New Year's Resolutions: Food for Thought

Hi Everyone,

How's 2014 treating all of you so far? I don't know if any of you out there make New Year's resolutions, but I came across a quote just before the holidays that I really like and I think it pretty much sums up whether or not you'll be keeping your resolution in the months to come. :)

For me, the quote by Jim Rohn really hit home because I'm rather fed up with the people in my life who talk the talk, but don't walk the walk -- if you get what I mean. As JB's mom would say, "You need to figure out how you want to live your life." It's so true, don't you think?

If you're not happy, do something about it. Sure, that's so much easier said than done; believe me, I get it. I'm not saying to go at it alone, though. You'd be surprised to discover just how many people would be willing to help if you would just ask.

Anyway, enjoy the "food for thought" and stay tuned for more quotes to think about.

Until next time,

Eddy

The Journey: Starting Over

I was hanging out in the Russian’s kitchen the other day, reminiscing about what my life’s been like, and I had this moment. I came to the realization that I am a great dreamer. I think back to times in my life and I find so much awe and beauty in the memories. Sometimes they make me cry, sometimes they make me laugh out loud, and sometimes they make me long for a time I want to relive again because it was so perfectly wondrous.

I know I’m not the only one who feels this way, but we can’t go back. We must move forward through this journey called life. We can’t choose where the road will take us or predict what we will find along the way, but we must explore.

No doubt this has been said or written by people much wiser than me. Eddy often tells me I ramble, yet she somehow knows what I’m getting at and helps me organize my thoughts on here so you guys can make sense of it all too. Anyway, I digress.

If that "a-ha" moment wasn’t enough to get me thinking, the Russian also said something that really touched me. As I mentioned in my previous post, I’m looking for a new career, so when we got on to the topic of how I’ve never really done something that was 100% for me, the Russian said:

"The reason your journey was hard is because you’ve never had a support system that truly loved you and helped you achieve what you loved and believed in. Now you have a chance to take the journey again because life gives you more then one chance and we all need to take a leap of faith when it appears. This time I will come with you because I believe in you as deeply as you believe in yourself. I know that this is the right road not just for you, but for the both of us. Stop wasting time and start making the right choices for yourself and not for others."

My love! What a wise, kind and beautiful human being! Sometimes you really do need someone to make you come to your senses and remember that people start over all the time and you can too.

So, as I embark on my new journey, I keep in mind that I can make choices along the way, but I can’t control what will happen as I go. I simply must trust and go forth. Guaranteed it won’t be easy, but that’s life. I’m just grateful I won’t have to go it alone.

JB

On the Mend

For 3 months I’ve left all of you hanging in blog oblivion without a single bit of information, but today it’s time for catch up with JB.

If you read my post OMG, I’m a Mess! – Part Four, then you might remember me telling you that I was going to need surgery. Well, after a bunch of rescheduling, I finally went under the knife and I’m feeling much better. The physiotherapy is tough, but its part of the recovery process and it’s going to be a while before my arm is 100% again, if at all. I definitely can’t go back to doing the same kind of work anymore because it’s the overuse, the repetitive motion day in and day out, that caused the problem to begin with.

Speaking of work, I’ve now been off for 5 months, which is a really long time for someone who’s always worked, but it’s made me realize that I don’t like my place of employment. It’s not that I don’t like my job (well, except the caking making part, I really don’t like it), I just don’t like the working environment. It’s just not a happy place. So, combined with the fact that I can’t do the same labour intensive work anymore, anyway -- I’m looking for a new career. I have no idea what I’m going to do, but I do know that I will not continue to bust my a** for a company that doesn’t care about its employees.

You see, after everything that I’ve been through these last few months, I know that I’ve done myself a huge disservice by not taking care of myself. We work for a living, but if we’re killing ourselves to get the job done, we’re not living, we’re dying. I don’t know about you, but I’d like to be doing pretty damn great when I actually reach retirement. I want to enjoy the years I have left, instead of being so broken down physically and mentally (not to mention emotionally and spiritually) that I can hardly function.

So, for anyone who understands where I’m coming from and is just as scared and totally overwhelmed as I am at the idea of making a change for the better, let’s feel the fear and do it anyway.

Who’s with me?

JB

Change: My Word of the Month

I know a change is gonna come, oh yes it will. - Sam Cooke

Definitions for the word 'change' found on the Web:

- to make different in some particular: alter
- to give a different position, course, or direction to
- to make a shift from one to another : switch
- to undergo transformation, transition, or substitution
(http://www.merriam-webster.com/)

As a Canadian, voting in the American election wasn't an option for me, but when I got up Tuesday morning, I wished for the first time in my life that I'd been born an American. I would never speak those words to my mother, but I wished it. I knew in my heart that Tuesday evening was going to be a historical night and I wanted to take part. What I ended up doing was having dinner with my sister and some friends. We prepared a really nice BBQ meal, toasted with wine & beer, and talked politics.

When dinner was over, I drove home with just enough time to get inside, turn on the TV, and hear Barack Obama named the 44th president of the United States of America. Even though there was no doubt in my mind that he would win, it was still such a rush to hear his name announced. As I listened to him speak, I couldn’t stop thinking about what it all meant. There was history unfolding before my very eyes. There was hope being manifested. There was proof that people want change. There was the voice of the nation saying, “Yes, we can.”

Barack Obama is one man, but he has people all over the USA who believe in him & what they can do together. He also has many Canadians like me who believe just as strongly.

Let’s go change the world. – Barack Obama

JB

Self Help Books: They Can Help, But...

Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live.
-- Dorothy Thompson

I went to pick up a new journal a few days ago, and I noticed something for the first time. I mean it’s probably been like this for a while, but I just noticed. The self help section of the local Chapter's that I go to is now the biggest section in the store. Self help... this makes me wonder. With all of these self help books, why is everyone still so screwed up? I mean, you’d think that these books are helping. Oprah, Louise Hay, Eckhart Tolle, Marianne Williamson, and Wayne Dyer (just to name a handful of author's) all have books out there trying to teach people how to do/be/have any number of things in life. The world ought to be better, people should be healing, but I see no change, no real difference. People are buying these books, but I think they might just be using them as coasters or door stoppers. I can't tell you how many people have told me that they bought a certain book and got nothing out of it. When I ask whether they actually bothered to apply what they read, they get a look on their faces that tells me they haven't done a damn thing. Well, explain to me how a book is supposed to help you if you read it, but then continue to live your life the way you always have?? It's easy to blame a book (or a person) for how crappy your life is, but the fact is you are the only one holding you back. A book can open you to new ideas, but you need to get going and do something. I know no one wants to hear that, but -- reality check -- it's true. Don't get me wrong, I understand that change is hard and that change itself scares people, but only you can change your life.

JB