hum softly to myself because it helps me calm down. I intentionally take deep calming breaths, and that seems to help too. But mostly, I get in and out of the store as soon as possible.
Going to the hall for meetings can be hard too. While I very much want to be there, when it is over and every one is standing and there is the buzz of voices all around, I start to feel a bit panicky. I want Derrick and the kids to be able to talk to everyone so I don't want to rush them out, so there are quite a few times I will bolt to the car and wait for them. I know it makes me look very antisocial (probably because it IS antisocial).
For the last two weeks I was in that bad part of the month and could hardly make it five minutes in the hall after meeting. This week I am back on the good two weeks and last night I stayed for awhile after meeting and chatted with no anxiety (although I still couldn't stay long because I had some things I had to get done at home)- just like that. Once again, this all hits with varying intensities each month. Some months the anxiety is completely manageable, and it doesn't disrupt how I interact socially as much. It's very unpredictable.
Being like this is hard on my relationships. Not so much with my family and super close friends, because they understand I am doing the best I can and they choose to love me in spite of it. It's more with friends that maybe don't know me as well, because it's not something I just talk about all of the time (although apparently I do write about it!)
So, I am extremely cyclical throughout my weeks. Now add in the cycle of seasons. Winter almost sends me over the edge. I feel like I am hanging on to my sanity by my fingernails by the end of it.
I do everything I can to manage all of this. Some things I've tried have helped, some not so much.
I went to a doctor to balance my hormones for quite awhile. Even though I took tons of pills (bovine in nature, supposed to replace missing hormones), used progesterone creme, took a gaba supplement and 5htp to control the anxiety, I didn't feel the results justified the crazy cost. I'm disenchanted with the medical community as a whole when it comes to hormone issues with women. I've told every doctor I have been to about how this just takes over my life, and how unbearable it can be. They look at me, see a woman who is physically healthy as far as they can see, and then they treat it as just one of those things a woman has to live with. No big deal. Grr. I feel like besides message boards full of other women going through this, I mostly am going to have to keep trying to figure it out myself. I've toyed with the idea of taking birth control pills again (it helps some women), but am a little scared because I had such a violent reaction to them before.
There are some things that have helped though. I am extremely regular with exercise- even though I have fallen temporarily off of the running wagon, I am still a regular at the gym. I try to eat healthily. Not perfect, by any means, but reasonable. I try to stay in a positive frame of mind and surround myself with awesome people (and there are a lot of you), and even in my darker times I try to stay connected. I go to the meetings regularly, fighting that voice that is telling me to stay home. I keep going to work- very rarely do I call in sick or let myself off of the hook. I fight through the bad days, and do my best to ignore the anxiety. I take medication which actually has been helping quite a bit. I try very hard not to take it out on my family and friends, even if it means hiding out in my room when I'm feeling unreasonably agitated; a healthy family is completely essential to my frame of mind. One of the best things I ever did for myself was to marry a very supportive man. His kindness and understanding during the bad times take a huge amount of the stress off of my shoulders. I've also tried hard to develop a separate voice of reason that is as detached from my emotions as possible. It doesn't make the feelings go away, but it helps me to manage my reactions to life a little better, and to have some discernment as to what would normally bother me versus my current feelings toward a situation. I'm not always 100% successful with that one, but I seem to be getting better at it as time goes on.
The most frustrating part of this, is that I've been like this as long as I can remember. I know how to manage myself better than I used to, but I haven't been able to make it go away. And the really sucky part as a woman, is it probably isn't EVER going to go away. As time goes on, it will just morph into some other, equally difficult thing to manage.
So, there you have it. This isn't something I like to talk or write about all of the time, because I don't want it to have any bigger claim on my mind and life than it already has. It is my biggest goal to be a positive person. I want to be a positive presence in my kids lives, Derrick's life, my sister and dad's lives, and my friends lives. Even though this is something I will always be dealing with, it is not who I am, and it is my goal is to still act like who I really am regardless of what is going on inside.
One of my favorite quotes is, "Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind." In my experience, this is true. Every.single.person. I know a lot of people who have big and sometimes heartbreaking struggles. I know one young lady who has rheumatoid arthritis at the age of 20. I have several friends who are guiding their kids through difficult challenges. Some of them are raising kids by themselves while working full-time jobs. I have friends who have battled cancer and won, yet still have to look over their shoulder for any recurrence. I have friends whose mothers have cancer, and they are working their way through that difficult journey. Watching them fight through their challenges is so inspiring to me, and makes me realize that mine aren't as big as they sometimes seem to me. My life in general is full of blessings that far outweigh what I am going to write about here. With that said, here I go.
My challenge is really... myself. Managing myself, that is. I've written about it in here before, but I struggle with keeping the chemicals in my brain balanced. Between hormonal shifts and seasonal changes, I tend to be up and down a lot.
I am pretty balanced for a couple weeks every month. Some months I stay balanced longer than other months. I feel good without even trying. I am more outgoing, and socializing comes naturally to me. I smile more and people reflect that back to me. I like to think that this is who I really am. BUT, the other part of the month always shows up, even as I pray the good times will never end. It comes with different intensities, but it always comes. If you look up PMDD, it will describe a lot of what I am going to talk about here. This isn't just a pms thing, it's something that takes over my life for weeks at a time, every month.
Although anxiety is the main issue I will talk about here, I also experience major loss of interest in pretty much all areas of life. Total lack of motivation and concentration. I've even experienced dizziness so bad that I have had to pull over while driving (that happened last February, a particularly brutal month). There are times I just feel.so.very.angry, and so on edge that something as small as the television being too loud will make me feel like losing it. I get crazy migraine head aches some months. I have other physical symptoms too, but they are nothing compared to where I go in my head during the bad weeks. The world smiles back at me during my good weeks, and then world also has a way of reflecting all of my swirling difficult emotions during the bad weeks.
I know that it probably is confusing to the people I am around the most- my friends at the hall, probably even work. Smiling doesn't come as naturally because of the brain fog that shows up (once again in different intensities). Socializing, especially with large groups, becomes almost painful. Being in enclosed places with large groups of people gets really hard. Going to the mall or the store loses any enticement. I try to go on weekday mornings, if possible, because there won't be as many people there. If I do have to go, my heart is usually racing. Eye contact makes it worse so I tend to stare straight ahead or at the floor (this last month when I had to do some last minute school shopping with Kloe, I intentionally didn't wear my glasses or contacts, and it really helped). Sometimes (like a slightly crazy person), I hum softly to myself because it helps me calm down. I intentionally take deep calming breaths, and that seems to help too. But mostly, I get in and out of the store as soon as possible.
Going to the hall for meetings can be hard too. While I very much want to be there, when it is over and every one is standing and there is the buzz of voices all around, I start to feel a bit panicky. I want Derrick and the kids to be able to talk to everyone so I don't want to rush them out, so there are quite a few times I will bolt to the car and wait for them. I know it makes me look very antisocial (probably because it IS antisocial).
For the last two weeks I was in that bad part of the month and could hardly make it five minutes in the hall after meeting. This week I am back on the good two weeks and last night I stayed for awhile after meeting and chatted with no anxiety (although I still couldn't stay long because I had some things I had to get done at home)- just like that. Once again, this all hits with varying intensities each month. Some months the anxiety is completely manageable, and it doesn't disrupt how I interact socially as much. It's very unpredictable.
Being like this is hard on my relationships. Not so much with my family and super close friends, because they understand I am doing the best I can and they choose to love me in spite of it. It's more with friends that maybe don't know me as well, because it's not something I just talk about all of the time (although apparently I do write about it!)
So, I am extremely cyclical throughout my weeks. Now add in the cycle of seasons. Winter almost sends me over the edge. I feel like I am hanging on to my sanity by my fingernails by the end of it.
I do everything I can to manage all of this. Some things I've tried have helped, some not so much.
I went to a doctor to balance my hormones for quite awhile. Even though I took tons of pills (bovine in nature, supposed to replace missing hormones), used progesterone creme, took a gaba supplement and 5htp to control the anxiety, I didn't feel the results justified the crazy cost. I'm disenchanted with the medical community as a whole when it comes to hormone issues with women. I've told every doctor I have been to about how this just takes over my life, and how unbearable it can be. They look at me, see a woman who is physically healthy as far as they can see, and then they treat it as just one of those things a woman has to live with. No big deal. Grr. I feel like besides message boards full of other women going through this, I mostly am going to have to keep trying to figure it out myself. I've toyed with the idea of taking birth control pills again (it helps some women), but am a little scared because I had such a violent reaction to them before.
There are some things that have helped though. I am extremely regular with exercise- even though I have fallen temporarily off of the running wagon, I am still a regular at the gym. I try to eat healthily. Not perfect, by any means, but reasonable. I try to stay in a positive frame of mind and surround myself with awesome people (and there are a lot of you), and even in my darker times I try to stay connected. I go to the meetings regularly, fighting that voice that is telling me to stay home. I keep going to work- very rarely do I call in sick or let myself off of the hook. I fight through the bad days, and do my best to ignore the anxiety. I take medication which actually has been helping quite a bit. I try very hard not to take it out on my family and friends, even if it means hiding out in my room when I'm feeling unreasonably agitated; a healthy family is completely essential to my frame of mind. One of the best things I ever did for myself was to marry a very supportive man. His kindness and understanding during the bad times take a huge amount of the stress off of my shoulders. I've also tried hard to develop a separate voice of reason that is as detached from my emotions as possible. It doesn't make the feelings go away, but it helps me to manage my reactions to life a little better, and to have some discernment as to what would normally bother me versus my current feelings toward a situation. I'm not always 100% successful with that one, but I seem to be getting better at it as time goes on.
The most frustrating part of this, is that I've been like this as long as I can remember. I know how to manage myself better than I used to, but I haven't been able to make it go away. And the really sucky part as a woman, is it probably isn't EVER going to go away. As time goes on, it will just morph into some other, equally difficult thing to manage.
So, there you have it. This isn't something I like to talk or write about all of the time, because I don't want it to have any bigger claim on my mind and life than it already has. It is my biggest goal to be a positive person. I want to be a positive presence in my kids lives, Derrick's life, my sister and dad's lives, and my friends lives. Even though this is something I will always be dealing with, it is not who I am, and it is my goal is to still act like who I really am regardless of what is going on inside.
Challenge Day 3- A Book I Love
I keep vacillating about whether to do "Something with which I struggle", or "A book I love". The third choice "My favorite store" didn't appeal at all, as I don't really have a favorite store (a collaboration of 2nd hand and vintage shops came to mind, but not one in particular). And I have plenty of struggles, but yesterdays post felt exposing enough. Talking about my struggles promised to be another uncomfortable topic. Talking about a book I love seems like it will be a nice, 'non-exposing my guts' kind of topic.
My favorite 'reading for the pure joy of reading book' has to be Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (actually the entire 7 book series). It is basically the best love story I have ever read. Ever. And I read a lot of romance novels when I was younger.
This book is full of time travel, history, disaster, hatred, injury, healing, betrayal, mystery, happiness, laughter, adventure, drama, fantasy and romance. I have literally wore out two copies each of the first three books of the series, and am on my third set. Every time I read the books I feel like I am reconnecting with old friends and I am being transported to Scotland.
The two main characters of the book are Claire Beauchamp and Jamie Fraser and the book is written from Claire's point of veiw.
It starts in Scotland in the year of 1945. Claire Randall unwittingly touches the Craig na Dun Stones while on a walk, and gets transported back to the year 1743. She finds herself alone in a forest, and the first person she runs into is 'Black Jack Randall', who she finds very confusing as she doesn't realize she has traveled back in time yet. It gets even more confusing when he attacks her and accuses her of being a spy.
She is then rescued by a ragtag lot of highlanders. They are all big intimidating men, and one of them is very hurt. As she was a military nurse in 1945, she quickly takes control over the injured man's recovery. He turns out to be James Fraser (James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser to be more precise), the red-headed nephew of the laird of the Clan McKenzie (his backstory is actually very complex, so we'll skip that part).
Even though they suspect she is an english spy, they wisk Claire off to Castle Leoch where the McKenzie clan lives. There, she continues to care for Jamie's recovery, and gets inculcated into the household as a healer. Jamie keeps showing up around her, and saves her more than once from getting in trouble (usually while trying to escape back to the stones so she can return to her own time). She finds herself drawn to him as well.
Captian Randal continues to pursue Claire, accusing her of being a spy. In a move meant to protect her from the English by marrying her to a Scot, she is forced to marry Jamie. She desperately searches for a way to return to the Craigh na Dun, believing that if she returns to the standing stones she can also return to her own time. Her attempt is foiled, but eventually she tells Jamie everything. Believing her, he takes her to the stones. She tries to make herself touch the stones, but realizes she can not leave Jamie willingly because she is completely in love with him.
The women I know who have read the book all agree that Jamie was indeed written by a woman, because he knows exactly what to say to light up the pleasure center of the female brain. Holy moly, Diana Gabaldon should be teaching a course for men on "How to drive your woman wild with mere words (and also make her feel cherished)". Just sayin'. *swoon*
There is lots more to the story. I left out some pretty key story plotlines because it would have taken quite a bit longer to explain the book (and frankly there were some things I just didn't want to explain...). I would be remiss if I didn't mention that there is some pretty racy and hard to read content in there too, so it isn't a total crowd pleaser. In reviews, I would say for every four people who absolutely loved it, one person completely hated it. But as for me, I loved it.
My favorite 'reading for the pure joy of reading book' has to be Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (actually the entire 7 book series). It is basically the best love story I have ever read. Ever. And I read a lot of romance novels when I was younger.
This book is full of time travel, history, disaster, hatred, injury, healing, betrayal, mystery, happiness, laughter, adventure, drama, fantasy and romance. I have literally wore out two copies each of the first three books of the series, and am on my third set. Every time I read the books I feel like I am reconnecting with old friends and I am being transported to Scotland.
The two main characters of the book are Claire Beauchamp and Jamie Fraser and the book is written from Claire's point of veiw.
It starts in Scotland in the year of 1945. Claire Randall unwittingly touches the Craig na Dun Stones while on a walk, and gets transported back to the year 1743. She finds herself alone in a forest, and the first person she runs into is 'Black Jack Randall', who she finds very confusing as she doesn't realize she has traveled back in time yet. It gets even more confusing when he attacks her and accuses her of being a spy.
She is then rescued by a ragtag lot of highlanders. They are all big intimidating men, and one of them is very hurt. As she was a military nurse in 1945, she quickly takes control over the injured man's recovery. He turns out to be James Fraser (James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser to be more precise), the red-headed nephew of the laird of the Clan McKenzie (his backstory is actually very complex, so we'll skip that part).
Even though they suspect she is an english spy, they wisk Claire off to Castle Leoch where the McKenzie clan lives. There, she continues to care for Jamie's recovery, and gets inculcated into the household as a healer. Jamie keeps showing up around her, and saves her more than once from getting in trouble (usually while trying to escape back to the stones so she can return to her own time). She finds herself drawn to him as well.
Captian Randal continues to pursue Claire, accusing her of being a spy. In a move meant to protect her from the English by marrying her to a Scot, she is forced to marry Jamie. She desperately searches for a way to return to the Craigh na Dun, believing that if she returns to the standing stones she can also return to her own time. Her attempt is foiled, but eventually she tells Jamie everything. Believing her, he takes her to the stones. She tries to make herself touch the stones, but realizes she can not leave Jamie willingly because she is completely in love with him.
The women I know who have read the book all agree that Jamie was indeed written by a woman, because he knows exactly what to say to light up the pleasure center of the female brain. Holy moly, Diana Gabaldon should be teaching a course for men on "How to drive your woman wild with mere words (and also make her feel cherished)". Just sayin'. *swoon*
There is lots more to the story. I left out some pretty key story plotlines because it would have taken quite a bit longer to explain the book (and frankly there were some things I just didn't want to explain...). I would be remiss if I didn't mention that there is some pretty racy and hard to read content in there too, so it isn't a total crowd pleaser. In reviews, I would say for every four people who absolutely loved it, one person completely hated it. But as for me, I loved it.
August 28, 2013
Challenge Day 2- Something I Regret Not Having Done Last Year
This was a hard topic for me. I'm sure I had lots of little regrets throughout the days, but for the most part this has been a pretty good year on "The Regret Scale" (well, compared to other years). Plus, it's not always fun to talk about regrets. Most regrets have an element of embarrassment or even shame attached to them. So, maybe I was suppressing memories of regret.
But then, one day in particular did jump into my head with that internal twinge of *Ugh*.
It was last May, right after we came home from Mexico. I had been really sick from about day three on while there. After still being sick in bed for two days after getting home, I finally went to the doctor and found out I had bronchitis. Relieved I was finally going to get some antibiotics and feel better, I drove to the pharmacy at the Walmart closest to our house.
The doctor had also written up a prescription for some heavy duty cough medicine, which I was only going to buy if it didn't cost a fortune (I love Nyquil, and it is cheap). When I went to the pharmacy to leave my prescription, I asked the girl there to please check the price of the cough medicine, and also to see if there were any generic versions.
She was a pretty, youngish woman, and it looked as if she hadn't been working there long. She was really friendly though, and started looking right away. I don't know if the computer was giving her a hard time, or if she was struggling with the system, but it was taking a little longer than usual for that sort of thing. I was feeling very appreciative that she was willing to look so hard for me, when clearly she was very busy.
I was just about to tell her to forget it when a pharmacist (Head pharmacist? Manager/pharmacist?) came up behind her with a sour/smug look on his face. He proceeded to tell her how slow she was, and that she was holding up the whole operation. As a customer, I was completely horrified and shocked that not only he would talk to her like that, but that he would do it in front of me. It was rude and unprofessional in my opinion. She sort of shrunk into herself, and only looked up at me one more time to tell me the price, and to tell me to come back in about ten minutes to pick up the prescriptions. I smiled at her, and tried to convey to her that I was upset about what had happened. Then I left. Upset.
So, my regret is that I let a bully get away with mistreating someone. I have always preached to my kids to stick up for other kids if they see them getting picked on, yet somehow this one slid right past me. My only excuse, is that I really was very sick and not quite myself that day. I'd like to think that if it were to happen again in front of me, I'd say something.
The only good thing I can take away from that day, is that I'm aware I need to be better prepared to speak up immediately if I ever witness anything like that again. Even if it were to do no good, and even if others didn't agree with my take on the situation, at least I would feel better about the role I have to play in the situation.
And there you go; Challenge Day 2 is complete!
But then, one day in particular did jump into my head with that internal twinge of *Ugh*.
It was last May, right after we came home from Mexico. I had been really sick from about day three on while there. After still being sick in bed for two days after getting home, I finally went to the doctor and found out I had bronchitis. Relieved I was finally going to get some antibiotics and feel better, I drove to the pharmacy at the Walmart closest to our house.
The doctor had also written up a prescription for some heavy duty cough medicine, which I was only going to buy if it didn't cost a fortune (I love Nyquil, and it is cheap). When I went to the pharmacy to leave my prescription, I asked the girl there to please check the price of the cough medicine, and also to see if there were any generic versions.
She was a pretty, youngish woman, and it looked as if she hadn't been working there long. She was really friendly though, and started looking right away. I don't know if the computer was giving her a hard time, or if she was struggling with the system, but it was taking a little longer than usual for that sort of thing. I was feeling very appreciative that she was willing to look so hard for me, when clearly she was very busy.
I was just about to tell her to forget it when a pharmacist (Head pharmacist? Manager/pharmacist?) came up behind her with a sour/smug look on his face. He proceeded to tell her how slow she was, and that she was holding up the whole operation. As a customer, I was completely horrified and shocked that not only he would talk to her like that, but that he would do it in front of me. It was rude and unprofessional in my opinion. She sort of shrunk into herself, and only looked up at me one more time to tell me the price, and to tell me to come back in about ten minutes to pick up the prescriptions. I smiled at her, and tried to convey to her that I was upset about what had happened. Then I left. Upset.
So, my regret is that I let a bully get away with mistreating someone. I have always preached to my kids to stick up for other kids if they see them getting picked on, yet somehow this one slid right past me. My only excuse, is that I really was very sick and not quite myself that day. I'd like to think that if it were to happen again in front of me, I'd say something.
The only good thing I can take away from that day, is that I'm aware I need to be better prepared to speak up immediately if I ever witness anything like that again. Even if it were to do no good, and even if others didn't agree with my take on the situation, at least I would feel better about the role I have to play in the situation.
And there you go; Challenge Day 2 is complete!
August 27, 2013
Challenge Day 1- Five Ways to Win My Heart
1. Be a good communicator. I love the give and take of talking. I can be pretty quiet at times, which is fine because I love to listen. With that being said, I really appreciate it when someone listens to what I have to say. Eye contact is great. Actively thinking about what I said before responding is pretty great too. Actual two-way communicating: Yep, that wins my heart.
2. Be someone who demonstrates kindness to children, animals, and old people.
3. Allow me to be who I really am, with absolutely no judgement or comparisons.
4. With that being said, I also love people who encourage others by always holding up the image of their potential. It is a powerful thing when someone believes in you, especially when you are struggling to believe in yourself.
5. Love my kids.
2. Be someone who demonstrates kindness to children, animals, and old people.
3. Allow me to be who I really am, with absolutely no judgement or comparisons.
4. With that being said, I also love people who encourage others by always holding up the image of their potential. It is a powerful thing when someone believes in you, especially when you are struggling to believe in yourself.
5. Love my kids.
30 Day Writing Challenge
Inspired by a friend who is going to be doing her own 30 writing challenge in September, I thought I would do my own writing challenge. Consistency is not one of my strongest suits, but I've heard if you do anything consistently for a couple of weeks, it will become a habit. Since writing in here used to be one of my habits, and I really loved it, I think it is time to try again. Because no one list I found completely appealed to me, I added several to my Page list... but I will try to at least go by whatever day I am on, off of whatever list I choose (that gives me three choices a day). Also, for any days I am out and about with no internet, I will attempt to do a handwritten journal for that day, and just take a picture of it and post. So, here we go.
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