I love that this is my time during the week to allow myself to reflect and be grateful for all that we have. My HusbandThis week had a few bumps for us, we had car troubles and a health issue and I am so grateful for my husband and his health. I am glad he is doing well and that he is a part of my life and sometimes when things get hard it really makes you realize all you have. The local YMCAI am growing and changing in my life and I am excited to start swimming again. I love how it feels and it is quite refreshing. I am blessed at the facility near us and how much it offers and how affordable it is. Avocado on Bread I want to call this avocado toast for simplicity's sake, but honestly I do not bother to toast it, I just put it on some homemade bread with everything bagel seasoning and flakey sea salt. Health InsuranceWe had an unexpected trip to the hospital this week and I have to say having insurance made at least that one part feel less stressful and more understandable. Slowly but surely everything finds a way. AdventuresThis weekend we went and explored a few new areas and I have to say I am excited to start doing that more. The weather was quite nice and I really enjoyed finding a new place to go for a walk. One of the things I love about life is the ability to try new things and take on new adventures. I am excited for all the many adventures on the horizon.
What are you grateful for this week? Please share below.
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One of the things I struggle with doing is recognizing what I have accomplished. I do not tend to celebrate what I have done, I am typically more forward thinking. In an effort to remediate that I am sharing 100 accomplishments in no particular order that range from big to small. Some of these are more recent habits and some of these are older. I think it is important to see value in all parts of life not only the big but the small and daily too.
In writing this list, I was struck by how it captures some of the what I did, but not always why or how it mattered. In the past few years I think more than many of the things listed here I have learned who I am and how to best be myself and show up in the world. That more than any single accomplishment has made me feel like myself. I think yes, it is important to explore and get out of your comfort zone, but it is also important to know yourself and know what has actually been meaningful for you.
This week is quite a busy and exciting week for me personally. I am glad for this post to slow down and appreciate what the abundance of this week offers me. KnittingOne of the things I am loving lately is knitting. Knitting, like running is one of those activities I oddly pick up in the summer, when it seems weird and or it is way too hot. I am not running lately, because I have noticed my hips being sore when I sleep, but I have been knitting and I am currently working on creating a scarf, which has been a joy to work on in the air conditioning. Strawberry ShortcakeI have not been loving sweets lately, but this weekend I made some strawberry shortcake, or an approximation of it with unsweetened strawberries, whipped cream on a biscuit and I thoroughly enjoy the refreshing taste. Trader Joe's Ciabotta BaguetteI have been on a bread kick to such a degree that I almost refuse to buy regular bread from the grocery store. One of the bread that I still love, and have yet to learn how to make is a good baguette. I feel I need to tell you, this is not a crusty baguette, it is soft and chewy. I like it because I find for my needs it works quite well and around me at local stores all of the crust ones are dry and powdery on the interior which is not a trade off I am willing to make. I would rather have a nice chew than a crispy exterior, but maybe if I learn to make my own I will have both. FansI have found that in the summer anything that gets the air moving is quite appreciated. I am loving the fans to circulate air overhead and tower fans that keep it cool and to make it feel more enjoyable. Exercise Ball as Desk ChairI switched out my office chair for an exercise ball and I have to say I have notice my back feels better and I am forced to have better posture. I am thoroughly enjoying it and I am glad to have made the switch. I also love how minimalist it makes my office and it can be hidden underneath my desk without adding clutter or furniture. What are you loving this week? What is making your life better or what small things are you grateful for?
I have been blogging for over a year now and I feel like it is good to look back and reflect on what has changed since I have started and what I have learned. Yes, I have blogged before, but this has been different I have been fairly consistent blogging at least once a month if not more. Hopefully some of this will be helpful to you if not just interesting. Recipes Take TimeWhen I started blogging, I assumed I would only write about food. I still love food and in fact I plan to continue to blog about food and recipes. What I did not fundamentally understand is that for me to be satisfied with a recipe it often takes time and effort to create and test to ensure I am happy with the product. I am not sure why I believed initially I would be a recipe savant, but no I have many a flops and I work to shift and change them. As I continue to blog, I will include recipes, but I am not sure of the frequency which depends to a greater degree on how they test and how many trials it takes to get them to taste the way they are in my mind. Change is InevitableThis goes hand in hand with the prior lesson, but I have shifted my blog to include more things of interest and that change was not intentionally planned, but occurred because I love this medium. I love being able to reflect and write and share my thoughts. I find blogging to be a way to process the world and I then have concrete evidence of who I was and what I thought a year ago or more. For me the key to continuing blogging has been to accept change and embrace it as an opportunity. Ideas Continue to ComeI also thought I would run out of ideas, even in terms of food. In reality I have more ideas now that I did when I started and I thought that my writing would be limiting. I would run out of words and ideas, but as I continue to learn and grow I have new ideas and new things to share that will continue to come out via blog. I thought creativity was something I had in limited supply, but the more I tap into it the more I realize it is fairly infinite. Blogging Helps Me GrowI did not realize all the skills that went into blogging. Photography, recipe development, writing, finding a voice and even editing. I am slowly growing and learning to improve these skills in a way that helps me grow in general. I find when you are working to develop new skills it influences the way you see the world around you and gives you a greater understanding of life in general. Here is to another year or more of blogging. If you blog, what have you learned along the way? What tools, tips, or advice have been most helpful? If not, what have you learned through consistent practice in one area?
My dad has taught me many lessons in life. When I was in college, I called my family frequently. Since I spent most of my college years on the West Coast, I mostly called my dad, who was also located on the West Coast. I would discuss the daily and the mundane and things I was thinking. Mostly I would call on the walk from my college to my off campus housing. One of my common phrases I used, as I shared last week, was the phrase I know. Any comment or suggestion I would respond with I know. At times my dad would express his frustration, he would say, "do not say you know when you don't." As I reflect on that time and that phrase, I realize that I know was a shield. I did not know but I could not handle more information. I know alleviated responsibility, alleviated having to learn more and adjust my actions accordingly. I thought since I was technically an adult, part of being an adult was knowing everything there is to know. I felt shame about what I did not know. Hearing more that I was unaware of made me feel like a failure. I am more intentional with my discussions lately. I do not share topics I am still working through and sensitive about. I also am less likely to say I know when I truly don't. I have started being willing to ask questions to learn, to treat others as experts and gain advice from them. Being willing to acknowledge that you do not in fact know everything is an opportunity to learn and grow. I have notice we often expect more from ourselves than is reasonable and at least in my case it comes from a place of pride. I learned this over time and through experience. I struggled with being uninformed and learned over time that there truly is no shame in not knowing. We all start as beginners and knowing what you do not know can be a valuable lesson. Today I suggest we embrace ourselves and acknowledge we do not know and we cannot know everything, rather than being a failing, it simply is a sign we are human.
Happy Fourth of July! I am glad to be spending this July 4th in the United States this year. I want to share with you things I am grateful for. Living in a Place of FamiliarityNice Walking PathsThis week we found a nice walking path and I was surprised by how at home having a place to walk outside makes me feel. We were blessed by the many great paths in Des Moines and we are slowly finding some new ones here in New Hampshire. A RainbowThe weather here has been a mix of hot and rain. I saw the glimpse of a rainbow and then went to the window and was able to see most of the rainbow. I am glad at how nature can be so beautiful. Air ConditioningWe live in a third floor apartment and lately we have had a couple of 90 degree days. I have finally determined turning on the air conditioning is necessary. One thing I do miss is central air conditioning. We are adjusting, but some day we will be back for central air conditioning in our living space. Overnight OatsAs it has heated up, I have been looking for cooler breakfasts. The one I am loving is just leaving some oats in a jar with milk to soften overnight and eating them with additional milk and nuts in the morning. I love this simple breakfast and how cool and refreshing it is.
Having moved all over one of the things I have noticed in an immediate sense is the way my language is affected by those around me. I know we all have unique ways of speaking, the way we structure sentences are unique to us and our thought patterns. Even the way we speak can be unique, I know that I over annunciate. My speech habits though change. I find speech to be one of the more flexible things in my life, when I am around or listening to someone who curses more I pick up that language, even as I try not to. Sometimes I can pinpoint where a phrase came from, other times they seem to appear out of thin air and I struggle to lose the phrase from my vocabulary. Most of the time, my patterns have to be pointed out to be because I do not notice them. In college I learned from my dad, my phrase was I know. I would respond to anyone I know. In Florida, I picked up the occasional and intentional use of y'all, which I still love. I also picked up the phrase same same, which I use to this day. The other word I found in Florida was sesquipedalian, meaning characterized by using long words. I heard from my husband on his word of the day calendar and for some reason I use that to this day. In Iowa, my dad informed me that I was using well or because to pause in a conversation but maintain control of the conversation. I also shifted talking about our church leader from minister to pastor. Now I cannot imagine saying anything other than pastor, although I am sure based on location that is likely to change as well. My most embarrassing speech patterns have shown themselves recently towards the end of being in Iowa and here in New Hampshire. I started sarcastically saying you're welcome, which if you know me is odd because I rarely if ever use sarcasm. The reality that I did that was one of those that as soon as I heard it come out of my mouth it made me cringe. I struggled to stop saying it and it was a real effort to take that out of my daily language. That pattern was replaced with the even more cringeworthy verbal statement hashtag followed by some larger theme. I have slowly worked that out of my daily usage. I find though language to be a part of me that changes the most quickly and the one that is also hard to undo. Have you noticed changes in your speech based on location or even who you surround yourself with? Any phrases I should try to intentionally incorporate?
One of the characteristics I most admire in others is an ability to be unashamedly yourself. I find people who are passionate to be some of the most inspiring people I know. Sometimes I wonder if I admire authenticity because I feel like I have no choice but to be authentic. I am quirky and have never really been able to hide it. My husband often says that the more I try to act like others the more I end up showcasing the fact that I am different and uniquely myself. I am weird, and I have no choice but to do the things I love and be my weird self. I have accepted it and moved on. Authenticity though requires risk. You need to accept that not everyone will understand you. Not everyone will get you. You might have opinions that are different from a majority of people and that is okay. One of the best parts of being human is realizing that you are unique amongst the seven billion people on the planet. Yes, someone may have done it before, but no one can do it the way you would and no one will do it the way you will. We are similar but not the same. Realizing that your path is one no one else has taken can be intimidating. I always come back to a quote by Joseph Campbell, “if you can see your path laid out in front of you step by step, you know it's not your path. Your own path you make with every step you take. That's why it's your path.” We need to feel free to walk our own paths and I think watching someone else who is in their element makes us feel free to do that in our own lives. Watching people who are authentic gives us permission to be authentic too. I find authenticity to be an underrated quality. As a society, we have been taught to ridicule those who are different and themselves rather than celebrate them. Brain wise, this makes sense someone who does something different could have endangered our tribal selves, part of staying alive meant being liked by those around us. In a way, we have taken this too far rather than simply being liked we have started to try to be the same as the ideal, forcing ourselves into rigid constructs that we do not fit. Rather than accepting that we can be liked for being ourselves, while being kind to others, we focus on being like others. We lose the moments of connection and understanding and instead of gaining connection we lose ourselves. I am not the first to encourage authenticity, but I know for me owning who I am and what works for me has been a struggle. I acutely felt all the jabs of others, I often felt different. Growing up I moved schools, and I was so concerned I wore the same pants for a week, my mom dutifully washing them every night. These small moments where we give up our identity to be accepted are harmful in the long run. We do not recognize that was we gain in the moment as acceptance undermines our being accepted as our actual selves. We need to be brave enough to be honest with ourselves and those around us. We need to accept that we are not all meant to be the same and that is a beautiful and wonderful thing. There are many people who understand and love things I do not care about, but without them the world would be a worse place. We need all kinds to make the world the best it can be. Rather than stifling each other and putting ourselves in boxes, we need to slow down and realize the bravery it takes. We can only truly be accepted by being ourselves and we need others to be themselves too. Today I want to encourage you to take steps towards being yourself. That may look like sharing a bit more, standing up for something you care about, taking a small step in a direction you care about, whatever it is take the small step. It is always worth it.
For a year and a half, I have started closely examining my life. I say started because that is bound to change, my life does not stay the same and as I adapt and change I have new things to observe. One trend though I have noticed in my life is that the small things magnify the big. I am not sure that phrase entirely makes sense on it's own so let me explain what I mean by it. When I am frustrated that the grocery store does not have butternut squash, what I am really noticing is my struggle with rigidity and expectations, and how I am struggling to handle a curve ball. When you stop and pay attention to how you handle the smaller moments in life, struggles, and frustrations, you gain insight into how you cope with larger stresses. I used to believe that when I dealt with larger problems in a much more superior way than with small frustrations, but the reality is that I use the same coping strategies for both. When you slow down and pay attention to the small things, how you treat yourself or the way you use language to describe yourself, you start to see that many of the frustrations in your life are self created. Currently my brain finds my life stressful because I find each day to be different than my previous norm in Iowa. This comes out in little annoyances, like the grocery stores and larger ones. I used to thing I would have an epiphany and everything that was confusing would suddenly make sense. The reality is that when we pay attention to the small things, we gain insight into our larger problems as a by-product. By noticing our struggles with the minutia we can adapt to both small and larger problems more fluidly. One thing I hope helps is to know that we can always slow down and pay attention even for a moment. Each moment of attentiveness is useful, each moment is one we can learn from. We do not need to wait for big changes in life to grow and adapt, but by paying attention to the daily and the ordinary we can make growth too.
I love this practice of weekly intentional gratitude. Cold ShowersLately in the summer, I have found that because our apartment gets quite hot, one form of relief is a cold shower. I appreciate taking a cold shower and view it as a reset. It may seem simple, but it is one of the few things that has made a big difference. BiscuitsI often forget how delicious biscuits are, but last week I made them and really enjoyed them. As I was saving yet another biscuit recipe, I realized that I have two other recipes for biscuits, clearly they are something I enjoy. EggsI have been loving all the various ways to cook eggs. My current favorite ways have been fried eggs, scrambled eggs and oeufs en cocotte. I have to say eggs have been a recent cooking favorite. Fresh VegetablesOne of the other things that I love about summer is the amount of fresh produce and the salads that are delicious. I am enjoying how much the fresh food is available and how great it all tastes. I really love the change of seasons and clearly I am loving a variety of foods. What are you loving lately?
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About MeI'm Sarah; a wife, traveler, foodie, and adventurer. Archives
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