Take The Time To Fill Your Own Coffee Cup

Take The Time To Fill Your Own Coffee Cup

coffee-1335478_1920

This past weekend, I wrote about facing my inner demons.  I fight with myself sometimes.  Nobody throws punches, and nobody gets hurt.  Except maybe my own ego.

I can get stuck in a pattern of doing nothing while having the best intentions of getting through a whole list of things that need to be done.  There are days when I literally talk myself out of getting anything done.  It is a nasty little place to be in, and it happens when things are bothering me, or in the winter.  I am less likely to have the energy to do more than the basics in the winter time, and that is sometimes left too long.  In this endless loop of getting nothing done, I can become overwhelmed by how much there IS to do, and that doesn’t help me at all.

Spring is here.  I feel the change in the weather, and in my spirit.  The blog has started me off in the right direction.  I am wanting to get things done, and I FEEL DIFFERENT about life right now.  I am trying new things, making small changes, and thinking about what I need to do to make the leap from blogging to writing a book.

A year ago I was recovering from an infection in my knee.  It was not a pleasant experience, I would never recommend a knee infection as something for anyone to do.  I was away from work for 3 months, and sat around that whole time, as I was told to not be moving around very much.  I had nurses visiting me in my home for IV antibiotics once a day for two or three weeks.  I was taught how to bandage the wound when the IV was over, and they stopped the home checks.  I longed for the day that I could have a shower without medical tape and shopping bags protecting the bandages from getting wet.  I was on some strong painkillers, for the first time ever, and I was scared that I might become addicted.  I did not.

Spring cleaning didn’t really happen last year.  So I am on a mission to get it done properly this year.  I am writing about it, and puttering at it, and making a little more progress in that kitchen every time I get in there. I have made a few inexpensive purchases to help me to get this project accomplished.  I see the progress, but I am not ready to share it yet.

I needed to stop and just take a breath last weekend.  That’s what the title means.  When you worry about everyone or everything else and don’t take time for yourself, you can empty your coffee pot before you get yourself a refill.  That is a mistake that can build into a disaster if it is not made a priority.

It’s not Ok to neglect your own needs in order to make sure that everyone else’s needs are taken care of first.  Sometimes, it is necessary to take care of others first.  However, if you don’t stop and take time for you, the coffee at the bottom of the pot is going to have a burnt taste, and it will not be a pleasant thing to drink.

Whatever it is in your life that allows you to feel refreshed and recharged is something that you need to always make time for.  If it is the 5 am cup of coffee before anyone else in your home is awake, get up and pour yourself a hot cup of coffee.  If it is taking a bath at the end of a long and tiring day, make time to fill the bathtub.  Read a book for a chapter a day, at the time you can schedule it in.  If you have dogs, they can help you take the time to yourself to think when you have to walk them anyway.

Or, at other times you need to be around other people.  Friends and family are important too.  Find people that are fun to be around, and bring you up, not down.  I am not saying that you should ignore all of your other friends, but when you need to feel good, surround yourself with people, things and activities that help you do just that.

When I think about where I was a year ago, I had no idea I was going to make a leap into becoming a blogger.  I was waiting to be told that I could start going back to Zumba classes.  I was learning about the Trim Healthy Mama Plan, and trying new recipes.  I was already going through the motions of being back to work at my day job.  And I was miserable.

Now I have a blossoming new outlook for spring this year.  I will be working on my New Year’s Resolutions and branching out with what I am doing with my life.  I am chasing my dreams and making them into my reality.  One at a time.

Thank you for reading my 60th Blog Post.  Still having fun, and Always Thinking…

 

Weekend Warrior #7

Weekend Warrior #7

 

Here we are.  Another weekend is over.  If you are reading the other stories I post, you may know that I did a little shopping last week.  I have tried and tried to get myself into that kitchen.  This week, I chose another fight.  I decided to fight some inner demons.

I have been working hard on this blog.  I am pouring my heart and soul into it, and it is having positive effects in my life.  This weekend, I took a much needed break from my routine.

I have given myself a deadline for starting to work on my book.  I hope to be done with my Spring Cleaning on or before July 1st.  This way I have given myself a full 6 months for each project I am working on this year.  If I finish early, bonus.  I have no doubts that when I sit down to write, it will happen.  I am doing well with the consistency of the blog.

A discussion online made me stop and think about my progress.  I have not finished yet what I have resolved to do this year.  I am making lists and getting some of the things done, but I never finish the list.  The approach thus far has been to make the list, get done what I can, and start a new list the next day.  Or continue the same list.  The discussion I was referring to was when someone alluded to feeling like a fraud because they have not written a book yet.

I am not a fraud.  I work hard at things all the time, even if the progress is made only inside of my head.  I am also working on making myself healthier, and that is a project that has no deadline.  It is ongoing.  Deciding what is best for me to tackle on a weekly basis is moving towards completing something.  Progress is progress.  No matter how it appears to anyone else.

I did a small amount of puttering.  I did not do anything that is picture worthy.  So the progress pics will have to wait another week.  I have a few vacation days coming up in April, and I plan to use them wisely.  I am hoping to catch up in the kitchen this month and be able to move on to the rest of my home.  I am going to have to force the issue, with myself, if I am ever going to get it accomplished.  That is why I have had to give myself a deadline.  At some point, I DO have to finish the Spring Cleaning and move on to the book writing.

Writing this series is helping.  I am planning and seeing what needs to be done, and I have ideas of what I will be sharing in the pictures as I progress.  Tomorrow after work I have plans to work on a small section of the kitchen while making supper.  As I wrote somewhere earlier today on social media, the house does not bounce itself.

This weekend I caught up with some friends, and we had a fantastic time at a local board game cafe.  We hung out for the whole evening, and that included the taxi driver being pulled over by the cops for making an illegal left turn while driving us to my friend’s house.  If I had a cell phone (what! she doesn’t have a cell phone! the horror!) I would have been able to join in with the Pokemon Go the rest of them played last night.  I tried it, and we had fun just hanging out.

Today I spent some quality time chatting with family.  Then I went to see the new Smurfs movie with my husband.  It was SMURFTASTIC!  So familiar, and positive, and full of all the Smurfy jokes and Smurf magic.

I worked on myself this weekend.  I recharged my batteries and am ready to take on the next week.  I will be working on the Spring Cleaning over the next weekend, and hopefully a little bit all week.  I know it will all add up and I will get there.  So no, I am not a fraud, by any standard.  I am a person that is a work in progress, and I am going to keep working until I accomplish my goals.

#WeekendWarrior