No whining

I was talking w/ a co-worker the other day about feeling sorry for yourself. We agreed that it's acceptable to feel sorry for yourself for a set amount of time and then you need to DEAL with it. Is everyone alive? Is everyone healthy? Okay, you're fine. There is always someone way worse off than you who may be homeless, starving, abused, terminally ill, you get the picture. No prolonged whining over days, weeks, months, and God forbid, years. My co-worker and I agree that when we get this way, it's quite frustrating and boring in the long run; we don't like who we are when we're whiny people. I used to call this, "PMS"--"Poor Me Syndrome."

My best friend and I often have moments where we'll say to each other, "Can I be a girl for just a minute?" (Side note: This is not allude to the fact that girls whine or cry a lot but just because my friend and I consider ourselves cold fish for the most part when it comes to emotion and somewhat devoid of womanly feelings.) And we'll whine, cry, bitch, complain...and then we're done. If I am not going to be strong for myself, who will be?

Enjoying time

It is so important to enjoy time. This doesn't mean you have to go out and do something extravagant nor does it mean you have to be a couch potato. I'm reading a book now called "Eat, Pray, Love", and in it, the author talks about how Americans are the worse at relaxing and just enjoying their time off. We work, work, work long, hard hours and then by the weekend, we're so exhausted that all we can really do is sit, comatose, in front of the TV. At least, I feel like this is what happens when you get into a things like a long-term relationship (i.e. easy to just veg out at home), buy a house (i.e. have a mortgage and lots of bills to pay), work in a stressful job (i.e. long hours at work), etc.

The important thing is to truly learn the art of enjoying time that you do get. If you love your job (and stats say Americans work a lot of hours), that's awesome--work your ass off. But remember, your job does not define you (a wise boss repeatedly tells me this). The whole, "stop and smell the roses" thing? That's where you will find yourself. If you're reading a book, drinking a cup of coffee, working in the garden, taking a nap, or shopping at the mall, do so completely and wholly. Try not to think of the next thing you have to do or the list of unfinished things you still need to get to. Of course it's important to remain task-oriented, but do you really want to go through life half-enjoying everything you do because you're already preoccupied with thoughts of the next thing?

It is especially important to do this WHEN YOU CAN, because there are times when you cannot. Like when I was in college, it was really hard to enjoy anything fully when I was a double major, working two jobs, involved in an internship, president of an organization--you get the picture. But now, even though my job is uber busy and stressful, I have the luxury of enjoying things a lot more. And I'm by NO MEANS an expert yet; I am learning the art of enjoying life every day. Just ask your dad, I kinda suck at it. But I'm definitely going to try my darndest to enjoy any time off I have.

That is, until you kids come along. =)

To My Future Kids

The year is 2007.  I've always wanted to create a list of things that I could teach my children, but to this date I haven't yet done so.  Once upon a time I thought I'd write a book, but in this day and age it seems easier to just publish things to the world and let the internet accumulate the information for me.

This idea birthed from interacting with a number of people throughout the years and realizing that for every piece of information we know, someone had to first tell it to us or we had to figure it out for ourselves.  Even the simple stuff, especially the simple things like "When does daylight savings time actually change?"  All the way through to how to get through a job interview and what to put on a resume.  I want to have a library of information that I plan on using to raise my children.

Notes:

• Some insights will be much lighter than others, some even sound stupid.  But the idea is that everything must be taught at some point in life and no information however obvious should be taken for granted.
  
• This is just my set of opinions for my kids.  This isn't how *everyone* should raise their children, nor is it a judgment against how anyone else raises theirs.  This is just my collection of personal opinions.
  
• I'm hoping my wife will join me in this once I tell her about it.
  
• There is no regular "update schedule".  I'll just be adding to it as I can.
  

That's it.  If you're stopping by, thanks for visiting.