I watched an episode of Oprah, focusing on the devastating effects of the recession in the U.S. yesterday. As I sat in the comfort of my home, with my bills paid and a sense of financial ease ... it made me wonder how secure any of this material world really is.
When a person is earning a living at a job that you've held for 'forever', it is very easy to sit back and feel lackadaisical about it all. You keep doing what you've always done, assume that the pay cheque that you have earned will come when it is expected. You find fault with the nit picky kinds of things that are an intrical part of day to day living. Whether it is a job, a relationship, a neighborhood, a car ... you name it. Any thing or any one that we see every day, becomes something that we begin to take for granted.
The segment of Oprah's show that stayed with me after the show, were the 'tent cities' that are springing up all over the country. The shelters are turning people away so this has become an alternate way of living. This was contrasted against the prior segment, where a mother and her 2 children had all of their belongings bundled up in a garbage bag. They carried this bag around with them all day and relied on finding a shelter at night. The luckier ones in the show lived in their office or found a way to shave some of their housing costs by taking in another family. People are doing what it takes to survive these hard financial times.
It is hard to imagine being placed in this scenario. Where I live has not been severely affected by this financial crisis. There may be a trickle-down effect that will hit us. But as of this moment, I feel very fortunate.
The one thing that the people who were highlighted in Oprah's show said is that they would focus on saving, if they were to do it all over again. We live in a very materialistic world. Not only living pay cheque to pay cheque ... but living beyond our means. Charging what we can't afford. Living in houses that we couldn't afford, if the mortgage interest rates were to sky rocket. A lot of us are only one pay cheque or car/house repair away from a devastating financial situation.
I just received my pension statement this past week. Due to the financial situation we are in, the balance in my pension dropped 18.65%. Not the interest rate - the actual balance. I consider myself fortunate because I am (hopefully) almost 20 years away from retirement. My retirement plan is to work at what I love. So the financial aspect isn't as devastating to me, as it may be to someone who was relying solely on those funds. For some one who did as all the financial advisers told them to do and have been diligently saving for their retirement and investing in mutual funds to maximize the long term growth potential - to see their hard earned money drop in value so drastically would be a bitter pill to swallow.
But when we compare our drop in investment values, to being forced to live out of a garbage bag and look for refuge where we could find it ... we must feel very rich indeed.
When we wake up every morning and have a bathroom that is our own and a few steps away from where we sleep ... we are fortunate. When we can have a shower in the privacy of our own home ... we are blessed. When we can open our refrigerator or cupboard doors and choose from the bounty of groceries that we have on hand ... we are lucky. When we can walk out of our home and know that we have a roof to call our own, that we can come home to at night ... we are rich. When we can turn on a light, turn on a faucet, turn up the heat or simply close and lock a door that belongs to us every night and know that our family is safely tucked inside ... we are prosperous.
I believe that we are surrounded by the riches that are our lives, every day. Even the families showcased on Oprah's show were not without hope and their health. There are silver linings where ever you may be in life.
What can I do to 'recession proof' my life? I believe that it starts by valuing what I have right here and now. I am so grateful for the roof and walls that shelter me and my family. I am grateful for my family - something that money can't buy. I am grateful for my health and the health of my family. I have the blessing of spending the energy I have, on caring and sharing with my family and appreciating the many small blessings that we have ... simply because we have each other.
Practically ... I know that I should spend wisely, save for a rainy day and build up that emergency fund that I have read about for the entirety of my adult life. Money can't buy everything ... but it can certainly ease the uncertainty out of month to month living.
When I think of the families that are toting their belongings around in a garbage bag or living out of a tent ... it makes me realize how little that we truly need, when it comes to material belongings.
What we never want to lose ... is hope.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
If You Cook It ... They Will Come
Our supper menus around here have left a lot to be desired lately. More often than not, the thought process is simply filling the void in our stomachs and trying to hit all the food groups for Kurt. Some nights, I have popcorn while Kurt has left overs from lunch. Anyone dropping by unexpectedly at supper time would not be enticed to stay.
Yesterday's supper menu started with some lettuce that had to be used and some baby potatoes that I had bought a while ago that only have a limited shelf life. I thawed some chicken and thought that was a good basis for a meal. As I organized supper at lunch time I had the thought come to me "If I cook it ... they will come ..."
And they did!
We ended up having a very spur of the moment and unexpected family supper. As I sat at the supper table with 'all of my boys', I realized just how special the moment was. The best things in life are the little things. The things we don't expect or anticipate.
The dynamic in my little family has not always been idyllic. We've had our share of drama and upheaval. Though last night was not a scene from 'The Walton's', it was a moment that I will remember with fondness.
Sitting at the table, providing nourishment for my family and enjoying their company is a recipe for family harmony that I don't savor nearly enough.
Yesterday's supper menu started with some lettuce that had to be used and some baby potatoes that I had bought a while ago that only have a limited shelf life. I thawed some chicken and thought that was a good basis for a meal. As I organized supper at lunch time I had the thought come to me "If I cook it ... they will come ..."
And they did!
We ended up having a very spur of the moment and unexpected family supper. As I sat at the supper table with 'all of my boys', I realized just how special the moment was. The best things in life are the little things. The things we don't expect or anticipate.
The dynamic in my little family has not always been idyllic. We've had our share of drama and upheaval. Though last night was not a scene from 'The Walton's', it was a moment that I will remember with fondness.
Sitting at the table, providing nourishment for my family and enjoying their company is a recipe for family harmony that I don't savor nearly enough.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
I'd Like to Give Up 10 Pounds for Lent
We aren't Catholic, but Kurt attends a Catholic school and he has to give up something for Lent. When he first mentioned it to me, he told me that he didn't want to do it this year but his teacher insisted that he must. A day later, he told me that he had decided that he was going to give up spending money for Lent. I thought that was a good sacrifice to make.
Since I don't know the Catholic religion (other than what comes home from school), I am usually reminded about Lent after the fact. I have often thought that I should give up something for those 40 days. But somehow, by missing the start-date I absolved myself from the tradition.
This year, Kurt got me thinking about it a few days early. My first instinct was that I didn't want to give up any of the new facets of my 'new life'. What I have brought in to my life over the course of the past few years has been positive and motivating. Realizing that, I was reminded of all that I do have to be grateful for.
I wondered aloud, what I should give up. Kurt's unedited response was to ''give up being mean". Ouch. Once again - that isn't really giving up something. It is the realization that I must bring patience and tolerance in to my life. A few more ingredients to add to the recipe of the new me.
What I realized after last week, was that this impatience comes from an over-stressed, over-taxed and over-tired me. I have had an aura of calmness within me since unwinding this past weekend. I'm on the road to enhancing the nicer person that Kurt wants me to be. I want that goal to go beyond the 40 days. That is a life time achievement. I must keep working on that one. Every day. All day.
Kurt's words resonated within me and I wondered what I had to remove from my life to add patience in to it. The outside stresses are definitely a factor. None of which I really want to take out of my life. I just want to keep them all in balance. Once again - I'm not giving up anything. I'm adding that equilibrium that keeps me feeling at peace in my world.
It isn't like I don't have any bad habits that I could give up! It is a matter of choosing something that I can strive to achieve and keep up after the 40 days of Lent is over.
My experiment with replacing bad habits with good ones kind of went awry after my chocolate overload. I think the chocolate was just an excuse. My stomach had been feeling very out of sorts during the last few weeks of my experiment and I wasn't sure what was causing it. Something I added or deleted or a combination of the two was playing havoc on my digestive system. So I turned to the chocolate as an excuse to bale out on healthy choices.
Since my little binge, I've gotten myself back on track. I have retained the exercise habit. I am eating smaller quantities. I have eaten only a few bowls of ice cream in the past month. I am simply moderating my intake of food and trying to stop the emotional eating cycle. In fact, I sat down and ate a bowl of ice cream after lunch yesterday and I didn't savor the ice cream experience and I felt rather crappy after I ate it.
I seem to have a problem with extra pounds finding their way onto my body lately. It could be the horrible eating habits that I have gradually added to my life. Over eating, emotional eating, the junk food habit ... added to the fact that I spend more time in front of the computer than I ever have in my life and less physical activity ... it equals the larger numbers on my scale.
So I thought of one food habit that I would truly like to break - the evening snacking. I thought to "give up snacking after 7:00" would be my goal for Lent. Sacrificing something that will be hard to do and beneficial to me sounds like a good goal. Achieving this and adding that exercise into my morning routine should help with the weight that I seem to be accumulating.
So the short of it is: I would like to give up 10 pounds for Lent.
Since I don't know the Catholic religion (other than what comes home from school), I am usually reminded about Lent after the fact. I have often thought that I should give up something for those 40 days. But somehow, by missing the start-date I absolved myself from the tradition.
This year, Kurt got me thinking about it a few days early. My first instinct was that I didn't want to give up any of the new facets of my 'new life'. What I have brought in to my life over the course of the past few years has been positive and motivating. Realizing that, I was reminded of all that I do have to be grateful for.
I wondered aloud, what I should give up. Kurt's unedited response was to ''give up being mean". Ouch. Once again - that isn't really giving up something. It is the realization that I must bring patience and tolerance in to my life. A few more ingredients to add to the recipe of the new me.
What I realized after last week, was that this impatience comes from an over-stressed, over-taxed and over-tired me. I have had an aura of calmness within me since unwinding this past weekend. I'm on the road to enhancing the nicer person that Kurt wants me to be. I want that goal to go beyond the 40 days. That is a life time achievement. I must keep working on that one. Every day. All day.
Kurt's words resonated within me and I wondered what I had to remove from my life to add patience in to it. The outside stresses are definitely a factor. None of which I really want to take out of my life. I just want to keep them all in balance. Once again - I'm not giving up anything. I'm adding that equilibrium that keeps me feeling at peace in my world.
It isn't like I don't have any bad habits that I could give up! It is a matter of choosing something that I can strive to achieve and keep up after the 40 days of Lent is over.
My experiment with replacing bad habits with good ones kind of went awry after my chocolate overload. I think the chocolate was just an excuse. My stomach had been feeling very out of sorts during the last few weeks of my experiment and I wasn't sure what was causing it. Something I added or deleted or a combination of the two was playing havoc on my digestive system. So I turned to the chocolate as an excuse to bale out on healthy choices.
Since my little binge, I've gotten myself back on track. I have retained the exercise habit. I am eating smaller quantities. I have eaten only a few bowls of ice cream in the past month. I am simply moderating my intake of food and trying to stop the emotional eating cycle. In fact, I sat down and ate a bowl of ice cream after lunch yesterday and I didn't savor the ice cream experience and I felt rather crappy after I ate it.
I seem to have a problem with extra pounds finding their way onto my body lately. It could be the horrible eating habits that I have gradually added to my life. Over eating, emotional eating, the junk food habit ... added to the fact that I spend more time in front of the computer than I ever have in my life and less physical activity ... it equals the larger numbers on my scale.
So I thought of one food habit that I would truly like to break - the evening snacking. I thought to "give up snacking after 7:00" would be my goal for Lent. Sacrificing something that will be hard to do and beneficial to me sounds like a good goal. Achieving this and adding that exercise into my morning routine should help with the weight that I seem to be accumulating.
So the short of it is: I would like to give up 10 pounds for Lent.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
The Calm After the Storm
Even though I didn't have the 'crash and burn day' that I had hoped for this past weekend, I enjoyed a nice pace of work, friends/family, sleep and R & R. I came into this new week feeling rested and grounded once again.
The pace of life has slowed down this week. Kids are back in school. My daily schedules and regular kid-loads are back in check. No racing around in the evenings. Just that sense of ''ahhh'' feeling at the end of the day.
My tolerance levels are back in check. I feel like I have my life back in balance again. It's nice to have a good sense of 'normal' as a check point in life. An equilibrium to strive towards. A place that feels comfortable and familiar.
This calmness within, is like a port in the storm. A safe and serene haven within the busyness of day to day living.
The pace of life has slowed down this week. Kids are back in school. My daily schedules and regular kid-loads are back in check. No racing around in the evenings. Just that sense of ''ahhh'' feeling at the end of the day.
My tolerance levels are back in check. I feel like I have my life back in balance again. It's nice to have a good sense of 'normal' as a check point in life. An equilibrium to strive towards. A place that feels comfortable and familiar.
This calmness within, is like a port in the storm. A safe and serene haven within the busyness of day to day living.
Monday, February 23, 2009
"I Guess I Was Thinking of You ..."
The first phone call I received this week was a wrong number. A friend accidentally called me, when they meant to call some place of business.
It happened to be a person of the male variety, so when the phrase "I guess I was thinking of you" followed the realization of his error, my heart did a little flip.
It was a little thing, but it feels good to hear those words. No matter who they come from.
What a nice way to start the week.
It happened to be a person of the male variety, so when the phrase "I guess I was thinking of you" followed the realization of his error, my heart did a little flip.
It was a little thing, but it feels good to hear those words. No matter who they come from.
What a nice way to start the week.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Treasures of the Week
A Valentines Day bouquet of flowers ...
And some very special prizes that I won at the dance at the studio Thursday night (don't you love my new tropical-bird-sun-visor?)
Looking at my most special treasures makes my heart happy.
I Overdid It
Yesterday, my coping abilities were nil. Small things felt big. I was overwhelmed by the kids. I couldn't get myself caught up on the work that I felt that I had to do. A little problem Kurt has been having with some friends felt like my problem and I was over reacting. I wanted to curl up in a corner and make the world go away.
Even as I was feeling these completely over the top and irrational feelings, I knew I was in foreign territory (although it used to be the norm for me). I was worrying about things that might happen - not what was actually happening at the time. I was wasting my energy on feeling these negative thoughts and fretting about things that may never happen. And does it really matter if my house gets dusted and the bathroom gets cleaned on Friday?!?!? Well, yes it does ... to me.
The more out of control my emotional well being is, the more I need order in my home. I need to be in an organized and clean space to relax. The correlation between an orderly work place and an orderly mind was implanted in my head at the very first job that I ever had. I've carried that forward with me throughout my working life. And now that I work from my home, the 'desk' that I need to keep running, well stocked and organized is the entirety of my home.
Order in my home = order in my mind. It works for me.
But yesterday ... I was over the top. There was something driving me that wasn't feeling healthy. The emotions behind my actions were not my regular coping mechanisms. What was my problem?
I was tired.
At the end of the day, I got my house in order, an errand run, I picked up Kurt (who had been at a friends) and brought him and his friend back home and I relaxed. I could feel the exhaustion seeping into my bones and when I relinquished all control and let myself go ... I slept.
It is amazing what a good nights sleep does for a person. I have granted myself a 'crash and burn day' this weekend. I supposedly have book keeping work en route to me today. More often than not, this doesn't happen. I have this horrible foreboding thought that today it will happen. No matter if my work comes today or not, I'm allowing myself the 'gift of a day'.
I felt like I have been in perpetual motion for 9 days straight. Every evening, every day, every moment, every thought had a purpose. Even scheduling 'down time' to watch my favorite shows wasn't quite refueling me like I needed. I need some time to just 'be'.
I overdid it.
Even as I was feeling these completely over the top and irrational feelings, I knew I was in foreign territory (although it used to be the norm for me). I was worrying about things that might happen - not what was actually happening at the time. I was wasting my energy on feeling these negative thoughts and fretting about things that may never happen. And does it really matter if my house gets dusted and the bathroom gets cleaned on Friday?!?!? Well, yes it does ... to me.
The more out of control my emotional well being is, the more I need order in my home. I need to be in an organized and clean space to relax. The correlation between an orderly work place and an orderly mind was implanted in my head at the very first job that I ever had. I've carried that forward with me throughout my working life. And now that I work from my home, the 'desk' that I need to keep running, well stocked and organized is the entirety of my home.
Order in my home = order in my mind. It works for me.
But yesterday ... I was over the top. There was something driving me that wasn't feeling healthy. The emotions behind my actions were not my regular coping mechanisms. What was my problem?
I was tired.
At the end of the day, I got my house in order, an errand run, I picked up Kurt (who had been at a friends) and brought him and his friend back home and I relaxed. I could feel the exhaustion seeping into my bones and when I relinquished all control and let myself go ... I slept.
It is amazing what a good nights sleep does for a person. I have granted myself a 'crash and burn day' this weekend. I supposedly have book keeping work en route to me today. More often than not, this doesn't happen. I have this horrible foreboding thought that today it will happen. No matter if my work comes today or not, I'm allowing myself the 'gift of a day'.
I felt like I have been in perpetual motion for 9 days straight. Every evening, every day, every moment, every thought had a purpose. Even scheduling 'down time' to watch my favorite shows wasn't quite refueling me like I needed. I need some time to just 'be'.
I overdid it.
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