Time On My Hands

It is about 3:55am and I am sitting here on my part time job. Yes, I know, it sucks right? I worked all day long from 7:20am - 5:00pm. When I left there I had to go get my kids, pay a few bills, feed them, and try my best to get a couple hours sleep to prepare for my midnight gig. Tonight isn't so bad. I must give partial credit to 5 hour energy. It has allowed me to stay alert and coherent and that is vital being that this position is security. I have done everything. I have a book that I am currently reading entitled, The 33 Strategies of War. This is a must read might I add to anyone viewing the blog. I am only in the first few pages but I am hooked already. My life has begun to transform with each turn of the page. I also have my arsenal of snacks (so much for that weight loss epiphany. lol) I have concluded to visit my local grocer to get healthier snacks for this around the clock battle. Lastly, I have been observing people as they come and go. I have been looking at them wondering what their story is. We all have one. I look and wonder why they work here and why they get out of their beds at such terrible hours to punch a clock and make just above minimum wage if that. I guess they are here for the same reason I am! Since I have all this time on my hands I figured I might as well make the best of it. I can continue writing my book and work on things that I have been longing to do. I can also submit more frequent entries to this blog! Hooray! Sometimes we are set up by God in the most peculiar way. I have four more hours to go. What will I do next? Hmmmm.....work maybe? LMBO! (oh and just in case you are questioning my work ethic, I did clear all of this extra activity with my supervisor. Turns out, it is all encouraged because they just want you to stay awake!) Until next time.......

Weight

As I get older I have a better understanding of the things my mother said and the things she went through. I sometimes long for the opportunity to just talk to her and say, "I see what you mean now". I guess my understanding about health and well being has deepened as well. I have taken on a more serious consciousness about my health and about what I put in my body. I know exercise is good for you and it makes you feel really good. There are so many benefits to it, but why is it so hard to get into a habit or routine? These are the questions that I pose to myself. One time before I had a similar epiphany on losing weight and being healthy. I went to the gym everyday for a month and a half. I was so amazed at how awesome it made me feel. My mood was happier. I felt like I could run a marathon. (only in thought..lol) I slept better. It was such a wonderful feeling. I even saw results in my appearance. Then after all that hard work of cardio and toning I stepped on the scale and noticed I had only lost 6 lbs. Now, I heard all the talk that the loss is in inches and not necessarily weight. People told me not to get discouraged and that I was doing really good. I thought I was still motivated, but in retrospect, I think that seed planted a give up bug in me that I never recovered from. Well I have found the antidote for this bug. It is called, determination. When did I discover it you may ask? When I walked by a mirror and backed up and noticed that I did not recognize the person looking back at me! It could have been a couple of weeks ago when I climbed a flight of stairs and had to beg my knees for mercy. It doesn't matter which incident led to my epiphany. The point is, I refuse to live unhealthy. Not to worry, I'm not going to turn my blog into a weight loss chronicle, but I will share with you a few of my ups and downs on this meandering road to healthiness!

Who Has Time To Cry?

We all go through things in life that may lead to our hosting the infamous party. What party you may ask? None other than the classic pity party. Even the Bible says there is a time to laugh and a time to cry right? lol This morning I was all set. I knew that I couldn't go to work because of some other circumstances and I knew that I would have the entire day to just sulk. I invited Mr tissue, grabbed my Linus blanket(ok, so I haven't gotten a Snuggie YET), set the air on arctic and got ready to let the rivers of my pain seep from my eyes. Then I realized I had to iron a couple of pants for my kids uniform that I failed to do the night before. So I got that done. I thought maybe I would have a few minutes to run off in the corner and lick my wounds, but just then, my daughter's hair needed to be flat ironed. At this point, I got a little perturbed because I knew that their bus would be coming soon and I would have to wait at the bus stop with them. This caused the party to be postponed yet again. I mean who really wants a puffy red eyed mom waiting with them? (Especially not my first year at middle school, thinks she is in high school daughter!) Ok, the bus comes and I rush back home. I am thinking of all of the things that just aren't going right in my life and prepping myself for the pain to come. Wouldn't you know it, I had to take my friend to work. I figured since I was going that far away from home I might as well get dressed for the day. I took her to work and then I ran so many errands that exhaustion set in. By the time I returned home, I realized that I'm just too busy to have a pity party. I had a choice, get a good cry in before the bus comes to bring the kids home, or eat and take a nap. Yep, you guessed it! Tacos and power nap it was. Tom Hanks had a line in A League of Their Own that stuck with me. He said, "You're crying?... There's no crying in baseball!" I would like to tweak that just a little and say, "There's no crying in single parenting!" Needless to say, because I rain checked the impending pour down, I had an extremely productive day and I managed to make a lot of things happen with God's help!

Who's Bad?

No, I am not breaking out the silver glove, leather jacket, and white socks with black loafers. RIP...Mr. King of Pop! I am,however, disgusted with the reaction of people. Recently, there was a lady that was incarcerated after suffocating her children and putting them in the car and pushing it into the river. This story bears striking resemblance to that of Susan Smith years ago who was ironically from the same state and only two hours up the road. There were so many who wanted to throw this current lady under the bus. I've heard comments from those who say she should have no mercy and that they should give her the death penalty. There were so many comments swarming around that had absolutely no compassion for this lady. Now I am not saying in the least bit that her actions should go unpunished. Nor am I condoning what she did in any way. However, society is quick to throw stones and outcast our own instead of moving to the heart of the matter. We tend to think that because we have not murdered or done some other crime that we have the right to pick up the gavel and judge away. I mean think about it. How many people have we killed with our mouths? How many times have we scarred a person for life because we enforced our beliefs or opinions? How are we any better than this disturbed lady? There are so many factors yet to be heard surrounding this case. She cited her mother's disapproval of her parenting skills and the lack of employment as reasons for motive. It is unfortunate that the children have lost their lives because of underlying problems, but we have to become a more compassionate society. In displaying that compassion we will be able to help people so that this type of behavior will not continue.

Life Unpredicted

Last week I met with a client on Monday. We laughed and talked and he was so happy because I was able to help him fix a situation. He got up and kept telling me how I had made his day and how happy I made him. Then he said, "I am doing alright! Anything else that happens will be icing on the cake!" I laughed and watch him walk down the aisle with his "swag". I was informed today that this past Monday, a week from our encounter, this man was in a fatal accident and burned beyond recognition. Needless to say, I was devastated. I had shared a moment of this man's life. I brought happiness to his day, but little did he know that his icing would be the afterlife. Life is so unpredictable. I have thought about this situation all day. I wondered, how was I to contribute to him. Was I supposed to tell him about Christ even though I work in the confines of governmental employment? What really matters? We work our entire lives striving for a certain level of success for what? It isn't about us. It is about the Kingdom. I have had yet another wake up call.

You Are What You Eat And Say!

Have you ever heard the saying, you are what you eat? This saying is so true, but often looked upon from a health conscious view. Truly what we put in our bodies will manifest itself in several different ways. It could enhance or deplete energy. It can cause weight loss or gain. It can clear up or block passage ways, etc. However, I have begun to think about that saying more in depth. The bible tells us that as a man thinketh so is he. Which pretty much says the same thing. Whatever you allow your mind to eat and take in, you will believe and become. Whatever we say becomes truth. There are so many scriptures about guarding the tongue and the tongue being a two edged sword, and speaking those things that be not as though they were, etc. It is my belief that this is the foundational basis of many of your modern life coaches, motivational speakers, and even psychologist whether they recognize it or not. We are taught at an early age to speak positively and think positively. Many will go as far as saying that you should look in the mirror and recite affirmations and declare success. We are told to make sticky notes and put them all around our daily paths as reminders of what we are to keep our minds on. Therefore, what we think and say, what we "eat" with our eyes and minds, will determine our level of success and achievement. If we don't believe that we can make it or that we are capable of pulling off the next goal, we will fail every time. We have to become our dreams and aspirations. They have to manifest themselves in us first. Not just the dreams of one day being super rich or owning a business, but even simple things such as weight loss, parenting, reading that book we've been waiting to read, or yes, even.....writing a blog! lol When we have conceived who we are in our minds nothing and no one can deter our birthing of that ideal. So whatever your dream or goal may be; However big or small it is; I leave you with a few lines of one of my favorite movies, SOUND OF MUSIC, "Climb every mountain, Ford every stream, Follow every rainbow, Till you find your dream" Bon Appetit!

Be Careful What You Ask For...

I am in such emotional distress at this very moment. I have wanted some things so very badly and now it seems that some of them may be obtainable, but at a very high cost. I find that we never know the way life is going to happen. We often times have a mental pic of how things will be. These ideals are shaped and molded as a child and develop into our goals. When it doesn't go according to plan we tend to have several discomforts. I am learning that I have to just roll with life and make the best out of every situation. Decisions, mistakes, and experiences help to take us to the ultimate purpose and destiny that we strive to achieve.