Good Monday Morning!

Good Morning! :) Since my last post, I've uploaded some of the pieces to my 2009 Personal Mission Statement. You can find a link to that to the right in the About Me Gallery. For those of you who are not familiar with personal mission statements, it's somewhat like a New Year's Resolution about personal growth and improvement. You put into words, photos, quotes, and cartoons, etc who you are, what you stand for, where you're going and goals for each of the areas of your life, ie spiritual, work, emotional, family, household, etc. These also serve as reminders to keep you focused on and balanced with the priorities of your life. I'll post some more of mine online when I get time.

Why do I do this? Well, I'm a creative soul. I find relaxation in doing things with my hands, ie quilting, painting, sewing, scrapbooks, piano, etc. I also seem to learn and remember better if I can "picture" things in my mind. This helps with both. And over the past couple of years, it gives me reason not to sit around complaining or feeling sorry for myself. The near-death experience with the aneurysm was a big blow for me. This blow, timed with an impending divorce, really shook me up. But then my thyroid decided to crash. A true sign of where I was in my life at the time can be seen in the last words I said before going under in surgery. I told my doctor, "Hurry up and let's get this over with...I don't have time for this!" Pretty sad, huh? I guess that's about the time God shook his head and thought I needed more help slowing down? LOL I've really struggled with my thyroid going haywire and the subsequent weight gain. I'm impatient by nature too. So waiting for the docs to find just the right solution to turn this around was really difficult for me. But I learned a lot about myself through the challenge. The weight gain slowed me down, made me more tired, grumpy, and frustrated. But I realized I had been burning my candle at both ends between work, church, kids, house, dog, etc. And I was one who felt I had to do everything myself.

I think this was God's way of showing me that I needed to slow down, be willing to accept help when needed, and that it's ok to show imperfections. I've come to terms with the fact that I am not this earthly body that I inhabit on earth. I am the person inside this body. I've known this most of my life. But God in his ultimate wisdom had to show me in "pictures" so I would remember it! That's another of my faults....sometimes I have to be hit in the head with a heavenly baseball bat to get my attention and to point out the obvious. But once I finally see it, things just fall into place.

As of this morning, I've now lost 25 pounds since Christmas. And I haven't dieted, taken meds (except for the Vitamin D supplements prescribed by my doc) nor changed my eating habits. But what I have done is slowed down, prioritized and accepted myself as I am. That must have been what I needed to remember, because the rest just seems to fall into place. The house is somewhat a mess right now. But I do a little as I get to it without going gung ho and trying to do it all at once. And I'm learning to deal with it. In exchange, I'm spending more time with and appreciating the people in my life. The girls and I are having "girls night out again". The dog and I take long walks daily and explore the countryside together. I'm spending more time enjoying my decks, storms, the stars and hearing the birds each morning with my coffee. I've grown closer to wonderful friends with whom I've made the time for growth, reflection, laughter and even some tears. I've even made some new friends along the way. So I'm learning.....

Life is good. It's ALL good! And everything is ok in the end; if it's not ok, then it's not the end! :)

I'm off to work now.
Godspeed! :)