Sacrifices!

Phew-Lent started more than a week ago and yet this is the first chance I've really had to sit down and do something not work related at the computer. I look forward to next week when life may calm down a bit....who am I kidding, next week will still be crazy! May-yeah, maybe in May life may calm down a bit!

Regardless of the oh-so-fun (read: stressful) events at work, Ash Wednesday kicked off the Lenten season on Feb. 13th this year. Lent is a religious season symbolizing the 40 days that Jesus spent in the desert being tested by Satan and thus is a time for reflection and sacrifice for us as believers. Not all Christian denominations celebrate Lent, but growing up in the Lutheran church, it was one of the most important parts of the year. Not only do you have regular church services on Sundays, but every Wednesday night as well. And don't get me started on Holy Week (the end of Lent) when you have church almost every day of the week as you celebrate Jesus' death and resurrection! The church I attend currently isn't Lutheran, and so while they don't make a big deal over the Lenten season, it is something that is still important to me.

Many people give up something during Lent as a way of sacrificing something they enjoy more than they should. A lot of my friends have given up chocolate or candy or alcohol. Soda was always my go to sacrifice. I LOVE some Dr. Pepper that's for sure! But last year I decided to cut back as a whole when I started realizing exactly how much sugar and calories I was ingesting through have 3 sodas a day (seriously-that was my norm during the fall). Now I only allow myself 3 sodas for the whole week anyway so that sacrifice was out. Instead, this year I decided to give up something I had never attempted before.....cursing!

I don't swear up and down everyday, but I do swear more than I probably should. I knew it wasn't going to be as easy as giving up something physical. To have a soda takes not only a mental choice, but to physically follow through. Cursing on the other hand, you do without really thinking about it. And so even though Lent started back on the 13th, yesterday (the 21st) was my first successful no cursing day!!! I was out with friends last night and when I realized how close I was to making it I got very excited and wanted to share, but didn't for fear of jinxing myself.

I probably will continue to slip here and there, but I like the idea of breaking bad habits and vices. Especially one where I feel like I remember Jill Taylor from Home Improvement saying something along the lines of "When people curse it's just because they aren't smart enough to come up with anything else to say"

One of the best shows ever! Mostly due to the adorable JTT!

"those" friends

You know those friends. The friends that pay more attention than you think. The friends that probably care more than you know. They tend to be the most overlooked at times, and yet make me the most grateful.

Today's just been an off day. A good amount of people I know are having a really crappy Monday. That's not necessarily the case for me. Nothing has gone dreadfully wrong. I haven't received any horrible news (knock on wood since there's still another 7+ hours left in the day!). And yet it's just off. I'm not feeling happy, I'm not necessarily feeling sad. I guess emotionless would be a better word. Going through my day, getting my work done, and waiting until 5:00 to be free to run a few errands and watch some Downton Abbey on DVR.

Apparently this emotionless state has meant a quieter me today. I love my coworkers-seriously I do. They are all pretty happy, energetic, and absolutely hilarious. We actually see each other outside the office on purpose and the quips back and forth between offices is a mainstay where I work. Honestly I didn't even realize I wasn't participating in any conversation today. And it wasn't because I was so overwhelmed with work I had to focus. Granted I did have things to do and got a good amount done today, but I still had time to do some facebook stalking and tumblr reading here and there.

Then, at 3:53pm today I got this email: "Hey Homie! You ok? You've been awfully quiet today."

(yup-we call each other 'homie'. Like I said-LOVE my coworkers)

That's when it dawned on me. This person didn't have to check on me at all. Yet I have no doubt if I said "well actually I got some bad news" that the immediate response would be "do you want to talk about it?" or "what can i do?" It made me wonder when the last time I've reached out to someone like that was. When someone looked at me and was grateful for any extra support I gave that wasn't expected. I like to think of myself as dependable-but why should people have to ask for the help first? New ambition is to be more like my coworker (except for her love of 4+ inch heels-I'd break an ankle in those things in no time!!!)

Trips to the Bathroom (not gross-I swear!)

It may be a bit early in this blog's life to talk about the bathroom, but I'm going to do it anyway.

Thanks to being dehydrated and feeling the effects a few years ago, I'm a firm believer in drinking plenty of water throughout the day. I love water and am one of those weird people who enjoys it's taste (even though some say water has no taste-but that's a debate for another time). The only downside of drinking a lot of water during the day is the extra few trips to the bathroom as a result.

Every time I'm drying my hands after a trip, I now think of an awesome Ted Talk that I watched a while ago by Joe Smith. It's all about the amount of paper waste we create by using multiple paper towels while drying our hands. Apparently regardless of what type of paper towel a bathroom supplies, you only need 1! If everyone only used 1 paper towel per hand drying, it would eliminate so much waste!!!

I'm only on this planet for a short amount of time in the grand scheme of things. And like a good amount of the Millennial Generation, I'd like to leave the world better than when I entered it. So I love the idea that a simple action while in the bathroom can actually help reduce the amount of trash I produce especially over a lifetime! 

SUPERBOWL CHAMPS!!!!!

THE RAVENS WON THE SUPERBOWL!!!!

Ok, so this may not have anything to do with that pursuit of harmony and contentment that I mentioned earlier, but as a Raven's fan it does make me pretty happy!!!!

Project Serve

Part of my new years resolution was to give more of myself in an effort to help others. I figured this could be through my time, money, energy; really anything I could. Today my church helped me in that resolution by hosting Project Serve. They have these a few times a year and ask for people to come together and spend part of the day volunteering through different outreach opportunities. Seeing as how it is a church activity, typically one opportunity is evangelizing, but honestly that’s not really a strong suit of mine. I am comfortable talking about my faith if someone asks, but I’m never very comfortable starting the conversation. Especially with strangers. So typically I opt for the opportunities that include manual labor in an effort to help others and just to be an example.

This time myself and a few friends volunteered to help at one of the lowest scoring elementary schools in the state which happens to be in my town. Of the various opportunities there, landscaping sounded like the most fun. Then I remembered I don’t have much experience with landscaping, and that it would be about 30 degrees outside. I bucked up though and started putting on the layers of clothes that my love of camping and hiking has taught me to do so well.

When we got to the school we met Ms. B-A. She’s one of the teachers and has a heart of gold! She’s one of those teachers that truly care for their students. Not just in a “gee I hope you succeed and learn something” type of way, but in a “I want to help you learn the foundations for a good life and how to set goals and reach them both in the classroom and for your future.” She’s started initiatives encouraging the students to read, developed a character building plan for the school, and helps collect clothes and schools supplies for her students. The church brought clothes for the students and she was so touched she almost started crying. 

Some of the supplies and clothes Ms. B-A already had, plus some of the bags we brought from church.

My 2 friends and I were assigned to plant around the flagpole in the front of the school. Luckily one of my friends used to work in landscaping, and the other has some experience as well. As the odd one out I took the role of filling in around the plants once they had dug the proper holes. Even with the chilly weather it ended up being pretty fun. 

Our handiwork...plus the trowel that didn't help us one bit!

 

After that we helped out in the library. That was easier, and to be honest, a bit more boring, but I enjoyed seeing some books I used to read when I was younger plus many books I’d never heard of before. My favorite was The Bugsiest Bug which actually had a great storyline (yup-I took a break to read it. Actually I read it out loud and hosted a mini story time).

In the grand scheme of things I may not have done much. I helped deliver clothes other people donated, helped do a little planting, and remembered my alphabet while putting books in order. But when I think about the tears Ms. B-A almost shed and hope for the kid's excited faces, I can't help but smile. I know that just a few of my hours on a Saturday morning made at least a little mark on the world.  

What is a triskele anyway?!?

"A triskele, or triskelion, is a motif consisting of three interlocked spirals." Or so explains Wikipedia. The original meaning behind a triskele has been lost over time. They've been used in astrological calendars, in displays of arms, and, most frequently, as a sign of harmony by the Celtics. It was this last description that caught my attention a few years ago while scouring the internet for tattoo ideas. Harmony between mind, body, and soul, is always something I've thought about. I strongly believe that there is a relationship between all three and that if you suffer in one area, the others are affected as well. And so after quite a bit of thought (and some extra googling to compare various meanings) I took the plunge and will forever have a triskele tattooed on me.

Since then the pursuit of harmony has been even more prominent in my life. I am nowhere near perfect. Far from it actually. But I do want to be happy. Doesn't everyone? So I try to take the steps to reach toward that idea of harmony. It helps that I don't like to sit still. I prefer to be actively doing something and always willing to try new things.

So that's what this blog will be about. My search for contentment and happiness. To try and find harmony between my mind, body, and soul. Mistakes, achievements, stories, pictures-I plan to share it all. To 'lay it all out there' as the cliche saying goes. It should be an interesting journey. So let's begin shall we....