Archives for July 2006

When you’re getting a homework assignment from two different sides at once, you know you have to do it. Both Chery Richardson and FlyLady were asking us to write down what we have changed for the better. Since I haven’t done this before, I’ll include things starting last year as well. First the Flylady-related improvements and then the rest:

1. Sink is shining almost every night.
2. I’m dressed to shoes every day before breakfast.
3. I’m “doing” the kitchen every morning and I “swish and swipe” the bathrooms.
4. Laundry is under control.
5. “Homeblessing” gets done almost every week.
6. I’m going to bed on time – almost.
7. I’m eating less sweets and have stuck to my “only one bag of potato chips per month”-rule since May.
8. Since November I’ve been practicing the piano almost every day. There have been only two or three weeks, where I dropped down to one or two times a week.
9. I’ve been starting to practice singing again, ‘though irregular (mostly due to throat problems).
10. I’ve started to play the guitar again and have been playing every other day. Sometimes more. I’m getting calluses on the fingertips of my left hand. (That’s good. It means, guitar playing won’t be hurting any more in the near future.)
11. I’ve been meditating for at least ten minutes every day since I started last June.
12. Since February I’ve been blogging two or three times a week.
13. Since you’re wondering where I find the time to do all this: I’ve reduced TV and computer time. I stopped reading fashion magazines and those that you get for free at the health food store.
14. Since December I’ve reduced drinking alcohol to weekends.
15. Since applying the principles of “Playful Parenting” I’m yelling less at my son.

Not bad, isn’t it. I give myself a pat on the back. Now I only need to make a list with my goals for July.

Technocrati-Tags: improvements, flylady, housework, self-help

The other day I had a conversation with a student. She told me that a couple of her teachers had said she and her classmates should be glad to be teenagers. “Just wait till you’re grown-up, and you have to do some silly job all day long, and are oppressed by your boss! At least now you’re having one or two subjects at school that you like.”

Hm. First, I have to say that I’m feeling sorry for those teachers. If they’re as unhappy as that, maybe they should change their life. But then I had to tell my student this:

While there are people for whom childhood and teenage years mark the best part of their life, I’m really happy to be a grown-up.

The thing I like the most is the degree of freedom and self-reliance. Freedom and responsibility are going hand in hand, and I actually like being responsible, too. For myself and for my child.
In the process of growing older, I have become happier and more content. My childhood and teenage years were full of anxiety and insecurity. When I was about the age of my student, I longed for:

• somebody who loves me and with whom I could have great sex
• to become a musician
• to be cool and accepted
• to have nice clothes (okay, make that cool clothes)
• to feel good about myself and the way I look
• to have curly hair
• to have at least enough money
• intellectual and emotional stimulating company

And now, as I write this, all of this has come true. Apart from the being cool and accepted part. But then, there are people who think that I’m cool. (And no, I didn’t have a perm, it did turn out that having straight hair with strangely unruly bangs translates into really having wavy hair. Duh.)

So, for all the teenagers out there: Don’t believe that life only can get worse. Please. It’s up to you to make a difference.

And to all the grown-ups: If you’re unhappy, please remember that you have a choice.

Technocrati Tags: teenagers, grown-ups, happiness, self-help