I'm not good at taking breaks. I'm good at getting really exhausted and then checking social media, but that is the worst way to take breaks. My friend Amy recently told me that she doesn't let her car get under a half tank. She wants to be prepared. And then she said, "Why can't we do… Continue reading How to Take a Break
Category: do something
Possibilities and Planning
I want a five year plan. I keep on rethinking the directions I'm heading and want to feel a little bit more stable about my options for the future. But I know that this plan isn't going to be linear and clear. Life turns out a lot different than I expect it to. Five years… Continue reading Possibilities and Planning
Technology: Pushing it out of your life
Like most people in the world today, sometimes I waste too much time on social media and other websites. They are designed be addictive, after all, and rabbit holes are encouraged in the never-ending display of suggested content. But when I focus on getting rid of that wasted time, I usually fail. I have created… Continue reading Technology: Pushing it out of your life
Friendship
Option 1: Abigail is living her life. She has her routine: wake up, get ready, work, spend time with her family, read a book, go to bed. She has the occasional events with church and work and community and life. She lives in her own little sphere, and it's pretty happy there. A bit lonely,… Continue reading Friendship
Hypocrisy
I was angry with my husband the other day. I really sort of wanted to be angry at him. It didn't last long, because as I was talking, I realized I was being a complete hypocrite. I was doing EXACTLY what I was mad at him for doing. I was holding grudges. I was not… Continue reading Hypocrisy
Recent life hacks
Rituals are really helpful in order to express love. We love our children and our spouse and our family, but often we just think expressions of love will happen naturally and spontaneously. They don't. We have to plan it a bit. Love means that we always kiss each other good night. Or that we tuck… Continue reading Recent life hacks
Put yourself out there
When I started learning more about economics, I ended up adding some economic blogs into my feed reader. One of them was The Enlightened Economics, by Diane Coyle. She mainly does book reviews, and a lot of her posts were very interesting to me. But I am new to the subject, and I wanted recommendations… Continue reading Put yourself out there
Praise
I have never been praised for my singing voice, except for some mild positive comments. I view this as an entirely good thing. You see, when we get praised for something, particularly when we are young, we may start to build up our self-imagine around that thing. It becomes part of who we are. But… Continue reading Praise
Experience is worth more than accomplishment
Every day, week, month, and year, I have constantly made lists of things I wanted to accomplish. But today I wondered if my focus has been in the wrong place. Today, my kids wanted to get sledding on mostly melted snow. It wasn't on my to-do list, but it sure was fun. The snow was… Continue reading Experience is worth more than accomplishment
Praise
From a young age, I have been involved in numerous choirs. I like to sing, but I haven't had a lot of praise or criticism related to my ability to sing. I've some mildly positive comments, but that's about it. I am grateful for this. First, I'm not a great singer in the first place.… Continue reading Praise