I caught that dream I was chasing. Now what?
Have you ever seen a little dog chasing a squirrel? Have you seen the look of surprise and bewilderment on the dog’s face when it caught the squirrel it was chasing — almost by accident, it seems? Chasing a squirrel, or a dream, is fun. You’re not risking a lot, because it’s not like you’ll actually catch it, right? But then you do. You caught the shit out of that squirrel! But now what? What do you do with this elusive concept of a squirrel, once you’ve finally caught it? Suddenly, it’s real — and maybe you’re no longer sure you want this squirrel.
Try a Vulnerability Day by watching these videos together
Personally, I’m not a roses kind of girl. And right now, our household doesn’t have room for more stuff, nor do I really need chocolate to know I’m loved. But, getting the chance to take a break from the daily routine and sit with my partner as we watch relationship-relavent videos that’s what I need. Here are a few videos that have worked better than roses and chocolate in getting our romance back…
Ukulele-playing taught me to enjoy bad art
In today’s society, with its emphasis on performance, it’s so easy to feel pressured to be the best. Things aren’t worth doing unless you can do them perfectly. But I call bullshit on that. Here’s how my ukulele helped me get over the pressure to be “the best” and just have fun with the things I love to do.
Killing my potential: I have a fear of success
I looked at my list of life goals and realized that most of my dreams were still just dreams. I was crestfallen and, quite frankly, furious with the world for doing this to me. I spent a few years becoming more and more frustrated with the world. One day I realized something, it wasn’t the world; it was me. It was actually all my fault. I knew from the start that it wasn’t going to be easy, but I had the talent, the passion, and I had those damn dreams. I also had something else though: fear.
Use the weekly Social Fitness Challenge to exercise your social muscles
These days, we’re overwhelmed with training programs to lose weight, curb eating, and blah blah blah. What if we could instead train to be better human beings? What if what we really need is a social exercising program?
Beating Impostor Syndrome
One of the fantastic commenters of Offbeat Home recently referenced “Impostor Syndrome” in a comment that Ariel then picked up on. I felt the need to share. This is a concept that has recently become a big part of life — because of these two little words, I feel I’ve come to understand how I was relating to my work a million times better, and this understanding has genuinely changed my behaviour.
How doing chores makes me feel empowered
This might seem paradoxical, and it probably is, but adding more chores to my daily life has actually given me the feeling I am more in control of my life. Some might call this backwards. Isn’t evolution supposed to drive towards a simplified life, with fewer and fewer chores?
Hacking myself: How I remember to take my pills
Lately, I’ve taken a stronger interest in my health. Step one: Get a baseline blood panel.
Lo and behold, I was super low in Vitamin D and Vitamin B. My blood pressure is high and my sinuses are a wreck. I’ve been prescribed sprays, allergy meds, vitamins and I am back on the aspirin.
So after a few years of taking nothing but prenatal vitamins, like a lot of Americans, I’m back on the daily pill party.
As I have a lot of other tasks vying for my attention, taking daily pills just isn’t something I always remember. But at least I know enough to hack myself.