Reminded

Today, I am reminded of all the reasons I have the job I have and not the job of the people I work with. Their job is HARD. While my job is difficult in completely different ways, their job makes my blood pressure go up in under 4 minutes.

Yikes. I am tired. Good night all.

#Trust30 Day 3: One Strong Belief

#Trust30 is an online initiative and 30-day writing challenge that encourages you to look within and trust yourself. Use this as an opportunity to reflect on your now, and to create direction for your future. 30 prompts from inspiring thought-leaders will guide you on your writing journey. Sign up below to receive the prompts by email. If you like this pledge, check out reverb10, it's inspiring.

One Strong Belief by Buster Benson
It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude. - Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance

The world is powered by passionate people, powerful ideas, and fearless action. What’s one strong belief you possess that isn’t shared by your closest friends or family? What inspires this belief, and what have you done to actively live it?
(Author: Buster Benson)

I am struggling to determine whether I am having resistance to the idea of "going deep" in these exercises or if I'm just not in the right space to answer these questions or if I am scared to answer because my answers might not measure up.  There are so many people participating in the project whom I admire and that can sometimes be intimdating - I feel like I have to be poetic or profound. The good news is that I don't let that stop me. I keep writing. I keep putting one foot in front of the other. That's all I can do right now.

I am passionate about many things and I try to stand for what I believe. I don't compare my beliefs to other people's, generally speaking, because it simply does no good. I cannot change anyone's mind if they don't want their mind to be changed and vice versa.

I guess the one thing that I believe that I try to remember and I try to live out and show through example is that everything is about a choice we make. Even NOT making a choice is a choice. I know this and I have to relearn it every day. 

Challenges and Choices

I got all revved up to do a reading challenge or ten for the new year...there are so many out there. Read a book a week, read books on a specific topic, read award winners, read books with A-Z titles...I couldn't decide which one to do. Then, all of the sudden, I realized that I was just setting myself up for failure.

JUST READ. That's all. READ. My goal of 30 minutes a day is enough. I didn't even do that all year last year. So I decided that although I thought that a challenge would make me more accountable, I also know that my life doesn't really work with that kind of challenge, so I created my own. Maybe I will make my own button, too. :)

For 2010, I am going to try to read the equivalent of 30 minutes a day each week. If I read an hour one day and nothing the next, that's will still count. So in 7 days, my goal is to have read for 3.5 hours. I will keep track of the books I have read during the year and possibly join The Oregonian/Steve Duin reading contest for my own benefit, but not to win.

That's enough. I wanted to choose to succeed, not to frustrate myself.