Wild Wednesday...

Wednesday was a whirlwind.

Crazy, busy, day.

I lifted weights, I ran, I taught, I laughed, I cried, I coached, I lost, I made a few players angry, I felt like quitting my second gig,  I ate a delicious salad, I got to know the youth of my church better, I snuggled not near enough with my littles, I saw my husband for about ten minutes total, I read two Pinkalicious books, I slept.

Whirlwind Wednesday. I’m thankful it’s now a new day.

To Be Or Not To Be...

A soda drinker?

Recently, I made a big change. I gave up soda. Okay, so I am on my way to being soda free. I have only had one soda since the 6th of January. Last Friday, I thought caffeine withdrawal may kill me. I felt like fainting and I was in charge of driving half of my basketball team from Salt Lake City to Provo. So, I had one at the glamorous McDonald’s stop. Again, I am about progression not perfection and I won’t be without soda always. I may drink it while out to eat or when visiting with friends or on special occasions but I am doing it. It isn’t easy, especially because I am tired all the time and I also have been sick for over a week. I’m still waiting for the whole “I can feel a difference and I feel better,” but I haven’t noticed yet thanks to my gross cold.

Anything you have chosen not to be lately?

Meter Monday

Here is a little poem I wrote today....it's Haiku actually....about the NCAA Football Championship between LSU and Clemson:

Championship game
The Tigers versus tigers
Purple or Orange?

And a little one I just came up with about a friend from Louisiana who was showing some serious LSU pride today:

It was a blur of purple and gold
sequined jacket and golden shoes almost blinding.
I thought you just needed to sparkle on the outside
because I knew you weren't really feeling sparkly on the inside.
But it was more than that today:
It's passion
It's rivalry
It's football
It's home.
May today be filled with shiny sparkle
just like you
walking poetry from head to toe.
Geaux Tigers!!!

Spiritual Thoughts...yes and no

 Sunday on this here blog is set aside for spiritual thoughts. This is a concept that works for all aspects of life:

Read that a few times and let it sink in.

We get to choose most things in our lives. In fact, life is basically a bunch of choices.

Now, I am not saying that things that happen to you are always based on choice. No, you do not choose to have depression. And you certainly didn’t choose to have your house start on fire last year(unless of course you did something careless like leave something on the stove or were playing with matches on the bedroom floor. Then, yes, in a way, you did choose for your house to burn down)

But you do get to choose how to react to each and every situation you find yourself in.

Do you choose to seek get help when you are facing mental health issues? Did you choose to buy fire insurance?

You, my friend, have a lot more control in your life than you think. Do not sit there and just be acted upon. Wake up and choose.

Now, I do like to say choose joy a lot. It is one of my mantras. Part of this has to do with your level of gratitude. Science has proven this lately. There is a study that proves those who write down three things daily that they are grateful for have lower levels of depression. In fact, when we are grateful, our brains get wired to look for more and more things that are going well in our lives. We actually get more grateful as we show gratitude. What?

To me that is something divine. It is a blessing from heaven and a caring Heavenly Father. It makes sense to me that He will bless me more as I am more and more aware of what He already blesses me with. It kinda almost hinges on that whole concept of eternity to me.  It makes sense to my brain.

If you don’t believe this, try it. Make a few minutes each day this week and  write down three things everyday that you are thankful for or that are going well in your life. I do this often in my journal and it really has made my outlook better. I also notice more and more things that are good in my life.

If you do take this little challenge, come back here and report how it went in the comments next Sunday. I triple dog dare you!

Something You May Not Know About Me.

Crying.  I hate it.  It messes up my mascara and it also makes me feel like I'm not as tough as I tell myself I am.

Seriously.  I am one tough cookie.  So much so, that after both my babies were born(via C-Section) the nurses would always ask me twice about my pain level.

Nurse: "On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the worst, what is your pain level."
Me: "Three"
Nurse:  "Are you sure?"

I would always think to myself.  No lady it is really at an 8 but I just don't want to burden you to give me another pill that will cost me an additional seven dollars. That's the going rate for ibuprofen these days, you know?

I have always had a high tolerance of pain.

I once broke my arm at a friends house when I was five years old.  We were really smart and thought jumping over a fence from the top of a slide was a good idea.  I was even more brilliant when I decided to try with an untied shoelace.  My friend's Mom had even pointed it out, but I didn't tie it.  It may or may not have been because I actually didn't know how to tie my shoe yet.

Anyway, I didn't tell my parents that I was hurting when I got home that night after riding my bike home.  I wondered why my right arm was feeling so silly with its pins and needles as I held the handle bars, but I never mentioned it to my parents.  My dad did ask me the next morning if anything was hurting and I think I said something like, "yeah my arms hurts a little bit." 

So, you get it.  I am tough.  I think I play the same games with my emotions.

But alas, I am a crier.  It usually comes when I am feeling spiritual.  I cannot get through church hymns without balling most Sundays.  But I also cry when I am exhausted, mad, or after tough stuff happens.

This happened earlier this week with the asthma attack a student had in class.  I was walking toward my friend's classroom afterward when she said: "Do you need a hug?"  I responded that I didn't because I would cry.  She then said: "It's okay to cry."  And then I was crying of course so I took her up on that hug.

I am slowly learning that it is perfectly okay to not be okay.  That is becoming one of my many mantras. 

So, I am a crier.  How about you?