Life Tips Daily

Procrastination is a disease that if left untreated, will fester. The longer you wait to do something, the more complacent you become leaving it undone. In some cases, the longer you wait to do it, the bigger the problem itself becomes. An example is fixing a tear in a piece of clothing. If you continue to use the article of clothing without repairing it, the hole will grow larger from wear and tear, and what would have required seven or eight stitches and 5 minutes to fix is now something that requires hauling out a sewing machine, adding some reinforcing fabric to ensure that it doesn’t rip again, and fixing it. Chances are the repair will be more visible than it would have been if you had only had to make a few stitches by hand, and you may find that your efforts just can’t save it, and you have to throw it away after all.

Those of us who procrastinate are well aware we are creating more work for ourselves in the future, so why do it?

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I went camping two weekends ago, and although we were well organized and had everything we absolutely needed, I thought of a few tips and tricks that would make camping even better:

Water jug
If you are camping on well established camping grounds that are provincially (state) regulated, you may have access to running water on the camp grounds. In Ontario, this water is perfectly fine for cooking with, brushing teeth and washing hands (and drinking too, although most bring their own water for that). Instead of shuffling over to the water pump every time you need to wash your hands, buy yourself a water jug that will hold several litres of water so you can minimize the number of trips you need to make.

Extra rope
If you enjoy going to the beach and swimming, or will be taking showers in the morning, you will likely have a soggy towel and/or suit that needs to be hung to dry. You can certainly use a tree branch to air your things but a rope strung between two trees would be a far neater solution.

Fire making 101
Making a fire may come easily to you but if it doesn’t, you should read up on how to create a roaring fire. Another way to help the fire making process is by collecting kindling (small pieces of wood used to keep the fire going) around your campsite, perhaps before setting up your tent. Provincial parks sell firewood but if you happen to have access to free wood at home or on the way to the camp site, you may want to take advantage of that as it will cut down on the expense.

Double duty items for meals
When planning meals, think of how some ingredients can be used for another meal: the bread used to make toast for breakfast could be wrapped around hotdogs, the hotdogs from lunch can be chopped up into the salad for dinner. If being economical is important, you can limit the number of food items you bring in order to ensure that each gets maximized (and hopefully used up!).

camping, camp, camp tips

A friend of mine is happily married, but is made to feel guilty for spending time in her new home, with her new husband and her new life and not with her parents and younger sister (who still lives at home).

She has finally decided that seeing her parents once a week is sufficient, and has made every effort to make this weekly meeting on the same night every week so that all everyone involved can book that time exclusively for this. A mutual date was agreed upon, but the parents keep cancelling the date and then complaining that their daughter is unable to make time for them. My friend has suggested that another day and time be chosen, but her parents agree that this is the best time for them.

Who is at fault (if anyone)? How can my friend maintain peace in her family?

It was my father’s birthday yesterday, and when you are inching towards 60 years of age, it is quite difficult to think of something that you really and truly need. It is harder still for well meaning but self absorbed children (I have siblings; I am naturally not talking about myself) to think of gifts too.

So, if you need a gift idea for an adult who at this point in his or her life has got all that he or she needs or wants, here are some ideas:

Gift cards
Some have a real aversion to such a gift but a gift card to a favourite restaurant, especially one that the adult in your life has deemed “too expensive” is perfect. Another good thing is that older folks hate to see money wasted so if you’ve already paid for the gift card, you can be sure it will be used.

(Not so cheap) Alcohol
Again, choose a brand that is as rich or fine as your wallet will allow. This gift only works if your favourite adult is not an alcoholic (recovering or otherwise) and if they actually enjoy alcohol. If they cannot tell cooking sherry from an Australian reisling, you may want to pass on this idea.

Wearable memento
If the adult you wish to bestow a gift on wears jewelry, why not get him or her something special? A pendant engraved with his or her name and the birthday for which it was presented or the date on which he or she was born might be welcome. Or, you can add the birthstones of the children to a piece of jewelry, and present it as a group gift.

Visual memento
If you are creative and have access to pictures of your loved one’s life (before you, perhaps), why not make copies of these pictures and create a scrapbook or a photo album from the pictures. Bonus: get family members and friends to send a picture of them with the birthday boy or girl, and write a sentence or two about fond memories they have with the person and incorporate this into the scrapbook or album.

Spend that precious time with them
Your parent might not want a gift at all. All they want is to see their child more often than once a year. Why not take a week off and come and visit? Tell them you’ll do whatever they want to do while you’re there. All they may want is a listening ear. If so, you may want to take this time to record some of the memories and stories being shared. When aggravation begins to set in, think about what this person means to you and how quickly time flies and hopefully the aggravation will diminish…if not, escape for a few moments.

This last gift is truly the best gift you can give. Even if you find it a waste of your time, I guarantee that when your loved one has moved on and they are no longer in your life to drive you crazy, it will be that time spent with them that will stick out most clearly in your mind.

Are you tired of unwanted advances from a coworker? If you are not ready to report a coworker to your office’s human resources department because you suspect he or she is harmless, try the following tips. It is important to try them in the order that they are written, and keep a record of the dates and times you try each step so that if you decide to take your grievance to the appropriate people, you have a logical collection of efforts recorded:

Hint less subtly
If you’ve noticed that all your hints that you are not interested in the conversation you’re currently engaged in go over your coworker’s head, it’s time to be more obvious in your hints. Tell the coworker that you have important work to do, every time he or she approaches you. After saying this, turn to your workstation and begin to work, even if all you are doing is writing “I cannot stand you” over and over again onto a blank screen. After receiving this sort of treatment several times a day for a week or so, your coworker should get the message.

It is important that you keep this treatment up consistently. If you give in and talk with your coworker every second or third time he or she approaches you, you will not be sending a strong message across at all.

Send a frank email
If you think your coworker is not a bad person, you may want to let him or her down firmly but not so aggressively. Send an email that explains how the attention paid to you makes you feel, why you feel it is inappropriate, and what sort of work relationship you would like to have with the person (if at all). Send it from your work email address and save a copy of this email and any replies you receive, just in case.

Tell them straight out
Confrontation is difficult but nothing beats hearing it straight from the horse’s mouth (so to speak). Even if all you do is read the contents of your previous email aloud, do it. Tell your coworker that you are disappointed that your email was not as well received as you wished, restate the reasons why the attention you are receiving is inappropriate or unwelcome by you and ask firmly that the behaviour stop.
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If you find that none of these previous tips work, wait for a couple of weeks. After this time, inform your coworker that you have not noticed a change in behaviour, and that you will be filing a complaint with human resources in one week’s time if nothing changes. And if nothing changes, do it. Most coworkers care enough about their job that they will take your “threat” seriously, at least as seriously as you take it. If you do need to approach your human resources department, you should have at your disposal a well documented summary of how things have progressed up to that point.

coworker, unwanted advances, harassment, workplace harassment

Do you have a coworker who stands a little too close to you when talking, talks a little to often to you, and always finds a reason to be around your desk or cubicle, even when he or she works on a different floor or side of the office? Have you had other coworkers ask if you’re having a relationship with this coworker? Have subtle hints on your part failed to reach your clueless coworker? If any of these ring through, and this person isn’t your significant other (in which case you’d want to follow a separate set of tips such as tip #1: end relationship, tip #2: restraining order), you are likely suffering from unwanted advances from a coworker.

While you are perfectly justified in contacting your office’s human resources department and reporting this behaviour which no doubt leaves you feeling uncomfortable, if you have any reason at all to believe that your new shadow is unaware of how you feel about the advances he or she is making towards you, tune in tomorrow for ways to stop unwanted advances.

coworker, unwanted advances, harassment, workplace harassment

Good morning!

I am currently without internet and have been for nearly a week now. I have managed to find myself a short bit of internet time so I will use it for good. Speaking of good: it’s a good thing that I had prepared some topics for Life Tips Daily earlier last week so you could (hopefully) enjoy them for most of last week.

It’s when something like this happens that you really learn what an integral part of your life some things have become. It can be easy to forget that there are people in the world who don’t consider clean water, a constant supply of electricity, a personal computer, and internet that is available 24 hours a day guarantees in their lives.

So today, enjoy all those little things that make your life worth enjoying. Not only do you not know when you might have to do without it, but sometimes looking at something with new eyes can increase your appreciation for it.

Following yesterday’s article about SparkPeople, I received this in my inbox from a daily SparkPeople email:

Understanding happiness

Happiness is a state of mind, not a way of life or a destination that you’ll reach one day. Bumps in the road of life are to be expected, and we cannot let them ruin our days. We often think that if a combination of factors would just fall into place THEN we would finally be happy. Satisfaction can only come from within, through truly accepting yourself, your life, and your circumstances. During this life you’ll have many hard days–long work days, sleepless nights, worrying about the future, etc. This week, think about the joys of your life. Find creative ways to enjoy the little bumps in the road.

I encourage you to read it, think about it, then live it!

If you are seeking weightloss help that will work with your busy lifestyle, and you happen to spend a lot of time online on your computer, then you should visit SparkPeople.

This website is a fitness buddy, support system, dietician and personal chef in one (sorry, that last one is a bit of a lie)! Interesting and informative articles on the psychology of weightloss, motivation and those thoughts that go through the minds of anyone who has been overweight for most of their lives are definitely worth reading. The site provides easy recipes, demonstrations of the best way to perform various exercises, and offers tips for maximizing your weightloss efforts. There is also a food tracker where you can select or enter what you eat and the number of calories, fat grams and other information is made available for your information. Yes, all of this and so much more!

Although this writer is new to the program, and is currently reading more than actually doing, she just had to share the site with you.

Spark People, Spark People, weightloss, lose weight help with weight loss