I have serious love/hate feelings toward the ice bucket challenge, a spirited challenge to help raise funds for ALS.
As someone in PR and marketing, it’s my ultimate dream that one of my clients — particularly a nonprofit — would generate this level of exposure, see donations jump by the millions and witness the email database quad-million-drouple (I’m sure there’s a technical term), all as a result of an organic, grassroots effort by passionate people eager to help support and raise awareness for a critical, devastating disorder. After all, I have something hardly anyone knows about. I’d be dancing around the office like a crazy lady if it got anywhere near the same level of support or awareness.
Yet, do I really want to dump on a bucket of ice on my head because you did it, posted it on Facebook, possibly with your kids, and dared me to do so? I enjoyed watching your video (at least in the beginning, if we’re being truthful), and some of them have been legit laugh-out-loud funny, but pass. No interest. I almost did, but only because doing so after coming back from the gym sounded appealing. I love you friends but I don’t see the point. And, I’m not donating $100 either. I’ll donate $10 for the two friends who dared me (thanks D & J!). Keep Reading —>>
This is so true. One of the biggest challenges is saying no, but it’s one of the most important skills to learn, as a professional, as a mother, as a friend, a wife, in every role you have. Every time you say yes to one thing, you inadvertently are saying no to another. Everyone’s priorities are different, and it’s not my place to judge anyone else’s, but I’ve learned that time is precious and, you can’t take back moments after perhaps not prioritizing in the best way possible.
Make yourself happy by doing what means most to you, not solely will make others happy. That’s a tough lesson, and one that sounds slightly harsh until you realize that when you’re happiest, you’re creating an aura that makes everyone around you happy. Create strict with your prioritizing. For example, I used to get 5-6 blog posts up per week (as I’m sure you know) but I can’t do it every week since I primarily dedicate evening time to blogging. It kind of kills me but it would kill me more to miss these moments: reading to my daughter before bed, dinner with my family, an occasional girls night out, even heading to the gym after work or wrapping up big projects at work. My blog is my passion… I love, love, love coming here, chatting with all of you, writing and putting content out there — so that’s why it stings — but every action has another action. I’m so grateful that you stop by when I share, and in the interim, I’ve changed behaviors as a result of realizing the impact of my seemingly innocent evenings in front of a computer screen translates to.
Anyway, I digress but I just loved this so much on so many levels when I saw it on Pinterest (where else?) that I had to share. Wishing you all a day filled with priorities that mean the most to you!
I never envisioned I’d adopt. In fact, when I was young I never envisioned much when it came to kids of my own. Kind of assumed I’d have a boy and a girl, because, that seemed like what could make a family (and what I came from). I just assumed it would be me delivering them. And, all was on track when I gave birth to our little girl nearly five years ago. But, things have a way of changing in ways you never imagine.
A little over a year ago I shared here how my husband and I tried to adopt, only to have it fall apart right after Mother’s Day 2013… just three weeks before the due date. I won’t get into that again except to say that, like with other things, I’m confident things happen for a reason.
Last Tuesday, our little boy who was born in November officially became ours by law. The “gotcha” day as it’s apparently called. In some ways it was monumental, and in other ways, hardly news at all. He’s been ours since the moment we met. He just fit into our family. Yes, we now had a boy and a girl but it wasn’t for that reason at all. He’s just ours. Our daughter fell instantly in love; she immediately declared him her best friend and the way she sings, plays and hangs with him could make you cry. The fit was perfect. She raised her right hand higher than any of us (as you see above) to swear that Evan is all ours. There was no question, and it became immediately clear that had the other adoption not gone sour, we wouldn’t be here. With Evan. Our son. Keep Reading —>>
Wheh, we made it to Friday. If you had a kick-ass week, or if well, this week just kind of kicked your ass, think it’s important to remember this quote. We’ve all had those hindsight moments where what became reality was so much better than we had thought would be days, months or weeks prior. If you’ve had a rough week, or something happened you totally didn’t expect — whether that’s in your job, with a guy, in any situation — sometimes you’re ending here will be way better than you could have ever imagined. Focus your time now seeing what’s next based on this new road map. Here’s to a great weekend!
