Tag Archives: gratitude

Not-Your-Standard Gratitude Challenge

This time of year, everyone is making (and breaking) resolutions. Apparently, 17 days is the average length of time that most people stick to their resolutions. Since this is going up on January 23rd, most of you that made resolutions have probably already given up on them. I have a theory about why that may be, and I don’t think you’re a failure at all.

“Goodbye, resolutions!”

Most resolutions are mean towards ourselves and our bodies. Sure, they sound okay on the surface: “I want to exercise three times a week” or “I want to stick to the/a [insert type] diet this year.” But, why are you making those resolutions? Most of the time, the motivation is “I hate how I look” or “I feel like I should do this” and not “I want to feel better” nor “my body is asking me for this.” If those last two were the actual reasons for wanting to make the changes, then I doubt the resolutions would die in less than a month.

Get to the challenge! (click here)

Valentine’s Day: The Day to Celebrate Love

I love holidays, all holidays! My mom always made a big deal out of them when I was a kid: the entire dining room would get completely decorated (every bit), and there would be other small decorations scattered about the house; there would be some sort of present, even just small little goodies like some candy or fun socks, to open with breakfast; even special meals, like green eggs at St. Patrick’s Day or pink pancakes for dinner on Valentine’s Day. The holidays were some of my favorite times, and not just because I was a kid getting presents. Each holiday was special, just the excitement of family time! (Every time I test for my “love language” I flip flop between being word based and action/quality time based. ) My family would play games or watch movies together, and I loved that. Because the holidays were always so special to me, I do my best to continue the celebrations now that I have my own house and husband!

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So Excited and Happy I’m Crying

Some days are actually good days!

I just logged onto my Zazzle store, expecting nothing to have changed as I haven’t been able to do anything to it in a long time thanks to all of the headaches I’ve been dealing with lately. But, to my surprise, that wasn’t the case. Instead…

I SOLD MY FIRST PHOTOGRAPHY MUG!!!

Now, that may not seem like a huge deal at first. But, I have never sold any of my photography. So that means… I AM NOW A PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER!

Not only that, but it was a nature photograph. I AM NOW A PROFESSIONAL NATURE PHOTOGRAPHER!!!!

I have wanted to be able to say I am a professional nature photographer for an extremely long time. My dream, since I was a small child (age 4 or younger), has been to be a National Geographic photographer. When I was about 12 or so, I won second place in an amateur photographer contest held by the San Diego Zoo (not for children, it was open to all ages and all equipment types and was advertised on a clapboard in the middle of the entrance path at the zoo itself) with my single megapixel digital camera with a picture of bison at Yellowstone National Park. This is something I have been working for and dreaming about FOREVER!!!!!!

I am shaking so hard and crying and smiling from ear to ear and I’m so happy I could explode!!!! I literally do not care how symptomatic I am right now and I just want to celebrate and YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

So what that I only made 84 cents on the sale? It still makes me a professional by the definition as someone “paid to participate in an activity,” so I’m happy!

So what did I sell that has made me so happy? This:

 

It seems very interesting, doesn’t it? I’ve been wishing for so long to be a nature photographer, to make money doing the one thing I’ve loved me entire life, and my first photography sale happens to be a product with that very word on it. I believe synchronicity would be the right word…

Anyway, I just had to tell pretty much everyone 🙂

25 Little Things That Make Daily Life Fantastic

The prompt from Writing 101 was to make a list of some sort. Originally, I was going to make a list of how my life had changed due to chronic illness… but then I realized how depressing that list was going to be. Living with chronic illness is challenging, at best, and can make it impossible to see the good in life. So, I decided my list needed to be happy. A major change is how much time I have to stay at home, and how trips and adventures have had to move to the back burner. I spend most of my time at home. Because I spend so much time at home, I decided to focus on what I love about my daily life. So here it is:

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Let’s Shake the Gratitude Tree and See What Falls Out

Not having the best day mentally/emotionally. I woke up with my depression flaring up, and I have no idea why. Well, I keep hearing how therapeutic a gratitude journal is, and while I’ve never done well with consistently keeping a journal, I thought I would at least make a gratitude post. Maybe listing things I’m grateful for will help me out of this funk.

I’m thankful for:

my husband, Dan – he is the love of my life, my soul mate, and he is my rock. He is always here for me, takes care of me when I’m ill, and loves me for all that I am. My life would be so different if he wasn’t in it, Continue reading →