"Let's Boogie!"

If you asked me, I would say that "Let's boogie" is one of Sean's most frequently used statements either in reaching out, or in response. I love it. It makes me laugh and sets the tone for positivity every time.

Tonight, I started reading the syllabus for my first class as a student at the University of Florida working on a Master's in Leadership Development within the school of Agricultural Education and Communication (mouthful!) and I am practically coming out of my chair with excitement at the assignments and projects we have for the semester. Adam had to ask me to hold off on the first paper until at least class starts.

Let me give you an example:

"The purpose of this autobiographical essay is to increase self-awareness of the cultures and beliefs you represent and that shape your life experiences as a global leader and community member."


You guys. I get to spend 6-8+ hours a week studying leadership, defining leadership and working with LIKE MINDED PEOPLE in discussions on leadership. Is this real life? 

On top of that, I'm going to be volunteering for an undergraduate class with a professor who graduated from... wait for it.... GONZAGA. He is teaching a foundational leadership course where we are educating students on leadership theory with the understanding that many successful leaders learn it from practicing it, but we will study the scholarly discipline of leadership theory. Students are asked to examine and develop their own philosophy statements after studying leadership and interviewing leaders. I CANNOT WAIT. To plant those seeds and provide that exposure, hoping to instill some personal interest, inspiration or insight, sounds like the best possible use of my time on this planet. 

And the best part is, it's happening. This isn't some idea or lofty thought that I can get lost in while driving from one appointment to another. It is a responsibility and obligation that I know get to fill per the emails in my inbox, the immunization records I need to turn in so I can register, the books to buy, and the meeting with my advisor tomorrow on campus. No, this isn't sometime. This is now. It starts on January 8. I'm going to have one hell of a 2019. 

Let's boogie.

One is reminded, at a deeper level than all words, how making a living and making a life sometimes point in opposite directions.

Pico Iyer

A business passion unbeknownst to me.

<digging this out of archives from my tumblr in 2012>

I found myself more than once now doing a bit of market research for a business colleague of one fashion or another looking to up their social media efforts. I haven’t yet made a profit off of such ventures/projects, but it’s all the same to me because I’m having quite the enjoyable time doing it. Within a few hours (that’s Amy time - I’ve been absorbed for probably 5) I can get a solid grasp of a market, its competitors, what they’re doing and how my “client” can get ahead. I love it. I LOVE IT. I get to sneak around and pick apart information and approach and apply critical thinking and experience based knowledge to suggest how you can sweep the market and impress the customer. If you show that you know your stuff online through a variety of channels, your customer, the one that’s shopping and you don’t know it yet, will be impressed with you and most likely you’ll be the first they’ll look to for professional work. That said, you can’t just fill those channels with blanks, people!
What do you fill them with? Well, you’ll just have to ask me sometime :)

“I’ve noticed that some of the most effective leaders don’t make themselves the center of attention. They are respectful. They listen. This is an appealing personal quality, but it’s also an effective leadership attribute. Their selflessness makes the people around them comfortable. People open up, speak up, contribute. They give those leaders their very best.”


Sam Palimisano, Chairman and CEO, IBM, on the Best Advice I’ve Ever Got

Make it up!

Individual traits and circumstances have to be taken into account. Making it up is not winging it.  It’s being innovative.

So take a look at the tried and tested methods.  See what has worked for other people.  But really keep your eyes open, don’t just follow the steps.  Think about what aspects you can take and build upon for yourself.  And if there isn’t anything plausible out there, make it up.

Or someone else will.

20 Brutal Truths We All Need to Hear

Inc. has been one of my favorite publications for years. I think I first found them in a Barnes & Noble long before smartphones and now I most often find them on just that, my phone, browsing the internets. They produce such great work. Cut to the chase, down to the bone, tell it like it is. Some of these following items are "duh" statements, but others are ones that deserve to be reminded of. Time is all we've got. Surely, we're all doing the best with what we have, but there is no harm in looking up to that bright light that is your best self and doing what you can to get there. Application is difficult, start with awareness. Then start giving it your best shot. If you trip and fall, look back, evaluate, discuss, and develop a plan for the next time. Because you know there is a next time. 

I believe the pursuit of the best self. I'm not too great at it for my own person, so I try to lift up others. Maybe that is me being my best self. And spreading goodness and wisdom like this to create that awareness that hopefully adds a light to someone's life. Not all of us will walk away and instill these 20 things into our thought process, but if one, two, maybe three find a home in there, we are on the right path. 

20 Brutal Truths About Life No One Wants to Admit (Originally posted on Inc.com) 

1. You're going to die and you have no idea when.

Stop pretending that you're invincible- acknowledge the fact of your own mortality, and then start structuring your life in a more meaningful way.

2. Everyone you love is going to die, and you don't know when.

This truth may be saddening at first, but it also gives you permission to make amends with past difficulties and re-establish meaningful relationships with important figures in your life.

Fear

Happily, as the Universe once wrote, when you feel fear, it invariably means you're:

   

1. Exactly where you're supposed to be.

2. Doing exactly what you're supposed to be doing.

3. Becoming more than you've ever been before!

Homelessness and all it's complexities.

I'm so incredibly torn on this subject. Having run through this part of town recently and feeling incredibly unsafe, I immediately have one strong reaction to this article. However, being with someone in the affordable housing national real estate market and able to hear first hand the figures on the market and effects of the Seattle economy on the local affordable housing market, makes me think twice about my opinion. It's a difficult subject with a gnawingly frustrating solution. With my short stint in Australia, I was able to enjoy a thriving metropolitan area with similar demographics to Seattle in terms of age and affluence, but they managed their homelessness quite well. What is it that we're doing wrong, or could be doing differently? I don't know. I wish I did, but for the very reason we're in this place reading these articles, no one really knows. It sure as hell ain't easy.

Read and listen: Amid Seattle's Affluence, Homelessness Also Flourishes

watch: SUPing & Dogs.

new beginnings.

So cliche, but I can't help myself. Here I sit, yet again, at the start of a new adventure and this time, I am finding it a little more troubling than usual to get my feet underneath me and start producing. I suppose that is because the stakes are higher because in the end, it's the same as it's always been, but now with so much riding on it, I don't find myself rising to the occasion, but rather experiencing complete deer-in-the-headlights effect. Which is odd. And it could change. I bet you if I went back into my journals and read the entry's that were around the times in which I was starting a new journey, they would all have the same sentiment. And slowly, over time, I would be writing less in the journal, and kicking more butt in the real world.

I had been asking God to challenge me, to push me, to get me in a situation where I no longer had excuses and was forced to be the best version of myself. To grow professionally in the ways that I wanted to grow, as well as an adult. Was that all overrated? I don't think so, but I can't seem to slap myself awake and sink my teeth in and GO FOR IT. What am I afraid of? What is holding me back? Why am I doubting myself, the same person who asked for these challenges because she wanted to prove that she could? Well, now if there is a saying for someone who is their own black kettle, please tell me because it's applicable here. Hm, the other saying, "she knew she could, so she did" was often one that I garnered a lot of inspiration & motivation from. Not applicable here because I have no idea. It's like this is an exercise in proving that saying to myself. Perhaps I'll start to see a light that makes me feel differently. I guess that if you sat me down and asked me, in my heart of hearts, do I think I can do it? Can I win? Can I accomplish these tasks and lead this machine? Yes. I do. I suppose where I sit today in my headlight stance, is not a matter of wether or not I can move, but an information overload that has frozen my personal RAM. Totally capable, just, not in this capacity.

Like I said, I have been here before. I know what this place leads to and I know that you must go through it to gain anything. So, smarty pants, since you know all of the things, it's high time we just start doing them. One foot, in front of the other.

When in doubt, bake.

I get so antsy sometimes. And in a life long ago, I would tamper the antsy-ness with baking. Which then turned into cooking after I got smart and purchased some out of this world cooking books. Discovering recipes that were extremely challenging and had lists of ingredients I never heard of before, were an utter joy. A challenge to accept. A reason to drink a bottle of wine and dance around the kitchen!

Anyway, my loving man has found a new favorite thing - cooking. You would have never guessed it. I would have never guessed it! But coming home and busting out his defrosted protein and whipping up an accompanying veggie is his new favorite thing. As such, mine too! But then comes a time when the itch starts to kick in again and all I want to do is cook. I want to chop and wiggle my hips and stir and mix, and sting my eyes with the scent of onion and hydrate my face with steam from beneath the lid. I want to YouTube "how to slice fennel" and wait not-so-patiently as the seeds brown in the oil. I want to stir six times, let sit, spin twice, add one egg, stir, add one more. It's so fun! Following the directions, reading along with Senora Child, following her train of thought and ending up with a concoction I never imagined I could produce. It's the greatest feeling of accomplishment. Having something tangible, (tastable even!) to show after your efforts. And you learn so much. You start to build a relationship with food. Understand how it all works together - the flavors, the science, the art of mixing, cooking, boiling, basting.

So, tonight, I got to cook. And it just brings back all the feel goods. And I won't stop. Dinner is in the oven and I'm starting on the dessert - most of which will go to work tomorrow to avoid the over-indulging of pumpkin and sugar-infused cream cheese. But tonight, we bake. We make. We dance and we drink. Our wedding certainly doesn't boast the budget for foodies, but hopefully our guests will pick up on how much we like to indulge our senses through food and beverages. We spend hours, probably a product of no kids, enjoying, discussing and making noises indicative of how much we love the food! It brings people together and is incredibly fun to share.

With some free time coming up for the weekend and only so many miles a girl can hike, I am pretty confident I'll be fulfilling my desire for cooking and baking. Which is a win because last year I had planned on delivering baskets of goodies to friends and neighbors on accord of the holiday, but ran out of time. This will be on the tails of Thanksgiving, but at least the peeps at work won't mind :)

Indira Gandhi

Never shake hands with a clenched fist.

Francis of Assisi

Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.

watch: be together. not the same.

I am seeking Refuge. I am seeking Independence.

This could fall on my shoulders and I may look past it years from now and regret how I handled the situation, but like all other times in my life when I didn't know what to do or where to go, I took what I knew at the time, made the best decision I could based off that information, and powered forward. It doesn't hurt to check in now and again to reevaluate where you are and make sure you're on the path you intend to be and can be proud of, but at a certain point, when you're just getting started, sometimes you just have to pick up your bags and go - because the alternative, staying still, in the moment, in the head-space, is more dangerous and detrimental than the move. I have always felt that if you weren't moving forward you were moving backward, and any direction is better than no direction.

Or, as my cousin once told me, always have a plan. It doesn't matter if you stick to the plan, but you always have to have a plan.

Because if you don't, you're going to get left behind. And I'm not talking about racing the world, society or anyone or anything else. I'm talking about yourself. You owe it to yourself to grow, to develop, to change, to pursue a direction. Of any kind. Just move. Move! If you sit, you will become complacent. Side note: I do believe that you can be content and at peace. You don't have to be restless and carefree. We can break this down to moving mentally and emotionally while staying in place. Our brains and our souls need to grow. We must experience and stretch, be tested and feel trials. It's the only way to go. We owe it to our ever-learning selves to do it.

Stay curious. Keep breathing. Keep thinking, analyzing, objecting, giving in, loving. Challenging. The world goes on and we must move with it. It may be painful but again, it's the only way!

I find myself in a place where I can no longer stand to stay where I am at. I knew this was coming a long time ago because there way no way for me to maintain a healthy lifestyle and stay where I was at. I have spent weeks and months widdling away restful, peaceful hours trying to determine which direction to go. How. And why. And if it was okay. Seeking permission from the Universe to progress in the direction I felt drawn to. Challenging my thoughts and having honest conversations if this is the path that's best to take. You know what I found out? I don't know. I don't. I don't have the slightest clue that I'm doing the right thing, but like I said it's something. And all the other scenarios I have been trying on for size, have still brought me back to this place. So, don't ignore a blatant answer when it lies before you. If you keep ending up at the beginning of a path no matter how hard you object to it, you should probably go down that path. You can probably rest assured that's the path you're meant to travel. So, get to it. Start going. And if it changes, well then it does. But at least we have a forward motion!