Never stop learning. I mean it. Never stop. It is the most critical factor I can think of that is required to live a meaningful life. I don’t know about you, but I believe living a meaningful life is way cooler than living a mediocre one. I have tried (somewhat unsuccessfully) to build a few new habits this year. I wanted to blog for 5 minutes every day in order to post on My Little Blue Kayak 5x per month. Instead, I have been in a major slump all summer and am now kicking myself in the pants! I wanted to earn at least 1 CEU (continuing education credit) per month in order to earn 15 for the year. I believe I have earned 6 so far.
It is easy to write goals and even easier to promptly forget to address them. Writing this blog is one way I push myself to do better, to be better. Let’s face it, having to share one’s failures has a way of motivating one to do better. I know why I didn’t blog for 5 minutes every day, I know why I didn’t earn 1 CEU per month. I don’t need to make excuses, I need to do better. If you want to read about my goals, check out these posts. 5 Minutes is Easy, 2018 Goal Review, A Year in Review. As you can see, writing goals is important to me and finding ways to push myself to do and be better is critical if I want my life to mean something.
I don’t need much in life in order be happy and satisfied. Give me a yummy meal, a glass of wine,and good company. Follow this up by a good nights sleep and I’m in heaven. How about you?
At the cottage, I sleep in what we call the “Bunk House” or “Little House”. When we were kids it had a Raggedy Ann and Andy motif and has always been a preferred place to sleep. I now call this my condo and think the new nickname is starting to catch on! All that is in this little space is 2 sets of bunk beds, a dresser and a small metal desk. It has some shelves that hold some darts, a few magazines and my “I Love My Dog” sign. My condo is great for getting a good nights sleep.
My condo in the fall
I love my condo and sleep with all of the windows and the door wide open. I get plenty of fresh air and can see the moon and stars from bed. When the temperature is cool, I snuggle down under a comforter. Fenway sleeps on her bed on the floor next to me and I can hear her breathing throughout the night. The only thing I don’t love about my condo is that my honey is not sleeping next to me on my little twin bed.
I have been hearing and reading a bit about the importance of sleep lately and was reminded about the health puzzle that I wrote about a while back. The puzzle identified sleep as one of the major factors impacting our health. Sleep is something I have historically struggled with and although it has improved greatly, I still have rough nights. Today I woke up around 3:45AM and I have been up playing on my computer since 4:30AM!
I am a lousy napper and have never been accused of being a night owl. I tend to go to bed before 9:30PM and get up between 5:00 and 6:00AM. You can often find me in my pajamas before dinner. I know the importance of a good nights sleep!
We all know that consistently getting adequate sleep is important and that without it we tend to be tired, cranky and frankly not much fun to be around. But did you know that proper sleep gives our body the opportunity to perform maintenance and repair tasks that are critical for good health? Did you ever wake up in the morning having solved a dilemma you had been struggling with? Yup, sleep can help do that too!
Inadequate rest impairs our ability to think, to handle stress, to maintain a healthy immune system and to moderate our emotions. It’s associated with heart disease, hypertension, weight gain, diabetes and a wide range of psychiatric disorders including depression and anxiety.
Chris Kresser
When you think about sleep like this, it is a bit easier to understand why poor sleep impacts our health. When trying to optimize health, people tend to focus on diet and exercise and forget to address the other pieces of the health puzzle that could have a big impact. You could eat a wonderful diet and get great exercise but if you don’t get good sleep your health will suffer.
With that in mind, I think I will climb back under the covers and get a bit of rest!
It is officially summer! Yeah! One of my yard work customers is 96 and yesterday she informed me that she was going to be outside working in her yard at 10 PM on the longest day of the year. I didn’t check in on her but I have no doubt that she met her goal! She makes me crack up laughing every time we talk; I am grateful for her.
I have been incredibly busy between yard work and my work at the nursing home. I have been working six days per week and really love my Sundays off. The funny thing is when I work at my yard work gigs, it barely feels like work. I am out in all kinds of weather, rain, sun, wind, hot, and cold. I do laundry pretty much every other day because I get so dirty. Good thing we have a washer and dryer in the basement! I am grateful for my yard work and for my washer machine!
One of my goals for 2019 was to start a gratitude journal and I am happy to report I have been writing in it pretty consistently. It sits on the nightstand next to my bed and every night when I crawl under the covers I jot down 3 things I am grateful for. I have noticed that the more I write in my journal the easier it is to identify 3 things to be grateful for.
I now find it easy to truly express gratitude for things that once would have been simply irritating. I am getting better and seeing the positive side of every day events. This is a skill that will help me for the rest of my life! Here are a few things I am grateful for today!
I am grateful I didn’t break my pinky finger when I slammed it in the folding table. I am grateful that the tree that fell into the lake didn’t hit the neighbors boat (it was really close). I am grateful that the cottage didn’t flood and Child #7 and Mother Fran didn’t need to evacuate in the storm. I am grateful my honey made it safely to Connecticut and is on her way home. I am grateful for my health, for my wealth (what there is of it) and for my happiness.
I believe gratitude has the ability to grow like compound interest! But in order to do that, it must be shared, it must be expressed. Let’s fill each others buckets by expressing our gratitude to our loved ones. It is one way to help save the world! When we quarantine gratitude it can not grow, it can not multiply. That is like the opposite of saving the world.
Go save the world by expressing some gratitude today! Happy Summer.
I have learned that I need to schedule fun activities in order to ensure I do the things I say love to do. If I don’t literally get it on my calendar, I don’t find the time to go biking, hiking or kayaking. I get caught up in work, chores and the day to day tasks of running my life and the weeks slip by one after another. I have to literally schedule date night with my honey and overnights at the cottage with Mother Fran or these incredibly important things don’t happen. One of my rules for living my life is to spend time with people I love doing activities we both enjoy. In order to make this happen, it needs to get on the schedule. I also need to be willing to do the work that is involved with having fun.
My honey and I just spent 27 hours away from home for a biking adventure with my cousin. 27 hours sounds inconsequential. It sounds like nothing. All we had to do was get the bike rack on the car, the bikes down from the garage ceiling, the tires pumped up. We had to pack the car, arrange for Fenway care and get the day off from work. Making this biking trip happen involved work AND it was well worth it!
Isn’t she a beauty?
Getting away from home, even for a 27 hour period of time can feel like a vacation. It doesn’t have to be expensive, it doesn’t have to be far, it doesn’t have to be loaded with activities. For us, just getting to a new environment and spending quality time together is wonderful. It gets the oxytocin activated – you know the feel good cuddle hormone! Yes it involves a bit of effort AND it is worth it!
One of my Happiness Goals for 2019 is to go on to two bike/kayak/hike weekends away from home. The trip to my cousins counts as one so one more to go! It has taken a long time but we finally purchased 2 sets of JBars for the kayaks and a load assist device to help us get them on top of the Rav4. It is time for me to do some planning and get a kayaking weekend on the calendar! Now we have to figure out how to assemble everything and make sure we know how to secure them on the roof! Sometimes fun sounds like work AND it is worth it!
The 2 hour drive to my cousins house was a breeze. Making this happen was easy but only because I got it on our joint calendar. We use the Google Calendar – we each have our own calendar and we have a joint one. We can both see all three of them at the same time (color coded) or can easily turn one off to make it look less daunting. I don’t know how I kept track of my life in my 30’s and 40’s but I know I didn’t use any phone Apps or even a paper calendar. All I know is this process works well for us!
When I feel overwhelmed, I tend to shut down and disengage a bit. That makes planning fun activities more difficult. I don’t know about you but I intend to have a wonderful summer and that means it is time do the work so I can have some fun! My honey and I are also talking about a return trip to Florida this winter and a drive cross country in 2020. It is time to start some planning to make these both happen!
This time of year, I spent most of my time outdoors. On a daily basis, I am outside walking my dog and gardening. In my free time I love to be out at the lake, soaking up the sun, kayaking, hiking and biking. My honey and I did a beautiful hike last weekend at one of the local State Parks. It was a good loop with views of waterfalls and flowing water. Next weekend we plan on biking with my cousin on the Erie Canalway. I believe time spent in nature is time well spent.
I feel like the more time I am outside, enjoying all that Mother Nature has to offer, the more tuned in I am to the sites and sounds. I get to see more of what is out there, not because I am outside more but because I have increased my awareness. Does that make sense? I miss a lot too, especially when I am playing on my iPhone or tuned into the chattering going on inside of my head instead of the beauty that surrounds me. We have to keep our heads up to enjoy Mother Nature!
I am not a homeowner, nor do I own any property. My one attempt at owning my own home ended in disaster and although it took a long time, I have finally stopped beating myself up for that really BIG mistake! I thought I would never buy again and that renting was the way to go. Owning your own home is a lot of work that as a renter I don’t need to worry about. I don’t need to mow the lawn, trim the trees, or edge the sidewalk. I am not responsible for fixing the appliances, deciding what project to tackle next, or hiring the contractor. I don’t have to pay the property taxes, school taxes or to fix whatever needs fixing.
All of that is true, so WHY do I enjoy looking at houses for sale online? I enjoy looking at the pictures, reading the descriptions and calculating if it is affordable. I like doing drive bye’s, checking out the view and popping in on Open Houses. It is a bit of a time waster for me AND I really enjoy it!
I have been eating pretty healthy for a while now and have hit a 40 day streak tracking my food intake on My Fitness Pal. I was reviewing my data today and realized I eat about the same amount of calories in snacks as I do for each meal! I wasn’t sure if I should be horrified but decided to just take it in stride. My overall caloric intake is fine and I am happy thrilled with my current weight! I have been using the My Fitness Pal App on and off for a few years but have never been so consistent with it. In addition to getting a glimpse at my calories, protein, carbohydrate, fat, fiber and sugar intake, I find it helps me to see how the food I eat affects my body. There is a section at the end of each day for notes and I use that to jot down any symptoms I feel during the day; allowing me to recognize patterns of eating and how I feel.
Eating healthy takes a bit of planning but it can be fun and oh so good for you. When I work less than 6 hours at the Nursing Home, I don’t bring lunch but I always bring a couple of snacks. In the refrigerator at work, they put in leftover employee lunches all individually wrapped and free for the taking. It isn’t usually good or food I would typically eat. When I forget to bring my snacks, I start foraging for something to eat and end up wolfing down something I would not have even considered putting in my mouth if I had just brought something decent from home!
Spring has sprung here in the Finger Lakes region of New York State. People are slowly shedding their winter coats, hats, boots and gloves for t-shirts, flip flops and hoodies! In my world this means yard work and lake time! I am sitting right now, happily typing away at the cottage. Never mind that I am wearing heavy sweats, a fleece shirt, and wool socks. I am also wrapped up tight in a heated blanket. But trust me, spring is here!
This is my second overnight this month at the lake and I am looking forward to Cottage Clean Up Weekend with Child #3 and her honey in another couple of weeks. Being at the lake puts me squarely in my happy place. I caught myself speaking out loud this afternoon the word “blessed”. That is all, just “blessed”. At the time, I was standing in the kitchen, looking out the window at the lake and the hillside. After dinner, I took a quick 15 minute kayak ride and caught myself whispering “grateful”.
Are you a dog owner? If you are than you know that taking at least 2 walks a day is the standard of care. Dog owners are more consistent than the Post Office Deliver guys and gals. We walk in the rain, sun, snow, sleet, and fog. We walk in the blizzard, hurricane winds and blistery heat. I don’t always look forward to my daily walks but I always feel good when I return. I just got home from my morning walk with Fenway and she is passed out on her bed. I am reflecting on the emotions raised by this simple morning walk that often feels like an obligation I need to complete before I get on to the important tasks of the day.
This morning while out for a walk, I got to see what Mother Nature had to share with me in the wild suburbs I call home. The calendar may say it is April and the season is spring but it is flurrying and the temperature is in the 30’s! Ah, life in the Finger Lakes of Central, New York!
In an earlier post, I talked about the Health Puzzle and what each of its pieces looks like. That post stressed that in order to live a truly healthy life, it is critical that we address each area! One important pieces of this puzzle is “Engaging in Meaningful Activities”. I can’t imagine what life would look and feel like if the only activity I enjoyed was watching the boob tube. Don’t get me wrong, I have my favorite shows but there is nothing that I watch that I would seriously miss if my television mysteriously blew up!
The activities that are meaningful for me are unique to me and the activities that are meaningful to you are unique to you. What I find meaningful, you may find frivolous or unimaginative. What is meaningful for you, I might not value or see as silly. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks, it matters what you think. What activities bring you joy? What activities make you feel alive. What tasks do you find fully engaging?
Eating and Sleeping is not enough! Image by suju from Pixabay
