Life Tips Daily

Please accept my apologies for my disappearance from this here site. I have been having eye issues, in particular my right eye. I am almost 100% so I must get back to providing and learning some life tips from you. Thanks for your patience and I hope you’ve been doing well.

Speaking of apologies, remember this entry early in the year? Well I have an update!

I did not know that this person even read my personal blog anymore and when she came upon my latest entries about house hunting and a 5K race that I will be running/walking, she felt compelled to email me again and wish me luck on both endeavours. That triggered an exchange of emails and we’re planning to meet for a meal in the near future. I think the resulting friendship may even end up being stronger than what it was before because we will have fought for it.

When a fight breaks up a relationship it’s sometimes a lot easier to say “To hell with him or her, I don’t need them”, and maybe you truly believe this, and maybe it’s even true. That is how I felt back when the situation happened. But sometimes you’re given an opportunity to change your original reaction and if you see something worth salvaging, you should take the opportunity and run with it. I’m glad we both have and I look forward to this new friendship.

So after last week, I blinked and the entire week passed by. It was full of work and other necessary but unexciting things.

I am about to start the long, labourious process of house hunting and next week I will be doing some pre-hunting by going to sites where new homes are being built and taking a look at their model homes. I’m sure I’ll want to buy one on the spot, but reality will hit me and I’ll use the day for the purpose it was meant: to get an idea of what I want versus absolutely need in a house. I will report back with some things learned while poking into model homes.

After the encouraging you to declutter your desktop, I stumbled across the following article in a local paper: Conquer your clutter, improve your health. It’s not very long so if you have a moment, I strongly encourage you to read it.

I was shocked to discover that “decluttering guru”, Peter Walsh, who you may have seen on Oprah claims that if you have issues with clutter or hoarding, this problem likely shows up in your health too: if you have a lot of clutter in your life, you are likely fat.

I was alarmed to read this because guess what? I am drowning in clutter and I am overweight. I can’t resist a bargain, I hate paying full price for something and have been known to buy things I don’t need simply because the price was too low to resist and because I was sure that I would one day need the item. I always thought my propensity to buy things and save them for the right moment was a good point, something that spoke well of my thriftiness and the fact that I don’t waste money. I take pride in the fact that family members scour my room for gift ideas before going out to buy something.

But could it be the symptoms of a bigger problem?

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A smart woman that I met late last year when I was feeling particularly uncreative and uninspired told me that she believes strongly that people meet for a reason, and sometimes just for a season. I’ve always thought that when you meet someone, find some common points and become friends, as long as the mutual like and respect remains, your friendship has to grow deeper, and if that means you have to work hard to make this happen, so be it.

However recent events have me having second thoughts. Maybe it is possible for someone to come into your life for a brief period of time and accomplish what they were meant to do in your life—give you a new perspective on life, answer a question that has been plaguing you for ages, support you at a time where you feel that nobody around you is there for you. Maybe these fleeting friendships aren’t meant to get any deeper. And most important, if that is the case, that is ok.

If you are faced with such a case, where you felt a need to reach out to someone going through a rough time despite that person not being your usual “friend material”, or if you are touched by somebody who doesn’t seem interested in being anything more than acquaintances, I encourage you to hold on to the lesson you have learned from the person. Long after you’ve forgotten the name of the person who believed in you enough to sponsor you, or the coworker who always asked you how you were doing, the memories of how their presence improved your life will remain. You won’t always be able to remain close friends with everyone despite your very best intentions, and sometimes, a deep friendship isn’t the goal. Keep the lesson close to you, and you may be able to be there for someone else, be it for a season or for a lifetime.

Good morning!

It’s been a while but work has been kicking my butt-both jobs as a matter in fact. It makes me wonder how those people who start a business that eventually moves to being their primary gig manage do it. You know who I’m talking about: the person who works at her full time 40 hours a week desk job, while doing web design on the side at nights and on the weekend, or the person who combines a full time job with a part time job, making their work week 60 hours a week-or more.

Although I have two jobs (Full time job + part time job of 12-15 hours a week), there are people who manage to fit much more into their weeks. How do they do it? I don’t know for certain but here are some helpful tips for those of you who are considering taking on a second job.

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Christmas is just around the corner (don’t be fooled by that month called November: it will be over before you know it). It is pretty amazing how many events get crammed into the final month of the year—parties, potlucks, dinners, gift exchanges, numerous shopping trips to buy the perfect gift, get togethers with friends and family that you don’t seem to have the opportunity (or inclination) to socialize with the rest of the year. If you’re anything like me (and I hope you’re not), you probably start thinking about Christmas in October, then do nothing until December 9 or 10, and then feel like you’re in a losing race for the rest of the month. Your plans to host a party or dinner have to be abandoned because you just don’t have enough time. You may also end up double booking yourself or booking yourself for four parties in five nights which, when you’re not 19 anymore, is hard on your body.

I’ll be sharing a few tips to help you have a more enjoyable Christmas season today and tomorrow. Today’s tip is:

Start early
A friend of mine swears that you can never start planning too early for Christmas and I used to scoff at this. I’ve realized that it’s true: from buying decorations, gift wrap and other supplies (disposable plates, cutlery, napkins, etc) during the Boxing day or post-Christmas sales to asking family members for their wishlists at the end of the summer (or earlier!), the more time you give yourself to get ready, the more money you’ll save because you’ll actually be able to buy gifts when they go on sale rather than during the times where the demand is largest, meaning that not only are things more expensive, but the quantities are limited). Starting early means that you can afford to take the time to buy gifts that you’re confident that the recipient will like, because you’re not panicking and picking up the first thing that comes into your field of vision. You may even discover that you enjoy shopping, since it’s the unhurried leisurely variety, rather than the scenario of struggling to get through a crowded mall. The available selection is also larger earlier on in the season, so the chances of you getting exactly what you wanted to buy are much higher.

Tomorrow we’ll look at how to organize all the events you are involved in during the holiday season.

I’m not a big hockey fan like Michelle is, but my mother and sister are and their hollering during yesterday’s game was impossible to ignore, and served as an easy way to keep track of how the home team was doing.

Unfortunately, during one of their lulls, I heard that a hockey player, Jason Blake, had been diagnosed with leukemia and in an interview, he expressed his optimism and his plans to continue to play as usual. He is not the first hockey player to be diagnosed with cancer during the hockey season: Mario Lemieux and Saku Koivu were able to return to the sport following treatment.

The reason why this bad news was so timely for me is I have been wallowing of late at the state of my own life, how dull and boring it is and how nothing exciting ever happens. It’s gotten to the point where I have considered making up making up something like “I’m moving to Australia for a year to work in an apple orchard” or “I’m pregnant-I think it was the guy at the club last weekend”, just so I don’t have to say my usual “Oh, everything’s fine. Nothing exciting has happened” when friends, all with lives far more titillating than mine, ask me how I’m doing. I haven’t done anything to inject my life with fun, unless complaints and sighing are considered useful tactics.

But after hearing this news, I was humbled. Instead of moaning at the utter mundaneness of my life, I’ve decided to be grateful that no excitement in the form of bad news has reached my ears. I’m glad that my health is good (*knock on wood*), I have food to eat, family to laugh with, and a shelter over my head. Really, I have nothing big to complain about. And once again, it’s taken a reminder of what could be happening to remind me to be grateful for what I’ve got.

I recently started reading Real Simple Magazine and if you are looking for a publication that promises to make life easier by providing tips on:

• decluttering your home or office
• time management
• dealing with things that plague your mind such as fears or difficult people in your life

in addition to tips on beauty and fashion, and recipes, then this magazine is for you.

Real Simple magazines are consistently thick, and there is something about the photography that graces the front cover that makes you want to renovate your home, or go shopping immediately.

My only complaint is one that I’m seeing in more and more magainzes: too many pages of advertising!

Does anybody else spend far too much time worrying, and not enough time enjoying or just plain dealing with that they are faced with?

As the eldest of four children, with parents in their late 50s who seem to have a new health complaint every year, I worry most about my them. I just want a guarantee that they will be around forever, healthy and whole. Surely that’s not too much to ask? I’m not unselfish though: I worry that my single state will be a permanent condition; that I will die alone and bitter. Both of these worries cause me stress: my heartbeat becomes accelerated and my blood pressure rises, I am uneasy, my sleep is unrestful and I’m plagued with negative thoughts.

I’ve especially found that as I age, my tendency to worry has increased enormously. If this is one of the perks that come with adulthood, it’s no wonder I continue to act like a child in many ways. I simply am not ready to accept that worrying has to be a part of my life. At the same time, letting go of worries is something that has proven very difficult for me.

So today I am asking you what you do to minimize your worrying. I have some good ideas but so far, I’ve been too worried to try them out!

• prayer
• meditation, focusing on breathing in and out to physically calm yourself down
• doing something positive to help the situation, no matter how small, even if it’s just something like making a doctor’s appointment, or reading up about the cause for concern
• talking to a close friend or someone about the problems (let a friend be your shoulder to lean on!)
• asking for help to deal with the situation
• talking to the person that you are worried about, and listening to what they have to say

How do you keep worries at bay?

With me spouting off about procrastination here and here, you might think I’m a shining example of a procrastination success story.

Sadly, I’m not, not even close. I am sure that when procrastination is classed as a disease, I will be invited personally to be a research subject, my procrastination is at that advanced a stage. Due to procrastination, I have had to restart the process of acquiring a driver’s license, I have missed deadlines to apply for jobs and I have failed to get A+s on school projects (the teachers/professors have always informed me that certain work submitted by me would have been an A+ project had it been submitted on time). All of this qualifies me to speak about the benefits of abolishing procrastination, I think.

Here is my list of things to do, with a date beside it in brackets indicating when when I was to have done it:

• File my income tax return for 2006 (April 30, 2007) September 30, 2007
• Get an x-ray of my right foot (March 2007) September 15, 2007
• Sent the winner of some contest their prizes (March, April and May 2007) August 30, 2007

The new dates in bold indicate the new date by which I want to have accomplished these goals. I will rely on the tips such as just doing it, breaking each task down into smaller goals and accomplishing them, and not letting a fear of not doing each perfectly stop me. Clearly I need my tips at least as much as the next person. I will keep you posted on my progress!