Thriving...in Spite of It

How can you be specific about your goals when they are just a bunch of vague, foggy, wishes, hopes and dreams? It's time to take that pie-in-the-sky endeavor down from its celestial pedestal and see if it tastes as good as it looks from afar. (Forgive me for bringing up desserts so early in your diet-shackled day)...Is it really, truly unachievable, or that your perception because you don't currently have the means or mechanisms to reach it? If there is a yellow-brick road to your dream, I promise you that underneath lies a foundation of solid research. It's the best preparation for turning those dreams into reality. Would we have ever reached the moon, or even this continent, without it? As brilliant and passionate as the explorers of Earth and space were, without their tedious hours buried in books at a drafting table, we would probably all still be back in the old world, and certainly never beyond it, thinking the Earth was flat and all of space was unattainable.  ...

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry  about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?   Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life [ e ] ?"  These are the words of Jesus himself, from  Matthew 6:25-26.   I have a good reason for beginning exactly right here, with this passage. Bear with me. This cute little bird (above) showed up, chirping his adorable little fuzzy head off, in my yard one day. He had evidently tried to venture from his nest a little too soon, and found himself in an unfortunate predicament----very much like the endless stream of mama's boys standing on the defendant's side of the courtroom on Judge Judy, mooching off women because they are too little to fly yet.....

So, it's the first Monday of the new year---that's either a double-edged sword, or a double-whammy, depending on how you are looking at 2015, this moment. Whether you bounced into the office bright and early this morning, water bottle in hand, in total denial of the fatigue that's already beginning to set from your first workout (note: there you have it--three new year's resolutions, already!) ... OR you shuffled in, a little late, sporting the ever-faithful-fallback pony-tail, black pants and whatever random semi-comfy shirt was doomed to help you meet the minimum standard for professional office attire....oh, and carrying a box of doughnuts, because, as the Whataburger commercial so eloquently declares, "you're not the one that's late for work, you're the one who brought breakfast!" I think I'm somewhere in-between the two scenarios.  I know it's not just the girls suffering from the syndrome--I just left a meeting with a couple of guy...

Lately, especially among working women, I've seen tooooooo many negative facebook posts. Actually one negative post, is one too many. I'm not talking about second amendment right rantings, disgust with the crowds at Walmart, or diatribes on our declining society's role models. I'm talking about any status, tweet, or comment, whether its lengthy and eloquent or short and sharp, that boils down to this common sentiment: "my life stinks." Ladies! Ok, guys, too, but I think we will all agree that the women are worse about this. We get emotionally worked up over a subsection of our lives--either personal, professional, or physical--and allow that one lost battle to win the whole war on our self-esteem, our self-worth...our entire lives become a failure, everything's a sham, all is lost, oh, the infamy, tragedy...it's the apocalypse!!! Have you ever put a marshmallow in the microwave? It's exciting to watch it puff up...oh, the wonder of it, much lik...

Glitter, glitter, everywhere On my sweater, in my hair On the carpet, table, chairs Glitter, glitter, everywhere! When I first snatched this lovely Christmas wrapping paper, bedecked with glittery designs, from the shelf at Big Lots, I was dazzled by its splendor, caught up in a momentary tween-like frenzy, surrounded by shelves of sparkly things....like a mindless fish, mesmerized by the flash and shine of a fishing lure, I went for it. It looked so neat, lovely and harmless, all sealed up in its plastic wrapper! Little did I know the mayhem that lurked behind such a thin film of protection... Yes, I'm being a bit melodramatic, but, really, what a mess! The dining table, where I have been wrapping gifts with the shimmering assailant, looks like Tinkerbell had a mishap with some C-4. Glitter...everywhere! After five years with the Ladies of Honor , I'm no stranger to the hazard. It's not an entirely unpleasant thing--to be contaminated by glitter...It made me thi...

Have you ever had a bad day? I'll bet you just laughed. I have had a few lately. Yesterday started out a little harried, and then rapidly snowballed into "A Series of Unfortunate Events." From the outside, looking in, it's not nearly as catastrophic as we see it--all the blunders and stumbles that sprinkle unsavory seasoning on our days, as if we mistook the tin of paprika for cinnamon, and dusted it all over the top of our cappuccino....we get the first whiff of our error just before taking that first gulp, but we take the gulp anyway, and...yuck!!! The price of a momentary lapse of attention can be hard to swallow in worse ways than that! "I should have stayed in bed this morning!!" becomes our internal battle cry. Oh, yes it does. Imagine Mel Gibson, warpaint and all, sitting on his horse, as he rallies the troops for revolution in that epically memorable scene from BraveHeart. His horse, snorting, stomping and dancing as his rider tries to control hi...

So, it seems I have some guys out there--more than I thought--who are regular readers? Although I was inspired to start this blog by the plights and sufferings of my fellow women at work, it's interesting that, the same week a guy friend tells me he reads my blog, I had a rather enlightening conversation with another retiree/former coworker-- also a guy. I admit I was a little surprised by his little rant. I'm used to seeing this in the women I know who are also retired--even retired early, like me--the ONLY time you will see our busy but relaxed breed launch into these little tirades is when we talk about the workplace we left behind. I thought, generally speaking, only women were conniving, backstabbing and gossiping? Like the proverbial kid in the corner wearing a dunce hat, I stand corrected. OK, I'm not so naive as to think that women should be credited with the majority of this behavior--it's just what we are MOST known for in the career world. I have no sug...