Most Change Requires Effort

The new year is fast approaching. Most of us start coming up with those wonderful resolutions that we will not fulfill. Why don’t we fulfill them? Because most change requires effort. There’s no magic wand to all these things we want to change or do. It would be nice, but it is definitely not reality.

You don’t like your life? Do something! I don’t like mine either! Guess what. I’m doing something. I’ll admit it…I’ve gone to therapy to learn how to deal with people and issues I wasn’t taught how to deal with growing up. Why? Because I was sick of the same results over and over. I’ve used some of those skills to make changes in my life. Maybe others didn’t like it but it made me feel better. It was an effort that was well worth it for me.

Do you want to lose weight? Well it ain’t gonna fall off if you’re sitting there eating Ben & Jerry’s. Yeah, I love it, too, but I do realize that there has to be some effort on my part. See? Change requires effort. So if I want my pants size to decrease then I am going to have to make the effort it requires. Do I like that? NO WAY! Ben & Jerry are my 2 favorite men. Oh wait! They’re in the top 3. Gerard Butler is #1!

The bottom line is we all expect life to be this wonderful bed of roses. It ain’t. And complaining about it all the time ain’t fixing it. Yeah, sometimes we need to just vent some. But when we keep talking about it then it basically sets us up for doom and gloom. We mope around. Joyce Meyer wrote about this the other day. She wrote this: “ If you want to get over a problem, stop talking about it. Your mind affects your mouth, and your mouth affects your mind. It’s difficult to stop talking about a situation until you stop thinking about it.” It’s so true! This is another form of change. You can change your mindset and possibly situation by not talking about it all the time. Re-focus! Focus on something positive. Focus on doing rather than saying.

There are no magic wands in life and most change requires effort!

So Much On My Mind

It seems like sometimes there is too much information for my poor mind to hold. I don’t know why this time of year seems to do that to me. Is it the beginning of SAD (seasonal affective disorder) or is it just that fall is the typical time of year when my already chaotic life gets more chaotic?

I’m not sure what the answer is. I do know that many of the biggest and not so greatest moments of my life started in the fall. They were hard times. So am I preparing myself for what always seems to the inevitable? Or is there something else happening?

I have had people on my mind that I can’t speak to anymore. Maybe that has brought a sadness to my heart. Or maybe the chill of the autumn air has chilled my blood and heart. So maybe I am missing the people I lost. Maybe I am reliving the attack on me of 2008 that has left me with a torn rotator cuff that I can’t afford to get repaired. (It happened in the fall.) It’s hard to determine which is which.

All I know is that I wish there wasn’t so much on my mind. It not only makes my head and heart too full but also causes pain. And there’s not enough ibuprofen to make it stop hurting. Believe me, I have to take at least two 800 mg doses daily.

I think the mind has its own memory system that we can’t necessarily control all the time. It doesn’t matter if it is a good memory or a bad memory. It is etched in the brain and it takes a lot of effort to control it.

I haven’t really had anyone to talk to about this so if anyone reads this, thanks. I appreciate it.

Have People Lost Their Minds?

There are days when things happen and I just wonder have people lost their minds? Why do they do the things they do? I suppose you’re wondering what kinds of things I’m referring to. I was driving this morning and a car just decided to get in my lane. They didn’t look. They didn’t signal. They just got over. Now I happened to be in the spot they wanted to be in. So I had to slam my brakes, honk the horn, and then some choice words were yelled and a hand gesture was made. What were they thinking?! I mean it’s not like a car is some invisible object. I’m not Wonder Woman in my invisible jet. I was in a Taurus for goodness sake!

Another driving incident occurred recently in Biltmore Village the other day. I had the light and was driving slowly because it is the Village and all of a sudden a pedestrian just decides to walk across the road. First of all they were not in a designated cross walk. Second why would you just walk in front of a moving object that could kill you? I just wanted to stop the car in the road and ask them if they had lost their mind or taken a momentary leave of absence from it or what. Just because you are a pedestrian does not mean you can just walk whenever and wherever you please. There are rules. And no, I am not going to run over you because there is all this legal paperwork I would have to fill out, but for the love of God use your brain!

Another pedestrian issue is in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Why is it that people seem to think it is ok to walk as slowly as they can diagonally across the parking lost when there are cars waiting for them to move? Can’t they walk behind the vehicles? Or would that be too bothersome? I don’t get the whole holding up traffic thing. Again, I try to avoid mowing down the pedestrians but they don’t make it easy. It’s like they are playing chicken with the cars or something. I guess they know you won’t hit them. But what if there was this crazy person who one day just got tired of it?  Or what if there was someone whose brakes went out? Or what if there was someone whose foot slipped? Quit tempting fate, people! Find your mind and put it back in your head where it belongs!

The other day I was speaking to someone on the phone and was trying to explain something and we kept saying the same thing over and over. I finally had to tell them to shut up and listen to me so they could actually hear what I was saying. I told them if they kept talking over me they would never understand what I was saying. Was this such a hard concept to grasp? I don’t think so. Do they think saying the same thing over and over is accomplishing anything? I don’t. Have they lost their minds? Quite possibly.

I know we all do some things where people wonder about our sanity from time to time. But if it happens on a daily basis we need to rethink what we are doing. I have come to the realization that some of these things happen just so I will laugh. I don’t have enough laughter in my life. But some of these things are so irritating that I can’t laugh. Thankfully most of these are while I am driving and I can say bad words and make hand gestures and move on.

Thoughts and Ideas and Blogs

A blog contains thoughts and ideas of a person. That’s all it is. You may agree. You may not. But isn’t that the way it is in real life? I have lots of ideas, thoughts, opinions. This is a way to just get them out. I don’t put them all out there. Mostly the least offensive ones. I try to mix it up with some of the humorous things in life as well as some of the daily things going on that drive most of us nuts. Sometimes I go so far as to put some really personal stuff out there. If you don’t like what I write, that is ok. I probably don’t like every idea, thought, or opinion you have either. And ya know what I think about that? I’m glad. I’m glad that other people have other ideas because it keeps my mind churning and makes me think more and makes me curious and interested. It makes me open-minded. Some people are so close-minded that they can’t even entertain an opposing view and start calling names when someone else’s opinion is different from their own. That type of person will never really allow their minds to grow and that is a shame. To me the world is full of all kinds of wonder and there are all kinds of different people who create this wonder. And if I don’t open my mind to it then I am losing out. I am very close minded on some subjects such as religion and morals, but when it comes to creativity and life and politics I am pretty open to hearing other ideas. I find it funny when I get feedback to my blogs and people are like, “Why did you say this or that?” I smile and say, “Because that is what I think. Doesn’t make me right. Doesn’t make me wrong. Just makes me Amy.”