Thriving or Surviving

Today, I am committed to flossing my teeth. I have a complex relationship with dentistry and oral care due to a series of traumatic dental experiences as a child and a horrible orthodontia experience. As a result, I find flossing physically and mentally difficult which results in not flossing often. Today, I am making (and keeping) a promise to myself to floss my entire mouth.  Please note: Links in this post may include affiliate links which could result in small commissions to me at no cost to you if you purchase through these links. Thank you in advance! To some this will seem silly, but to those who also have dental trauma, it might make perfect sense: I floss my mouth in sections. I simply cannot get myself to floss my entire mouth all at once. I generally think of my teeth in quadrants and will floss one fourth of my mouth at a time. Today, I will go one fourth at a time, but over the course of the day will make sure I've flossed entirely. To be totally honest, just typing th...

Yesterday, I wrote about needing to reset my health and well-being and that I was going to seek to improve my health by 10% over the next 30 days.  Today is day 2 of 30. Everyone in my house has officially tested positive for Covid-19 and we are all symptomatic. I don't feel great, physically, but this is far less severe than every prior Covid infection I've experienced, thank goodness! I do have a fever, however, so I will not be going to work tomorrow (fingers crossed that I can go to work on Friday!).  I attribute part of my not feeling as awful as my last few Covid experiences to simply how the virus has evolved over the last several years, but also because I've been consciously paying attention to my energy levels, hydration, vitamins, supplements, and medication needs.  Before I go on, I do need to remind you, my dear reader, that anything I write here is NOT medical advice. If you feel ill or have concerns or questions about your well being or anything discussed i...

This past weekend, I wrote THIS post and THIS post about getting a lot done and invited you to work on your own tasks as well. Sometimes, I'm able to be extremely productive over a couple of days with minimal negative impact on the days that follow. Other times, not so much. This is one of those other times.  Today, I had a list of tasks I wanted to accomplish before work, during my breaks and lunch, and after work. Instead of doing any of them, I just barely managed to take care of my dog and a dog that I was babysitting today. And, I just barely got through my day regular work day.  I woke up feeling absolutely drained--possibly from excessive bad dreams driven by the current news cycle mixed with warmer than usual weather--and slept in until I absolutely had to get up in order to take my dog to go potty and to be back at my desk on time for work. I didn't do anything on either of my breaks or my lunch other than the bare minimum which included taking my dog and her doggie...

This post contains affiliate links towards the end. Any purchase made through such links may result in a commission to me, but at NO COST to you. Thank you in advance! My mental health has been suffering lately. I received a layoff notice at work on June 27th and my job was officially eliminated on August 27th. Throughout the two months in between, and the month and a half since then and when I am drafting this post, I've been stressed out, anxious, and depressed. I very quickly started to binge more social media content than is normal for me, but I also realized that even before these events, I was spending a lot more time on social media than is ideal.  You can learn more about my lay off journey on YouTube HERE . Early in September, I was scrolling on Instagram, mindlessly, and realized how dissatisfied I was with my time on social media, primarily Instagram and Facebook. I really don't use much else -- I dabble in YouTube and go to Pinterest for inspiration and recipes, but...

I received a layoff notice on June 27th and learned that my job would be permanently eliminated 60 days later -- that 60 days was up yesterday.  This past weekend, I experienced some mental shifts and moved from anger and panic to curiosity and excitement. I could see any number of possibilities ahead.  Yesterday and today, I woke up exhausted after sleeping horribly and having extremely vivid bad dreams -- I'm pretty sure at one point that I yelled out loud while asleep and woke myself up last night. All of my anxieties and insecurities have been coming out in my dreams, even if I'm not necessarily feeling them in my waking life.  So, on day one of being unemployed, I'm feeling a little bit scattered mentally and emotionally, a bit worried about the future, but a bit excited too.  Today, I: Spent my morning tidying my kitchen, living room, and bedroom; Had two job interviews with different departments at the company that had just laid me off; Went to coffee with a f...

Something interesting happened this weekend.  With only two work days left before my job is eliminated, I expected to be going into this week panicked, worried, and freaking out.  Instead, something else entirely happened. First, I started to feel calm -- calmer than I've felt in a very long time.  Second, I started to feel excited and curious about the possibilities of hours not spent at a job working for someone else.  I've spent the last two months growing increasingly anxious and depressed about my layoff, to a degree that I started to see a new therapist and have considered trying an antidepressant. Through working with my therapist and facing the elimination of my job, I've been considering what I really want out of life. Am I just pursuing certain paths because I feel like I should or because I think it's expected?  I am still looking for a new job and have had several promising interviews, but this mental shift and the possibilities raised by not having ...

Several years ago, Hal Elrod wrote The Miracle Morning and created a frame work for examining your life through several areas of focus and quantifying your satisfaction with those areas. The premise is that you rate these areas from 0 (the worst) to 10 (the best). For those where you aren't satisfied, you then create a plan to improve them. The Level 10 Life concept seemed to be everywhere in the planner and life improvement spheres of YouTube, Instagram, blogs, and so on a few years ago. I still see it pop up regularly, and I have used it occasionally in my own analysis of my life satisfaction. Since I definitely have not been thriving in any area of life for a while, I thought I'd look at my life through the Level 10 Life lens.  Elrod's categories are: Family and friends Personal development Spirituality Finances Career Romance Fun and recreation Giving and contribution Physical environment Health and fitness These categories may or may not speak to you. I'm not part...

Life, lately, has felt rough. I know, logically, that I am not alone; however, I think when life feels hard, most of us revert to our emotional state instead of looking at our circumstances objectively. It feels hard and we often feel alone when things seem difficult or less than ideal. I started this blog in November, 2023 -- seven months ago -- because I'd been feeling out of sorts for several months and wanted to turn things around. I was feeling overwhelmed by pretty much everything in life from my finances to my relationships with others to housekeeping and beyond. I just felt like I couldn't get a grip on any one area and thus was failing in every area.  Unfortunately, I'm still feeling that way. And, it's exhausting. Two months ago, I submitted an interest form for a new therapist, and we had our first meeting last week. Unfortunately, the clinic schedules appointments every other week and my next session should fall on July 4th, but that's a national holiday...

We live in a culture of immediacy. Within seconds we can send and receive texts and emails, pull up videos or content on just about anything, and satisfy many of our desires for consumption and connection. But, what if that sense of immediacy is distorting and damaging how we interact with one another and the world around us? A little over 10 years ago, I asked some friends to review a sales page I'd put together for a program I offered, and I included a line on the sales page stating that I would respond to inquiries within a certain time frame. One of the friends told me that I should respond to inquiries immediately and thus should remove the time frame notice. Not long after this, that same friend texted me in the middle of the night. They lived a few time zones behind me so it was late for them, but not as late as it was for me. The text came through after I was in bed and asleep, so I did not respond until the next day while on my train commute to work. This sparked a meltdow...