Tag: future

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Priorities

It is a new year and, as so many others do during the month of January, I am assessing my life and habits and looking toward making changes. These changes will not come in the form of resolutions. We all know what happens when we make those. No, instead, I will be making long term changes over the course of the full year. To start off my assessment, I made a list of things that I used to love doing and have, for one reason or another, stopped partaking in.

 

  1. Beading
  2. Tap Dancing
  3. Yoga
  4. Cooking from scratch
  5. Coding
  6. Blogging
  7. Writing for Sociology
  8. Swimming
  9. Learning about and developing content
  10. Singing in public
  11. Reading at the caffe

 

Most of the activities on this list have been pushed aside to make time for work and school. Although it was important to focus on other things, I believe that I can now reincorporate these activities back into my life in a meaningful way. I did not believe I had time to make necklaces or sing in a local choir because I had to focus on my future. Well, the future is now and if I continue putting things I enjoy on the back burner the future future will be bleak. So – in order to make sure that I start doing all of these activities again, in 2016 and beyond, my priorities need to be assessed and shifted. In order to do this, I must look at a typical day and see what changes can be made to incorporate things that make me happy back into weekly existence.

 

My typical day (Monday-Friday):

  • 6:45 am: Hit the snooze
  • 6:51 am: Hit the snooze
  • 6:57 am: Hit the snooze
  • 7 am: Out of bed and into shower
  • 7:45 am: Prepare food/drink for breakfast and lunch
  • 8 am: Leave for work
  • 8:30 am: Arrive at work
  • 8:30 am – 5:30 pm: Workday
  • 5:30 – 7 pm: Extended workday
  • 7 pm: Leave for home
  • 7:15 pm: Arrive at home (in perfect weather and traffic conditions)
  • 7:15 – 8 pm: Make/warm up dinner
  • 8 pm: Eat dinner
  • 9 pm: Watch television
  • 11:30 pm: Go to bed
  • 12:00 am: Fall asleep

 

The first change that I am going to make to my schedule is to only work until 5:30 pm each day. Any later than that is bad for me, both mentally and physically, not to mention it hurts my pocketbook since I am giving extra time to a company that isn’t paying for that extra service. Being a salaried employee means that when I work 45 or 50 hours a week I make less per hour than I do when I work a normal 40 hour week. There is nothing that important that I need to stay late. By making this one change, I will get back 1.5 hours per day (7.5 hours per week) of my life to relax and enjoy my dinner. Eating so late was having a horrible effect on my sleeping patterns, so I’m hoping that by having dinner by 6 or 6:30 pm each weeknight, I will be able to sleep more soundly when I hit the pillow.

 

The next change that I will make is to choose an activity from the list above and do that in the time that I’ve gotten back from not working late. What I mean by this is that if I finish eating dinner by 7:30, I will have 2 hours for an activity and 2 hours for television. This will give my dinner time to digest while I’m doing something more active before I sit down to relax for the evening. This 2-hour span of time will also be useful when the semester begins because I can use it to do my schoolwork. In the meantime, if I can get back into beading, dancing, singing or any of the other items on the list when the semester begins I can move those activities to the weekend and use the 2 hours in the evenings to study. This will make my semester more enjoyable because I won’t be spending my whole weekend reading and writing for school.

 

The third change (and this is the big one) that I am going to make in 2016 is shifting my food habits. Rather than going on a diet where I am restricting myself from eating based on calories, I’m going to start replacing foods that I know are not as healthy with alternatives. In order to assist me in this quest, I have purchased 2 books about the Whole30 plan. Once I have completed my readings and research, I will make a plan so that this can really work. It is not a diet, it is a way of life. Shifting my food choices should help me to have more energy which, in turn, will help me to get back into shape. The weight loss is not the main goal, it is a happy outcome. In order to truly facilitate this shift, the writer and I have agreed to begin by not getting take out for dinner during the week. We are going to start off with a 30-day plan to cook meals each night for dinner and bring lunches every day. This will exclude going out for dinner on the writer’s birthday and potentially 1 or 2 Sunday brunch meals, but overall we will try to cook for all 3 meals, 7 days a week, for 30 days.

 

With a 9-hour workday, an earlier dinner schedule, and a wind-down activity prior to television viewing time, I believe that I will start falling asleep faster when I go to bed and eventually I won’t have to hit the snooze so many times in the morning. Once the food shifts and the benefits of cooking at home (and this also fulfills my ‘cooking from scratch’ activity) kick in, I should gain a renewed sense of self that I have been without for quite some time. It is not just about the weight. It is really about the feeling of being healthy. It has been a while since I have felt truly good about myself, overall, and I want to get back to that place. Once I do that, I’ll be able to conquer all the items on my list and start doing the things I love once again.

 

Peace, Chantale

 

What are you doing to change yourself in 2016?  Are you a resolution maker or do you scoff at that? Tell me more about it in the comment thread and if you enjoy this post, please pass it along!

A few links:
whole30.com
whole30 shopping list
nom nom paleo
well fed resources
tips for sleeping well

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Before and After

Many things have changed over the years, but one thing has always remained constant. I love New York City and I have always thought that I would end up there eventually. There has never been a clear path to this goal, but the thought was always there. Waiting. Running in the background of every decision I have made. Each step has been a step in the direction of NYC.

For the first 21 years of my life I believed that music would get me there. Singing was my ticket in and I would use my talent to carve out a life in the city. What I did not count on was the fact that I have an innate laziness when it comes to keeping up with things such as musical ability. I also did not believe that I could do it, so that stunted my attempts. My threshold for criticism was low and my understanding of my own talent was lacking. To put it another way, I was afraid. Music is all about being judged and I was terribly fearful of not being the best. Although I put forth a pretty laid back attitude, I am a perfectionist and because of this need to be perfect I had a lot of trouble hearing otherwise. Especially in situations where I could hear that others were not up to par but still got parts over me. Musical theatre is a game and the most important part of playing is to know people. If you do not have contacts you can be the best singer in the world and you will never get beyond the open calls. Callbacks are pipe dreams for people without connections.

From the ages of 22-38 I believed that it was more important to save money than to try and go to the city. I thought that once I got out of debt and I was living comfortably an opportunity would present itself. This does not happen. If you want something badly enough you have to go out and grab it. So I languished in Buffalo, moving from job to job thinking that each career move was getting me closer to my goal. During this time I also married the writer and we started discussing what our future would look like, together. At the time of our marriage, he was not too keen on moving anywhere larger than the size of Buffalo, but this was before the trip.

This is where the title comes in. There is a before the trip life and an after the trip life. Before the trip, the writer and I were moving in a direction of a mortgage, two cars paid off, minimal debt, and a possible future adopted family. After the trip we are moving toward the city and all that it entails. Some of the before things could happen, but some will be set aside to make the city happen. This is necessary and makes us both extremely happy. Now that we are in our after trip lives we can see clearly why the city is really the only option. This is giving us the courage and conviction to make it work at any cost.

Here are a few of the before and afters that are really propelling us forward today:

Before the trip the writer had no idea what the city was like.
After the trip he is in love with the city and what it has to offer.

Before the trip our daily work lives were long and arduous.
After the trip daily work is all in the grand scheme of an eventual, mapped out goal, making it easier to get up in the morning and go to the temporary jobs we are currently in. Of course there are still days when we want to throw in the towel, but being that it is after the trip it makes it easier to push through knowing that it will all be worth it in the end.

Before the trip living in the city seemed like a dream that was unattainable.
After the trip living in the city seems less daunting. With hard work and perseverance any dream can come true.

Before the trip the standard conversation had by many WNY residents was believable. The negativity and naysaying was easy to buy into.
After the trip these conversations are more clear. They are ways to stifle those that want to fly free. They are ways to ‘prove’ that moving anywhere, not just the city, is unattainable, but they are wrong. With hard work, perseverance, and a plan, anything is, indeed, possible.

We will prove them wrong. We will make it work. The alternative is a life of languishing in Buffalo, or some other steel town, until death. Not happy. Not true. Not what we want. We will not let the negativity keep us down or hold us back. We are on our way, so watch out!

Peace,
Chantale

What do you come up against when trying to map out your dreams? Let me know in the comments below!

If you enjoyed this post, please pass it along to friend and foe alike. We love discourse!

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Trying New Things aka Letting Go of the Past to Create a Better Future

Throughout my life I have been skeptical of pretty much everything.  I have been highly attracted to the mystical and spiritual side of life, but I have never fully bought into any of it. Each time I go to the bookstore, I end up in one of three sections; Sociology, Cultural Studies, or New Age/Spirituality. Self improvement has been something that I have been longing to jump into, but never had the guts to fully commit to. That is, until now.

This week I downloaded a new book on audible by Jen Sincero titled You are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life. I figured I would listen for a few chapters, put it on hold for a future date, and complete it next year sometime when I was bored and just wanted to finish something. This was NOT the case. I was sucked in. Every trip in the car was an opportunity to listen to a chapter. I sat in the parking lot at home and at work a number of times just to get to the end of a section. I listened intently to all she had to say and things started to line up.

Why have I not been committed to making my life truly, madly, and deeply better? Well, one reason is that I have been lazy but another is that I didn’t really believe in myself or the universe. There are days when I think that just driving in to work is a futile activity, but I do it anyway because I have to. This is a self limiting belief. Yes, I have to go to work to make money to pay bills to live, but I don’t have to do it where I am, now, forever. I can put positive vibes out into the universe, be grateful for what I have, raise my frequency, and know that what I truly want is out there waiting for me to grab it.

Now you might say, “Seriously? You? The most sarcastic and self loathing person in my life is going to change?” Yes. I am. Self limiting beliefs are just that. Self Limiting and Beliefs. They stop us from moving forward in life and they restrict what we think we can and should do. They do not give us hope or make us grateful. They keep us down and on the couch, wishing we could move forward but somehow stuck. Well, I refuse to be stuck any longer.

I feel that this blog has already been a step in the right direction. The pieces I have written have been positive in nature and detailed little things I have been working on to move forward. Having listened to this book (and I will be listening several more times to get the concepts really ingrained and do the exercises to strengthen my resolve) I know that I can manifest that which I want and by being open to the universe and all it has to offer, I am giving myself the ability to receive good things in return. By meditating and sending out good vibes, the way that I want my life to be will be. It is that simple and, at the same time, that difficult.  The difficulty comes from the change in self limiting thoughts and behaviours. These are ingrained in us from years of learning from other people exactly who, how, and what we should be. Those other people, however, are not us. They are not inside our brains or living our lives. They have their own lives to live.  The first step in any self improvement journey is to shake off the negativity and get right with yourself. Move away from the self limiting beliefs of others and make your own new, different, and more positive beliefs. Turn your frown upside down in a bigger, more cosmic sense. Move ahead with conviction and determination, remaining grateful, and life will open up.

I hope you will join me on this new journey and that I can post more often on the events and new experiences that come my way based on my new determination. As I continue to manifest my destiny (which already exists out there in the universe) I will make a conscious effort to keep you, my readers, involved and up to date with my journey. I am sure there will be some bumps in the road, but I have been here before. Quitting smoking was one of the most difficult and most rewarding things I did for myself. It took guts and determination and this past August I hit the 6 year mark.

If I can take my new self improvement ideas and marry them with my old, ingrained level of determination, which I displayed in my ability to stay smoke free for 6 years, I can do ANYTHING! Stick with me and you will see. We can be awesome. We just have to choose to be and then keep at it.

Peace and Happy Manifesting,

Chantale aka hippiegrrl

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Looking Inward

This is the year of 40. Although it does not happen until nearly the end, it is colouring all my decisions. It sounds like a sad occasion, but it is not. 40 has given me a clarity I did not realize I could have. My experiences leading up to this milestone birthday are helping me make key decisions for life going forward.

So what have I learned? Here are some of the highlights.

1. I have the ability to shape my future to my liking, without the voices in my head that say otherwise.
2. I can overcome negativity, rise above it, and be a better human.
3. I can live anywhere in the country (or world) and be happy. My location on the planet does not determine my mental state.
4. My talents can be combined to make a kick ass career, if I just apply myself to the future.
5. I do not need to have children to feel fulfilled.
6. My life will mean something only if I make a difference for others while I am here on this rock.
7. The life I thought I was supposed to live should never hold me back from the possibilities of the future.

A key concept that I have decided to pursue in order to make the future bright involves modifying my state of mind. Here is my plan to gain clarity and move forward. This can be useful for so many of us and I wish that I had been presented with it at a young age. It is not about being selfish, but mindful.

First, block off a minimum of 15 minutes, uninterrupted. Be sure to have paper and a pen or pencil, whichever you prefer. Find a comfortable spot to sit where you can reflect and write. Once you are settled begin by writing down your top dream in life. What did you want to do when you were growing up? It can be the most impossible dream ever, but you should still write it down. When you are considering this dream, do not veer off into blame or negativity. Do not think of the reasons why you did not fully pursue the dream, just simply consider it.

Now think about where you are currently. What is your situation? Do you have bills and a family? Do you have a job you love or a job you hate? Are you in a slump? Write this down.

Next, think about what you would do to change your current situation to make it happy for you. This is difficult, but during this portion of the exercise do not think of others. Only focus on you. In a world where you are on your own, with no obligations or restrictions, what would you do? Would you pursue your previous dream or would you create a whole new dream? Would you move to a new city or would you stay where you are? If no other human beings were involved in your decision making, what would you do? Write this down.

Last, think in practical terms. If you were to pursue this new (or old) dream, what would you need to do to make it happen? Would you need to take classes? Would you need to travel? Would you need to get better organized or would you simply have to just get started? Write down the steps you need to take to make this dream a reality. Again, do this without consideration for others.

Now, I realize this might seem like a self centered exercise and, in fact, it totally is, but that is the point. If you do not take the time to sit and think about your own goals and dreams, you will never seek to achieve beyond your current state. You will continue to live in the past, hold grudges, grip tight to the things you have that you think make you who you are, and never leave your comfort zone. This exercise does not have to result in a full life change, but it simply gives you clarity and, perhaps, a plan to move forward. Having self awareness and self reliance are important parts of being a functioning human. Being able to move forward with positivity is the goal. Whether you stay where you are in life or move on, as long as you gain an inner peace, this exercise was successful. Releasing the past is key to moving forward.

I hope this is as useful to you as it has been for me. I find that doing this exercise every couple months can help me to refocus my goals. I may not get to my ultimate dream, but I will get closer than I would if I chose to never consider my own needs and wants. It also gives me the clarity to make my five year plans and move forward toward those larger life goals. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Peace,
Chantale