Nanea Hoffman – Sweatpants and Coffee, LLC. – “Distracted”
I vacillate between reading the news, reading just the headlines, or not reading the news at all. I feel the same about social media platforms. When all this is too grim, filled with too much bad stuff, hate, and stupidity, I take a break from it all.
Priorites in my life –
I read.
I draw or paint.
I puzzle.
I take a walk.
I take a nap.
I exercise.
I listen to music.
I dance.
I look for things I find wonderful that I want to share with you on the blog.
I watch a favorite movie.
I reach out to a friend.
These things remind me not to get “distracted,” as Nanea Hoffman says so well, by all the stuff going wrong.
I’m lucky to have many wonderful priorities in my life that make each day worth living. I can make the world go away “when the world is too much with us,” as said by William Wordsworth, the English poet.
I think it’s a definite survival skill to make a go-to “sanity” list for ourselves and encourage people we care about to do the same, reminding ourselves of all the wonderful things we could be doing rather than stressing out over things we usually can’t control anyway.
I’ve told you that I’m trying to lose the lard and get as healthy as possible as I age.
On the eating front, I’m fasting from dinner the night before until lunch the following day, eating a low-carb diet using MyFitnessPal.com to log what I’m eating and drinking each day. My scales, though, better, are still laughing at me and GRUDGINGLY giving me good news from time to time.
On the exercise front, I do exercises with 3-pound weights in-between writing blog posts, several repetitions of many different moves before writing another post, then doing some chair exercises that are supposed to strengthen my abdomen (core.) In the afternoon, I’m doing half an hour to 45 minutes of yoga stretches. I’m consciously trying to move more, taking on projects like standing on my head (figuratively) in my closet upstairs, cleaning it out, trying on clothes, and bagging up stuff to donate to the Veterans Thrift Store in Fort Smith the next time we go. I’m trying to choose things – or they choose me – that involve a lot of pulling and hauling, going up and down stairs, in and out to the garage, or something similar. I measure at the end of every month to see if I’ve made any progress.
In cleaning out my closet, I’ve found another standard of measurement in my efforts – jeans.
When I started trying to lose the lard, and until I started going through my closet this past week, I was delighted to discover that I could do away with my fattest jeans. (The ones that had elastic at the waist, rather than a zipper.) As I tried on more things, I discovered that the next jeans size down was ALSO too big! HOOORAAAAAY! I’m now wearing jeans that are 3 sizes down from my worst. Now THAT is motivation to try to keep my mouth shut and continue my efforts. They AREN’T in vain. I AM making progress!
There is one jean and shorts size smaller than I now have stacked on the top shelf in my closet. It will probably be some time before I can wear those, but again, they are motivation. Fingers crossed.
I will weigh and measure at the end of the month, as usual, and report to you as I have promised, but I was grinning as I showed my husband. :0)
I spend some time on X and Blue Sky each day, mostly posting my blog posts and trying to promote my Etsy website. I’m kind of amazed by the ‘look’ of people on each of these sites.
I think they must strive to show themselves to be a certain kind of person, choosing things to post, showing their beliefs (or what they THINK they should be believing.) I find it difficult to find REAL people who I have any interest in wanting to know better. I’m turned off by the strident ones who are pushing an agenda and wouldn’t listen to a different point of view if their lives depended on it.
Others are obviously trolls, trying to use these as ‘dating apps,’ trying to portray themselves as the perfect male or female. It’s funny how you read the same descriptions over and over. Obviously, they think these work. Maybe they do….
Anyway, being older than dirt allows me to ignore all that stuff, concentrate on what I find good about the sites (the talented photographers, artists, and writers, mainly) and to show people who I am – and take the consequences if they like what I post or not.
Being yourself is a complicated idea. When you’re young, you want to fit in so badly that you’ll fold yourself into a paper airplane and sail across the room, wearing the ‘in’ thing, saying the ‘in’ things as you fly, hoping that people will like the image you’re projecting.
Then you want to be ‘cool,’ again avoiding any idea of being ‘different’ and therefore, somehow, LESS than others. Stuffing down who you are to try to be the person who again fits in, is attractive, etc.
I’m glad I’m me now. If you like ‘me,’ I’m happy. If you don’t, that’s okay, too. The ‘world’s’ opinion doesn’t matter to me anymore. Of COURSE I would really enjoy being liked, or for someone to like something about me, or what I do, etc., but I’m not devastated if I am found to be LESS anymore. I am happy in my own skin. I’m trying to be the best person I can be. I try to enjoy every minute I have, hopefully doing as much of what I would like to do as possible. I don’t want to waste a minute. It’s all good.
I display awards in my home for my procrastination skills. Well, not really, but I SHOULD have them. I am a master-class procrastinator and have honed my skills to a fine art.
I’m am trying to improve this, though, by tackling things that are difficult or downright intimidating at times. I think of this as a character-building exercise, and I can always use more of that.
I love the plaque above. (This Etsy site has all kinds of good signs you might like.) This one particular sign resonates with me, as I always have an excuse (or a whole list!) as to WHY I haven’t started things I would like to do or SHOULD do. The “Begin Anywhere” message says to me, start wherever you are and DO something toward the goal. No excuses. Just BEGIN. Today.
One of the things I ‘began’ on is trying to lose my lard and exercise to get healthier. I don’t remember now exactly when I started, but I’m finally making steady (though excruciatingly slow) progress toward my goal. I’ll be posting an accountability report for December on the 31st).
Another thing was to quit putting myself last. I would work like a nut daily trying to accomplish my hugely long and never-ending to-do list before I would give myself ‘permission’ to go upstairs and play in my art room. I would try to accomplish a certain amount before I allowed myself to write a blog post, something I truly love. I decided I didn’t need my ‘permission,’ and didn’t need to have accomplished a certain amount before allowing myself joy. Now I do the joyful FIRST, working in as many of the have-to’s and should-do’s from my list as I have time and energy for each day. Works for me…
I hope that you will embrace the idea of ‘beginning anywhere’ and make your own list. I think you will feel better as a person, be happier, and feel more in control of your life. :0)
When you’re trying to build a habit, change your lifestyle, I think it’s really important to splurge every once in a while. Others will call it ‘cheating,’ or think you ought to feel guilty. I disagree. I think it’s not only understandable, I think it is necessary.
Mindset – you’ve done your research, your mind is filled with ‘shoulds’ and you’re trying your best to stay the course. Then, life gets in the way, you’re offered a chance to do something that day that causes you to detour from what you’re trying to build into a routine. You feel guilty. You’ve failed.
I’m saying that you should BUILD IN detours. You should take the detour as a chance to REALIZE that you’re making a choice, that’s it’s OKAY not to follow your perfect plans every day. That you actually NEED to see that you can detour and then go back to the routine the next meal, the next day – the NEXT. It doesn’t have to kill you. It doesn’t have to derail your efforts. You splurge – you enjoy every minute of it – and then you go back to the lifestyle you’ve carefully chosen.
It’s what you do 99% of the time that counts. Your mindset is strong. You’re changing your LIFESTYLE. You’re stronger because of the detours because you CHOOSE to resume the good habits you’re building.
Detour – example – yesterday I was really happy to find some KETO bread at the store. This enabled my husband and I to have hot dogs for dinner last night. I didn’t have to eat what amounts to a ‘wrap,’ using a 0-net-carb tortilla as my bun. I actually got to use a hot dog bun! First time in a year! Whoopee! It was wonderful. I enjoyed every bite, loading mine with mustard and onion.
Instead of just throwing my hands in the air and hoping I was finally going to meet my interim weight loss goal this morning, we splurged, eating some no-added-sugar vanilla ice cream and some fresh blueberries. I KNEW it was a no-no. I didn’t realize until AFTER I had eaten it that the dish of ice cream used up ALL of my carb limit for the day and then some – not counting what I ate the rest of the day. The whole day was blown.
In the past, I would have then gotten out some potato chips or something, thinking, the day is blown, I might as well enjoy it, wallowing in guilt as I stuffed my face. This time I enjoyed every bite, REALIZING I was splurging, and redoubling my mindset that I wouldn’t feel guilty, and that my new LIFESTYLE would resume without pause in the morning.
Splurging – cheating – falling off the wagon – whatever you want to call it is an important part of building a new habit or lifestyle. You are only accountable to yourself. You choose to renew your commitment, now even stronger because you allowed yourself to be a real person, and your lifestyle change becomes a bigger and bigger part of you.
For ME the changes are losing the lard and getting stronger with more regular exercise. I don’t have to be perfect. I CAN splurge from time to time. It’s wonderful to know that. It increases my motivation to try to do good things for myself.
@Tweets Of Dogs on X – 8 year old son in school competition
I think this is beyond amazing for ANY age person. I hope he gets a lot of encouragement about his talent. Winning the competition would be great, but I think a support group’s reactions and some opportunities coming his way would be even better.
I ALMOST finished weed whacking the back yard – the three planters, the end of the house around all the geothermal stuff, under the porch, under the deck, along the sidewalk in the back and one side of the driveway pad before I ran out of cord – or it wouldn’t ‘bump’ anymore and give me more line.
Since I was thoroughly pooped by that time – the end of the third session out there today – I gave up, gathered up and put away the extension cord, pulled the back of the truck down as a place to work, managed to find a replacement cord thingie in case I needed it. I was too tired to actually try to change the cord thingie, so I came in.
I ordered six more cord thingies from Amazon, since the one I brought in was the last one I had. I rested, and drank more water (my eyes are floating) and I think I actually dropped off for a bit in my recliner.
I ‘roused’ a few minutes ago and went out to look at the weed whacker. I didn’t want to forget and have my husband try to shut the garage door later tonight and have the door run into the extended back of the truck.
I pulled out the old cord holder, with a lot of effort, and saw that indeed, I was out of cord. I got out the new one, threaded the cord through the hole, figured out how to put the new one on, including using the part of the old one you’re supposed to keep (:0) ) to hold the new one.
I DID IT! It snapped into place and the cord is extended through the hole, ready to be used again. I put a strip of duct tape around one part of the ‘rod’ of the weed whacker so I can now tell at a glance which one the ‘good one’ is.
HOOORAAAAAY!
Tomorrow is soon enough to start the front…
I spent over an hour with the 3 sessions outside. It’s almost 6pm here and I’ll start dinner soon. Will I do yoga?
A shout-out this morning to my good friend Marsha.
She lives across the country from me, but in my heart all the time.
We are helping each other be the healthiest we can be by each motivating the other to exercise every day.
She is walking to the post office daily and also using a new pedaler in her home so she doesn’t have to depend on the weather being good.
I am doing yoga practice daily and then ‘something else,’ including, but not limited to, at least one of the following –
elliptical trainer in the garage
online walking and/or weights videos
yard work
walking around the yard
We KNOW that exercise is good for us, but each of us is a master at making excuses for NOT doing it. We care about each other, though, and are now comparing notes daily.
If we have done what we promised each other (and ourselves) we would do, we put a star on our calendar. If not, we tell them we love them and encourage them to do better the next day.
Yesterday we both got a star! We’ll try to do it again today. :0)
Okay. I’m back, I THINK. I’m feeling empowered, since I really thought about my problem, figured out the first part (making the images list alphabetical), then thought again, then figured out how to get my pics into where I needed them so I could find them and get them out again. ALL BY MYSELF.
I still need to really pay attention when I save an image to be SURE I check on where it’s going before hitting ‘save.’
I just went and smilingly told my husband I had figured out how to get my pics to show up in the right place and usable. He just looked pleased, patted my hand, and then went back to reading his book. That’s okay. I’m BACK. This non-technical, intimidated old lady DID IT!
I love writing this blog. I’m delighted when I find some someone who is creating something that fills me with awe at their talent and with joy from what they have created, whether it’s in music, or art, or writing, or just making me laugh or cry. One of the things that keeps me from giving up is that there are so MANY creative souls who continue to create something special in the middle of our callousness and stupidity. These people shut out the world and create something that speaks to us, makes us feel our better selves, causes us to keep hope alive. I’m so grateful that I am able to find people from all over the world who fill my heart, making me want to share them with you.
The WordPress people provide graphs and charts showing you how many people are following you, how many people look at your posts, how many ‘likes’ you get, comments, etc., and then compare them to the past. I usually just concentrate on the day, trying to provide a variety of posts, hoping that you feel entertained, glad you spent some time with me. Every once in awhile I look at the past, just to get an idea of what has happened since I started.
People follow for different reasons. When they no longer find it interesting, or I send too many posts, they stop following, so the numbers go up and down. The chart above shows the yearly totals of visitors and views, from 2014 when I started until the year just started, 2023. I found it really encouraging to see the difference last year. It makes me happy, but it also makes me more serious about trying to provide a variety of things that will make you feel you aren’t wasting your time or finding me too annoying.
I so enjoy the ‘likes’ I receive, and particularly the comments, letting me know what you think. Thanks for making 2022 a nice year. I’ll try to do better in 2023.
It’s easy these days to be down. Things become more and more challenging, frustrating and downright scary in our world. It’s hard to listen to or read the news because of all the bad stuff.
It’s important to stay informed, but I’m determined to focus on the beauty around me – not to be a Pollyanna or put my head in the sand like an ostrich, but not to let it all stomp me into the dirt psychologically.
Every day I look at what talented people have created. I search for it because I find people creating music, books, paintings, photographs and sculpture so beautiful it makes me forget for a bit what a mess we are making of things. It doesn’t matter what the medium is. Someone can look at it and see it in a different way, seeing its potential and bringing forth beauty that makes you cry. What a gift!
People focus on making plants grow or practicing a skill until it’s an art form. Teachers light a spark that causes a fire in a child’s heart that cannot be extinguished. Someone’s speech makes you want to help or turn your life in a different direction.
The fact that we live on the same planet as these talented people is almost unbelievable, and yet it’s true if we only look for it.
We can realize that not everyone is rushing headlong into the scary. We can keep our eyes open, protect ourselves and our loved ones as much as possible, try to help in any way we can, and keep the faith.
As Anthony J. Dangelo said, “Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.”
With all the awful things happening in our world today, our hearts are ripped out of our chests on a daily basis. Hate seems to reverberate from the walls, causing defensiveness, if not hostility, in return.
We can simply turn off and be numb to all going on around us, or we can LOOK for positive things that help us deal with the bad as well as possible. Being happy is a deep-down choice you make. It comes from within you, recognizing all the good you have around you and filling your heart with it.
When you decide to be happy, it flows outward, affecting those around you. All you have to do to test this is to smile at people you don’t know when you’re out in public. Most of the time, people may look surprised, but they smile back. Not a word has been said, but you’ve communicated and both of you feel better.
This blog is a place where I can share the good things I find with you. I hope that some of it lifts YOUR spirits, too. :0)
To me this means that we should strive to EXPAND our interests, our knowledge, our activities for as long as we are here. We need to actively try to leave our comfort zone, trying something new every once in awhile, meeting new people, finding new sources of information, and more.
I feel lucky that I can learn new things every day simple by being curious on my computer. I enjoy it SO much I have to be careful not to be sucked into a rabbit hole, reading one thing that leads me to another until a good amount of my day is gone.
I don’t want to color with fewer and fewer crayons, allowing my world to gradually implode around me.
creativeartworksblog 