Five for Friday: Friday Inspiration

Sharing some words of wisdom on this beautiful, sunny Friday... because we all need a little inspiration sometimes, right? (Or is that just me right now?) Today's Five for Friday is mainly for myself, but I'm sure there is someone else out there who needs it today. Enjoy!

Choosing kindness

One of my most favorite mantras (quotes, words of wisdom, edicts, whatever) is "be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."

I first heard this saying while I was working at the hospital after college, and it rang so incredibly true with me. Everyone I met in the Radiology waiting room was fighting a battle, be it big or small. It wasn't my place to determine the size or extent of their battle, but it was my place to recognize that they were suffering, and to offer kindness. That quote struck a heart-string, and it has been with me ever since.

[source]

Recently, I learned of two different co-workers who have been struggling with some mighty big battles. These are strong, positive, amazing women, who have never once let on to the fact that everything in their behind-the-scenes home life is not as good as it should be. I was almost dumb-founded to learn about the battles they have been suffering through, while constantly being kind, generous, and thoughtful to those around them. It stopped me in my tracks. These women have chosen kindness, and extoll it on the people around the people around them. What an inspiration!

It is a choice to be kind - one we should all make. In every interaction you have, with every person you meet, you have the choice to simply be kind. It doesn't have to be overbearing or over the top; it just has to be heartfelt. Make the choice. Deliver kindness.

[source]

I don't mean to sound preachy or high-and-mighty. I just want to share something I've been thinking about. You don't know what battles the people you around you are fighting. You don't necessarily need to know. But I am making an effort to remember that everyone has some weight on their shoulders, and the least I can do is choose kindness. I hope you do, too.

Just what I needed!

Day 8: A piece of advice you have for others. Anything at all.

I had no idea what to write for this particular prompt. I’ve given and received a LOT of advice in my lifetime (haven’t we all??), and I just couldn’t find the right thing to settle on. As I was sitting at my desk this morning, pondering this blog post and discussing a Major Life Event with a co-worker, she offered just the wisdom I needed, and I knew I had to share it:

“If you’re already traveling to Europe,  just pay the hotel to do your laundry.”
Sometimes it’s just better to let go of the tiny details – if you’re going all the way to Europe, and paying the money to take a big trip, maybe it’s better to just pay the hotel to do your laundry: don’t waste the time and the effort to do something so mundane. Let someone else do it, and enjoy your adventure. If sometime tiny is going to cause you heartache and stress, just let it go – stick to the major details, and everything else will fall into place.

Is this the deepest advice I've ever received? No. Is it the best advice I've ever gotten? Probably not. Was it just what I needed to hear this morning? Absolutely. And so I'm passing it along to you.

Words of Wisdom

So I've already fallen behind in the Blog Every Day in May challenge... shocking. In my defense, we had a jam-packed weekend, and I thoroughly enjoyed being present with my family and friends rather than spending time on the computer writing blog posts. Some things are just more important! I spent a lot of the weekend taking care of C while he recovered from his wisdom-tooth-removal, visited with L2 on Saturday evening (pedicures, Target, and Chipotle - perfect!) for what is most likely our last visit before the baby comes, and went out to dinner with the in-laws last night. Didn't get much done around the house and the laundry has piled up, but thoroughly enjoyed our weekend nonetheless.

Anyway, I'm going to pick back up with Day 6, but first I wanted to go back to Day 4 - the prompt really spoke to me, and I'd still like to touch on it!

~~~

Day 4: Favorite quote (from a person, from a book, etc) and why you love it

I've always been a "quotes" person - I love song lyrics, book excerpts, sayings and phrases, etc. I have always been a word-lover, and sometimes things just strike a cord with me. I have a long list of "favorites"!

One of my ultimate favorites is this:

"Be kinder than necessary for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle."

This quote is attributed to several different people, and worded several different ways on the internet, but the gist of it is the same. I originally found this quote a few years ago when I was working in health care, and it really grabbed at my heart. It is the ultimate truth - every single person is fighting a battle. It may be harder or not as hard as another person's; it may be more important or less important, bigger or smaller. In the end, though, every battle is just that - a fight. A struggle to get by. And for that reason, it's important to remember to just be kind to people. You just never know what people are dealing with, or going through behind the scenes. Working in health care taught me so many important lessons about people and humanity and relationships, and I have found myself to be far more compassionate and mindful of other people's battles, thanks to that experience.

What's your favorite quote? 
Link up with the BEDiM challenge!

 

Perspective

I'm having one of those days. Sigh. It's the plain ol' truth.

I make it a point to unsubscribe from junk email lists as often as I can, and I've done a pretty good job at freeing up my inbox. One list that I've stayed on, however, is the "Daily Thought" list from Real Simple. There is just something about getting that simple image with a provoking saying on it that tends to ground me or give me just the pause I need in the morning. Here are a few thoughts I've saved for days like today:

 

 

One.

Typically Late is one year old today!

A year ago today, I was sitting on the couch, and made a decision - I was going to start blogging, and actually stick with it. I was going to find my voice again, and I was going to find the words that used to come so simply. I didn't really know what I was getting into, but I was determined to start.

I have spent the last year documenting so many things - my recipes, my fitness, my relationships... My cat. (Normal.) I've been working through the writing process, which feels like an old friend. I've been dusting off my creative writing skills (which were carefully honed in high school and college, but packed away once I got to the "real world") and it feels good to really be writing again. Sometimes I babble like an idiot. Sometimes I ramble and lose track of my thought process. But it's always a representation of how my mind works. And it's always from the heart. I think I'll stick with it for a while.

I've decided over the past year that I have a motto, a catch phrase, a slogan (whatever you want to call it): be inspired, be inspiring. I read those words somewhere this year, and they've stuck with me. It's important to motivate and influence you - it leads to creativity and growth. I've been inspired by other bloggers, other runners, and other writers. But it's just as important to do the inspiring - and that is what I hope has happened over the last year. If I've inspired anyone over the last year, if I've encouraged even one person to try a new recipe or go for a run or do something different, then it means I've kept up both ends of that deal. Be inspired, be inspiring. Words to live by.

Happy birthday, little blog. I hope you have a nice long life.

'Cause Freedom Don't Come Free*

I thought about writing a post this morning about 9/11, and expound on my feelings about those events and the past 11 years – but when I opened up that blank page, it seemed that the words just wouldn’t come.

All morning, I’ve been reading tweets and Facebook statuses and instagrams about how “we will never forget” and how we “always remember 9/11” and “where I was when” – and I know that all that is true. I know that people won’t ever forget, and that everyone will always remember exactly where they were when it happened. And so, it seems redundant to say so here. There is no way that anyone can forget about the day that changed everything, even eleven long years ago.  My generation, in particular, is one that really doesn’t know anything but an America at war. We were in grade school when 9/11 happened; we were just starting to pick up on politics and world events and becoming aware of major events that impact us without personally impacting us.  We know, eleven years later, that the world as we know it exists because of what happened that day. There is no way we can forget.

Use today as a reminder to say a prayer, hug your loved ones, and appreciate the little things around you. It can all be taken away so quickly. I am forever grateful for the heroes – the soldiers, the civilians, the first responders – who run in when everyone else runs out, and who work so hard to protect the freedoms that we have as Americans. I am so proud to live in this country, and call myself a citizen of these great United States.

*American Soldier, Toby Keith

Monday Brain Dump

• I am craving fall in such a serious, intense way. I am ready for the season to change and bring cooler temperatures, crunching leaves, Pumpkin Spice lattes, big pots of soup, all the cliché “fall” things – fall is my season. Come onnnn.
• You know you’re a runner when… your husband kicks you out of the house and says “go run and be alone with your thoughts!!” after a particularly thought-inducing day. Yep. 
• I got a sparkley manicure yesterday. Sparkles make everything better.

• We finally committed to a plan for our one-year anniversary in October. It’s simple and low-key, but it will be fun, and it’s very “us.” It’s nailed down, reservations are made, and it’s going to be perfect.
• I bought garlic naan at the grocery store on Saturday, and we’re making pizza on it tonight – I am salivating already. Yum!
• For the first time in I-don’t-know-how-long, all of the laundry in our house is clean, folded, and put away. This is amazing. This is also extremely rare.

• When I was little, I used to hate changing the sheets on my bed. I don’t know why, but I always thought it was really hard. Now I’m an adult (quote-unquote) and I know that it’s not hard at all and that Clean Sheet Night is always the best night.
• My mom and my sister (who are middle school Social Studies and high school PE teachers, respectively) went back to school today, and I’m a little bit jealous. I know they are sad that their summer is over, but I do envy the fact that they get to go “back to school” every year without fail. I always liked back-to-school time J
• I found this today while blog hopping, and it was too good and simple not to print out. If nothing else, a sweet reminder to myself… feel free to pass it along.

But comfort zones are so... comfy!

Comfort zones are called just that for a reason: because they are the places where we feel safe, secure, and calm. They are the easy places, the places where we are sheltered and protected, the places where we just float along with the gently bobbing current. It’s so simple to get into an area where we are comfortable and just stay there, for days or weeks or years even. It happens in all facets of life – family, friendships, fitness, careers, hobbies. We find the things that we like that come naturally to us, and we hunker down. I, most definitely, am guilty of this. I am a creature of habit and comfort. Hell, I prefer “comfort” everything: comfort zones, comfort clothes, comfort foods… I just like to be comfy!

Every now and then, I have to give myself a little kick in the rear and force my way out of those safe places that I find. It isn’t easy. It makes me look long and hard at myself, and really evaluate the situation, and it forces internal honesty that sometimes makes me uncomfortable. But it is so necessary. It is so important to get outside of comfort zones, and find the amazing things that lie around you that you may never otherwise see (there is a possibility that I am just trying to convince myself of this, but I'm pretty sure it's true).

An easy current example of this is my fitness comfort zone. I have found routines and workouts that I like. I do the same mix of things week in and week out – I take the same classes, go for runs in the same areas, and stick to the same basic schedule. I like what I do. I’ve seen results from what I do. I still work really, really hard, and find myself out of breath and sore and sweaty – it’s not that my comfort zones are simple, they’re just my habits. And I forget sometimes to push myself just as hard in other directions. Sometimes I need a good shove.

In the last couple of weeks, I was coerced attended not one, but two new group fitness classes: Body Attack & Body Combat. And they were hard. It was pretty much as bad as I imagined, even hiding in the back of the room. I was uncoordinated. I didn’t know the moves. I was sweating like crazy and working muscle groups that I’d forgotten that I don’t necessarily work all the time. Let me tell you, I figured that out, because the day after Body Combat, I was so sore that it literally hurt to brush my teeth. I work those muscle groups (shoulders, arms, back) regularly – but not like that. It was such an eye-opener for me. Attending both of those classes reminded me about muscle memory – that even though I’m regularly working my muscles and my body hard, it’s necessary to throw myself for a loop sometimes, just to recharge and reactivate the muscles that get lazy and comfortable in their very own comfort zones. Besides, I actually really enjoyed both classes, which I’ve always previously said were “not my thing.” Maybe they are my thing, after all!

I’m currently out of my comfort zone in my professional life as well, and it’s not by choice, but it is necessary. I’m trying very hard to see it as a positive thing, and keep telling myself that perhaps this is the universe kicking me in the pants. Perhaps this is life’s way of pushing me out of the very comfortable spot I’ve been in for the last few months. After all, growth and learning do not occur if everything always stays the same. Change is necessary. Sometimes you find yourself in a big black hole, and it’s really scary – but if you walk a little farther, you realize that it isn’t a hole at all; it’s actually a tunnel, and you just hadn’t gotten far enough before to see the light. I had a serious talk with myself last night (not uncommon, apparently) and came to the conclusion that I can do this. Comfort zone, schmomfort zone. I feel like breaking into some sort of inspiring song and dance. Or hugging someone. Or at least high-fiving? YEAH. Hooray for pep talks!

Moral of the story: do the scary things. Do the hard things. Do the things that are “not your thing.” Get yourself out of your comfort zone, and grow a little, in ways you hadn’t even imagined. Annnnnd I’m off to take my own advice… (in my comfy clothes. Some things do not change.)

Amazing.

I am always looking for good inspirational quotes and “words to live by” and this feels like the best I’ve found so far. It is so simple to live a good life and get what you want out of every day—it just takes a little hard work, and a good attitude. This is my inspiration for today!