Nov
2012

Announcement: Big goal! Can you help?

categories: goal, non-profit, writing

Today’s writing prompt for #bloglikecrazy is “Why I blog.” I have been on GREEN for so long that often times I just ‘do’ and don’t think about ‘why.’ Lately though the BF, books, and my lovely Janes have caused me to stop more than once and ask myself ‘Why do I feel that way?’ ‘Why am I doing this?’ ‘Why does that make me happy or sad?’ The last one has weighed on my mind a lot lately, but in a good way. I feel as though I may be the happiest I’ve ever been in my life. You know how you hate to say something officially out loud for fear that it’s all in your head and it will go to pot justlikethat? But, I am slowly evolving my mindset into that we make our choices and our behaviors. We choose to react certain ways to certain people or situations and BF has been helping me see how I can positively change my reactions to situations with time and effort. To be completely honest, I fly off the handle and overreact A LOT. And actually, that might be an understatement. I tend to get heated and let very little things bother me in a very big way. I don’t know the root cause of that behavior (yet), but I am learning to recognize it and, when I think about it ahead of time, choose to react differently. I may talk to him about it or just simply let it go if it’s not even worth the breath. I am starting to “choose my battles”, as it were, but more importantly, I’m choosing what is worth hashing out and what just doesn’t matter in our life together. And – surprisingly – a lot of the stuff I let get to me simply doesn’t matter. That’s not to say that I don’t discuss or stand up for what I believe in, but so does he. We’re equally stubborn in our convictions, but that’s what I love about us. He has helped me realize my behaviors, think about them ahead of time (when I remember), and choose to live a happier life. It helps that he is the exact opposite of me in that he’s very easy-going and doesn’t sweat the small stuff while I am tightly wound and sweat everything. Still it works for us and that, in turn, has helped me learn and grow a lot in the last year. I don’t know if he’ll ever know how grateful I am to him for his patience, understanding, and gentle guidance when I get “girl crazy.” We both have our faults and we are doing a great job in learning the other’s, working with and accepting them, and helping each other where we can.

All that to say this, I blog because sometimes (most of the time), I write better than I speak. I hate confrontation and I also hate getting too sappy in person. I prefer to put it on digital paper. I express myself clearer and more eloquently in writing than I ever have face to face. I enjoy getting things off my chest on this blog, as well as share the latest and greatest in my world with you all. I’m still struggling a bit, internally, with what I want to do next goal-wise. I have ideas, I just need to cull them a bit and get them down. You saw my 4 short term goals for the rest of this year in yesterday’s post. In keeping with that, I worked out yesterday at Iron Tribe, am planning on going today after work, and will do a WOD (Workout of the Day) at home this weekend. I’m also going to count my volunteer shift working as the guest bartender at the Kitschmas opening tomorrow night at Naked Art as 1 of my 2 volunteer goals as I am donating all my tips to the Crisis Center of Birmingham and will likely be volunteering with them in the near future. Please come by Naked Art tomorrow night between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. to say Hi, introduce yourself, let me pour you a free drink, get a FREE HUG with your drink, and start your holiday shopping at one of THE best stores to buy beautiful, unique, LOCAL art! Also, I started on my book yesterday so am doing well there. And I’m working on my next piece for Magic City Post which will, hopefully, be a story on the German Christmas Market coming up. I’ll be sure to let you know when I get it done and it’s published. As far as goals for the new year, I’m still working on those as well. But one that I KNOW in my heart that I want to accomplish is to set up a non-profit here in Alabama. I want the sponsors, prizes, and other vendors of Birmingham Dance Walk to be giving toward something besides just the wonderful people of Birmingham. I want them to be able to write their generous donations off and I also want to raise money with this non-profit to donate to other charities in our area that need help. I haven’t started the research on this, but I have a good idea of what I want and am going to start looking in to the paperwork soon. I want to give back and I think this would be a great way to start. If you have any ideas or advice on how to get this puppy started, I am all ears and would appreciate the help! You can reach me at sherri at yougotrossed dot com. I think it takes quite a bit of $$ to file non-profit paperwork here, so I’m still mulling that over too. I may start a KickStarter or Indiegogo to raise funds if needed. There are so many places in Birmingham that could use additional help…would you consider helping me help them? I would love your thoughts!

As always,

Love yourself.
Find peace inside.
Share happiness.


Nov
2012

I’m baaaaaa-aaaaaaaack

categories: goals

I know you were just waiting around for this moment, right? You’ve been up at night, not eating, not even able to work, wondering when I would make my return to blogging, right? I missed you too!

While I am not happy about missing a few days of #bloglikecrazy, I am very happy that I was away on a mini vacation with my wonderful boyfriend and some of my friends from Northern Virginia. My former boss (and one of my best friends and mentors) goes to Texas once a year with her family to visit a mutual friend of ours and catch a UT football game (former boss’ hubby is a huge Texas fan). They’ve done this the past few years and while I’ve always wanted to join them, something has always come up that prevented me from going. Not this year! Earlier in the year I made a firm decision that I was going (God willing). I was able to keep that promise to myself and met up with the boss lady and her family in Austin for a few days. I was able to see them for the second time this year and they were able to finally meet my beau. It was a glorious time full of Elmo, football, marching band, authentic food, boots, art, friends, and love. Elmo was a surprise that Daniel snuck into his luggage before we left. Imagine my surprise when I went to get in bed the first night at the hotel and found a bright red puppet in there! We decided to take him everywhere we went and tweet pictures of him along the way. You can find the pics on Twitter by searching for #elmovisitsaustin. He had a big time!

I’ve missed quite a few blogging days, but will be glad to extend my month for those days. I have enjoyed reading all the other ladies blog like crazy this month. I’ve learned more about my friends and what they’re passionate about in these past few weeks than I ever knew before. And I am happy (though not surprised) to find out we have so much in common – on and offline.

Today’s writing prompt was to set 4 simple goals for yourself for the rest of the year. Boyfriend and I have already started on this for ourselves and as a couple for the new year. But the #bloglikecrazy goals were geared more toward the remainder of this year, which I love. So, here are mine:

  1. Work out AT LEAST 3 times per week (preferably more) and drop 1 pants size
  2. Read The New Psycho-Cybernetics
  3. Write 2 more articles for Magic City Post
  4. Volunteer at least twice before the year ends (preferably more)

Those are my goals for the rest of the year. Do you have goals for the rest of the year? What are they? Post them in the Comments section and let’s share our successes at the end of the year!

Love yourself.
Find peace inside.
Share happiness.


Nov
2012

I’m late! I’m late!

categories: friends, Uncategorized

In retrospect (all of 5 seconds ago), I probably should have chosen a different title for this blog post. I realize some of you are going to immediately click on it to find out if I’m pregnant. I’m not (but thank you for caring enough to check right away). This title is referring to the White Rabbit in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

From Wikipedia:

The Rabbit was perhaps most famous for the little ditty he sang at the beginning – “I’m late! I’m late!
For a very important date! No time to say hello, goodbye! I’m late! I’m late! I’m late!”

Some believe the rabbit was late for the announcement of the Queen to the royal garden. The panic the
rabbit showed was his fear of losing his head. Upon her arrival (where Alice has been helping to paint
the roses red) the cards finish their song and the rabbit blows his trumpet (which he had been carrying
for most of his lines) royally introducing the king and queen.

Do you ever have those days (or weeks or months) where you feel constantly hurried and harried? Do you ever feel like you’re going to lose your head? This year and gotten increasingly busy and everything is moving at warp speed. Gone are the days when I would take the weekends to relax and rejuvenate. They are now as jam-packed as my work-filled week and I don’t even have 2-legged kids! I have enormous respect for those of you who manage to run a household, work a job, and raise a family, among all your other responsibilities.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. I lead a very fulfilling life – my work is challenging and I work with some of the most talented (and friendly) people on the planet, my boyfriend is amazing and shows me everyday that he cares, is ambitious and inspires me to be a better person, and God, my family and friends are the center of my world. I often comment on Facebook how lucky I am to have the most amazing friends and it’s true. I’ve evolved from a pair of extremely close girlfriends all through school to a wider circle of close confidantes and an enormous stretch of beautifully talented friends and family. Many have been with me for years and have seen me through marriage, divorce, beginnings, endings, moves across the city, state, and even the country, animals, a million hair colors, styles, and transformations inside and out. Even when time or distance us separates us – sometimes for years – I know I will always have my gals. I can never repay them for the love and support they’ve always shown me through the years, but I hope they know how special they are to me. That being said, I don’t see them nearly enough anymore. Life has gotten in the way and I’m not sure how. I love to be with my gals and nurture those relationship, yet somehow I only see them a few times a year, if that. What is so important that I can’t take a night or weekend here and there to make time for all these women who have become such an integral part of my life and helped me becoming the woman I am today? Nothing, that’s what. Same goes for my dad – I don’t see him as much as I would like. Nothing is more important than these people, these relationships, these memories we are making. I tend to forget and take each day for granted. There are still a million things I want to do with my life and I’m working on some of those “goals” already. But one short and long-term goal should be making more time for the very important people in my life who have influenced and supported me for years. You know who you are….I’m coming for you.

Love yourself.
Find peace inside.
Share happiness.

P.S. I also have a few pretty amazing guy friends, but I’m going to save them for another post. 😉

P.S.S. I know it’s election day, but I could get mired down in that for hours and you still need to finish work and get dinner taken care of. 🙂 I got out and voted today. I hope you did too. It is such an honor and privilege that we have the freedom to choose our next leader. Thank you to all those who have served, are serving, and will serve so that we can exercise that freedom. I salute you.


Nov
2012

Goal Setting

categories: Uncategorized

I am not one to set goals. I’m not sure why, just never been inclined to do so. That’s not to say I’m lazy, I most definitely am not. But, as BF commented to me yesterday, “You’re one of those people who doesn’t really set long-term goals. You decide that you want something or you want to do something and you make it happen. Justlikethat.” He’s right. Birmingham Dance Walk is a great example. I saw the video, got excited, wanted to do it, put the word out, and had a great time at the first one in June. The second one was more planned out, organized, fun (dancing in the dark with glow sticks FTW), and well executed because of longer and better planning. All that to say that maybe it’s time I started setting actual goals for myself.

I wonder why I’ve never really set them before. Am I scared of failing? Am I scared of commitment? Scared seems to be the common denominator there so it must be fear. That goes back to my fear of everything under the sun, but I can conquer that fear like I conquered the fear of sticking my finger in my eye to put in contacts. (Let me tell you that story sometime, it’s hilarious!) BF has been reading some very interesting, helpful books and he’s been sharing bits and pieces of them with me as he goes. The little nuggets of wisdom and self-realization are really powerful. So much so that I’m going to check out a book or two and also set some goals for myself. He’s tasked us – starting today – with taking 5 minutes each morning from now until the last week of December to come up with 2 goals for ourselves individually (personally, professionally, however we want) and 2 goals for us as a couple.  Once we come up with our goals, we have to also write out detailed plans on how to achieve the goals. We’re then going to meet the last week of December to discuss with each other and will pick 2 of the 4 couple goals to accomplish in the next year, as well as get feedback on our personal goals and plans of action. I love this idea and already have a few possibilities in mind for myself and for us as a twofer. I’ll be sure to keep you updated and reveal the goals and plans at the beginning of the year when we have decided on and finalized them.

This time of year is always full with goal setting, but this is really my first time doing it. I’m not going to call them “resolutions” because that indicates that I’m resolving a problem. I choose to think of it as enhancements to my already wonderful life. Do you have goals already set for the next year? If not, why don’t you join me in coming up with 2 definitive goals that you can start working toward in the new year? And be sure to plan your execution out in detail. Let’s share together toward the end of the year and see how we do.

Love yourself.
Find peace inside.
Share happiness.


Nov
2012

Never Alone

categories: depression

I often don’t know how to start a blog post or what I am going to write about. Such was the case today. I have a writing prompt – I just wasn’t feeling it today. I’ll definitely use it another day and love the idea, but today isn’t the day. I use this blog to get things off my chest a lot…to wax poetic (or not so poetic) about the world around me. I still haven’t figured out what direction I want to take with my blog and that writing prompt is coming up next week…this should be interesting. Do I have to pick a direction? Can’t it just be all over the place, much like I am? It is a reflection of me, after all. And I am, if nothing else, all over the place. 🙂

I started up the computer unsure of what I was going to write about. I’m currently cleaning the house, going through summer clothes to donate, decluttering the house to sell everything I have at a garage sale, and getting ready for our upcoming trip to Texas…and listening to music. I am always listening to music. I have it on at work, in the car, in my room every morning and when I’m cleaning (such as now), in the living room whenever I’m cooking or reading, and usually have in ear buds when I’m in transit. Just as I was launching my browser to start this post a song came on that I had never heard before: “Never Alone” by Jesse Bonanno (you know I immediately want to call him Jesse Banana because I’m 12 inside). It was a beautiful song, but what struck me more were the lyrics. They are below for your perusal:

Never Alone by Jesse Bonanno

When your hope has been broken
And the fear is unspoken but true
You’re never alone
Like a dream in a child
Or a childish dream in you

I’ll do anything that I can do
To show you my love and comfort you

When you can’t seem to find your way home
And when life gets too hard
To face on your own
I will stand as a light through your darkest unknown
I will walk with you
So you’re never alone

You’re never alone
Like a tear in the ocean
Or a star on a clear winter night
You’re never alone
When the courage you needed
Has been all but defeated in you

I’ll do anything that I can do
To show you my love and comfort you

When you can’t seem to find your way home
And when life gets too hard
To face on your own
I will stand as a light through your darkest unknown
I will walk with you
So you’re never alone
Never alone
Never alone
Never alone

When you can’t seem to find your way home
And when life gets too hard
To face on your own
I will stand as a light through your darkest unknown
I will walk with you
I will walk with you
I will walk with you
So you’re never alone

Some may feel that the song is about God while others may feel it’s about their significant others, family, or friends. And there are others that may interpret it in a completely different way. Think about it and find the way that best speaks to you and that you’re most comfortable with, and if you’re so inclined post it in the Comments below. No matter how you decide to take it, it is the truth – you are NEVER alone. I have suffered from depression before and have felt completely alone. It took a long time and many wonderful friends to convince me that no matter what I was going through, I could call them at any hour of any day. I have always had friends – I still felt very alone at 3 a.m. bawling my eyes out because my marriage failed or because I thought I would never find a partner like him again. I still have my moments, but it’s a lot easier with today’s technology to get online and discreetly let your friends know that you’re going through a rough time and juju would be appreciated. Chances are, someone is online. It never fails – they always come through. And I didn’t have to wake them up at 3 a.m. to talk. I know I can if I need to, but sometimes I just need to put it out there and need love. I used to be too proud to ask for it when I needed it, but not anymore. Don’t ever hesitate to let someone know if you’re having a hard time and need love or understanding. And you are never alone…I’m only a click away. 🙂

Love yourself.
Find peace inside.
Share happiness.