Tag Archives: Choices

A Change Is In the Air!

Good afternoon!

A change is in the air, no scratch that – there are NUMEROUS changes in the air for 2014!!

I have been giving this a lot of thought over the past few months and I realize that there are some serious changes going to be happening in my life over this next year. I can’t discuss them all here because, well, some of them have to be handled very delicately, but I know they are a-coming!! 🙂

Someone, just last week, told me that it was up to me to choose to be happy. For the most part I do agree with that statement, but for some reason it really kind of rubbed me the wrong way. Just because you are unhappy doesn’t mean that you are doing a bad job of not choosing to be happy, because, believe you me, I have tried to put every positive thinking kind of spin on what I have been dealing with as possible, but sometimes being happy means not staying where you are.

My husband, who sometimes has the funniest way of putting things into perspective for me, said this,

“When you are standing in a pit getting urinated on from above, you can smile and convince yourself that it is just fresh Spring water, but the reality is you’re still getting peed on!”

LOL!! Yes, I absolutely understand what he is saying!!! 🙂

So, I know that this year will be the year that my sweetie and I will be packing up and moving on in a lot of areas of our lives. It is our job to choose to be happy, but to do that we also have to choose where we live, work, play, who we live, work, and play with, and how we live work, and play! I know that these changes are going to be so fruitful, and such a LOT of HARD WORK, but I know that when I look back on the choices that I make, I will be able to do so without regrets.

May we make our choices wisely, without any malice in our hearts, without fear slowing us down, and without worrying about what others may say about any of our choices!

Here is to what is to come in 2014!

To a FABULOUS 2014! 🙂

Signature Line

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!!

Getting Unstuck!

Let Go!Good evening!

Do you ever feel stuck???

I do, and have been struggling with this nagging feeling of being stuck for quite some time.

Today, while I was listening to some positivity, it hit me like a ton of bricks when I heard the speaker talk about getting unstuck. He said,

“Are you really stuck, or are you just afraid to let go??”

WOW!!! That really hit home for me, and reminded me of something I had heard earlier last week,

“You have to let go of who you are to become who you were meant to be!”

Ok, I am listening, God!! I think I hear what you are telling me!! 😉

I have known for some time that I have been needing to take some brave steps to get from where I am to get to where my soul is wanting to be. If you were to read my morning page entries for the past few months, you would see that there is a recurring theme!!

I want more.
I want to be an artist.
I want to live creatively.
I want to make a difference.
I want to be free.I want more. Oh wait – I said that already!! 😉

Well, it is true! I want more. I don’t want to sit in a cubicle day in and day out, doing what others would have me do with my life. I’m stuck!! Or at least that is what I had been telling myself, until today!! 😉

I am holding on.

That is the reality of my situation!

I am holding on out of fear.

Fear of the unknown.

Fear of what people might think.

Fear of failure.

Fear of falling apart.

Fear of hanging out on the ledge all by my little lonesome!!

But you know what, today is a new day! and I am determined to take those baby steps to get to where I want to be. No matter how long it takes. No matter how many do-overs I will need to take. No matter how many comments I may have to ignore, or how many shoulders I may have to lean on along the way.

My life, my dreams, my aspirations, and I am worth it.

and you know what???

SO ARE YOU!!!

What might you be holding on to out of fear! Isn’t today the day for us to get unstuck together!!

Let’s do this!!! What action(s) can you take today to get unstuck?? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section!! 😉

My Take Action Challenge: I am going to get my information packet together for an art studio here in town that is looking for new artists to instruct classes. WISH ME LUCK!!! 😉

Here is to a FABULOUS ARTSY evening!

Signature Line

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!!

Related articles

 

A Little Bit of Truth

Well, ladies and gentlemen.

I would love to tell you that I am having a great night, unfortunately I am not.

I would love to tell you that everything in my life is perfect, alas, that too, it is not.

I would love to tell you that I always have the right words to say, but sometimes the words get all used up and depleted. I feel a little like tonight is one of those nights.

I am going to share something seriously personal, and I want what I have to say to remain in this room, if you don’t mind. 😉 My sweetie and I are trying to decide if we should stay together or not.

Wow! even though I felt like I was whispering that so quietly, reading it here feels like I am yelling it at the top of my lungs.

You know, the fact of the matter is, is that I love that man like crazy, but I am learning that maybe sometimes love isn’t enough. Sometimes the annoyances of real life, and a lot of stupid little nothings get in the way of happiness. Sometimes choosing to stay with someone is just that, a choice. A choice to be happy. or a choice to be miserable. I can’t tell you which choice is which. and I honestly don’t know what choice is going to be made this evening.

I honestly couldn’t imagine my life without Jason. He has been my lover, soul mate, playmate, shoulder to cry on, cheerleader, protector, and my best friend for the past 17 years; but maybe it will all just turn out for the best. that is what I am banking on. one way or the other.

How sad is this posting – right?? I am sorry to be such a stick-in-the-mud, but I think instead of just pretending to smile and tell you all that everything is going honey-dorey. I thought a little bit of truth might just be in order.

As I close this post for the evening, I would love to tell you all to have a fabulous night, but I think I would rather just tell you to take care of yourself, and be thankful for those around you that you can share your love and life with, even if just for a short amount of time. Share your love with them completely, don’t hold back. Life truly is too short to be wasted.

Thank you so much for letting me go on, I am sure we will have it all worked out in the morning. We will see.

~Christina 🙂

Happy Independence Day!

Good evening!

I am going to make this a quick posting this evening!

My sweetie and I have just gotten home from spending the evening with our friends, Dawn and Errin. They are in the process of moving into a beautiful new place, and we had fun hanging out over there for a while and just catching up, before we all headed out to dinner and a movie.

We headed downtown to go to Cinebarre Salem 7, which was a first time visit for Jason and I. This place is kind of like Northern Lights that you get to eat your dinner while you watch the movie, except that the movies are first run movies, and the prices, unfortunately, are much steeper – OUCH! Other than that, the food was delicious, the company was fun, and my sweetie and I enjoyed the movie we watched and had a nice discussion about it on the way home. But before heading home, we made one last stop to watch the fireworks display from over the riverfront. I just have to quickly say, that I love fireworks, they make me feel like a kid again!

Back to the movie for just a moment. The movie we watched was Larry Crowne, with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. This movie is about a middle-aged man who loses his job and then decides to head back to college. We all agreed that this was probably not our favorite movie of his, but  it was still  a really sweet movie. My favorite part is the message, not that I gleaned for myself, but one that my husband said he was taking away from this movie:

Sometimes making important decisions, even though they are difficult, need to be acted on in the moment. Don’t let procrastination or fear of the unknown keep you from doing what you know you should be doing to take care of you and your family, this just might change your life.

I wholeheartedly agree!

I hope all of you have had a safe, healthy, and happy 4th of July!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

PS: The simple guy who has every reason to think his life has stalled will come to learn an unexpected lesson: when you think everything worth having has passed you by, you just might discover your reason to live.

The Chunky Dunker’s Club, Week 7

Good evening!

Welcome to week 7, of the Chunky Dunker’s Club!! Where does all of the time seem to go??

Every week I post a new Chunky Dunker’s article ever Wednesday evening, and you have the opportunity to comment, and cheer each other as you each go through your journey to get fit and healthy!!! We will discuss hints, tips, and ideas on losing weight, staying motivated, and achieving your fitness goals, whether that is to lose 5 pounds, to do 10 sit-ups, or just incorporate some healthy habits into your daily life!!

Tonight’s topic: Emotional Eating!

I am not sure about you, but I sure am guilty for eating, not because I am hungry, but because I am needing something emotionally. For example, I got home from a not so pleasant day at work not to long ago, and went right to the cupboards and ate two cookies. With nary a thought about, why I was eating those cookies. Was I hungry? What was I really needing? Were those cookies going to satisfy whatever those needs were?? Uhm…no, no, and no!!

What I am learning, as I go through this get fit journey with you, is that sometimes to have any kind of success, you first have to figure out why you do what it is that you are doing. It is all about pain and pleasure.

I believe there are two kinds of forces in this world that sway you to make a decision either one way or the other. Pain and Pleasure. What pain are you trying to avoid, and what pleasure are you trying to gain? Think about it, I ate the cookies because I was trying to avoid the pain of having to deal with my day, and to gain the pleasure of tasting some really yummy cookies.

How else do we use pain and pleasure in our get fit choices?

I am not going to get up to exercise because I want to avoid the pain of having to get out of bed early, and gain the pleasure of sleeping for an extra hour. I am convinced that this pain/pleasure principal applies to EVERY CHOICE WE MAKE!!!

HOMEWORK: Write down 5 choices you make every day, and what pain you are trying to avoid, and what pleasure you are trying to gain from each choice. Look at your answers, if you were to change you pain/pleasure that you associate with these choices would your physical life improve.

Underneath each choice, write what the reality of what you are doing here – this might be eye-opening for you.

For me, my homework would look something like:

Choice #1: I let Jason make my breakfast, snack, lunch and dinners, and whatever he makes I’ll eat
Pain I Am Avoiding: Having to take time out of my busy day to plan and do the work for this myself
Pleasure I am Gaining: It feels so good to have someone do all of this for me. I feel spoiled!! 😉
Reality: I don’t think it is wrong to have Jason help me in this way, but ultimately I have to be the one to be responsible for what I put into my mouth. I need to speak up and let him know what I want in my lunch box, so he doesn’t always have to guess, or over pack my lunch box.

Choice #2: I choose not to take time out of my work day and go exercise like most of my co-workers.
Pain I Am Avoiding: I am avoiding looking silly, sweating, or getting sore
Pleasure I am Gaining: I think that I can spend that hour a day doing more work at my desk
Reality: I think the reality is that the longer I sit at my desk, the slower my metabolism is going to get, the more weight I am going to gain and in 10 years, when I have all sorts of weight related sicknesses, I am going to look back and say, “why I didn’t I do something about my health when I could have?”.

Choice #3: Watching more than an hour of television every evening
Pain I Am Avoiding: Having to deal with chores that need to be done, or having to deal with negative emotions the might have emerged from my day
Pleasure I am Gaining: I get to zone out, and just stop thinking for myself
Reality: I spend more time watching other people “Live” than I actually do living myself. These people on television are not my friends, they don’t know who I am, they are not even real! Sheesh!

Choice #4: I choose not to get out of the house of the evening and go walking, or swimming with Jason
Pain I Am Avoiding: It feels like too much work
Pleasure I am Gaining: I make excuses for myself to not have to go out, “I have earned” being a lazy hermit somehow. So it is almost a sense of entitlement, plus I just LOVE being home.
Reality: I am really missing a great opportunity to not only increase my physical fitness, but to also spend some quality time with Jason. Realizing that makes me sad.

Choice #5: Not getting to bed early enough that I get at least 8 hours of sleep every night
Pain I Am Avoiding: I have this weird feeling that if I go to bed early then I will either “miss something”, or I will just have to wake up sooner to go back to work again
Pleasure I am Gaining: Uhmmm…getting to do one last chore, or cross off one last thing off of my to-do list
Reality: Who am I kidding?? This just makes me more tired, and irritable the next day, and it gets progressively worse until I get myself some sleep – that is not helping anyone!!!

What would your choices look like? Let me know in the comments above!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉