“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.” - Henry Ford E-Learn was such an experience. I felt so grown up on my business trip. I loved the independence- my own room, just take care of myself… I ordered room service last night (Wednesday) and for the first time since break started, I really relaxed. I got in bed in my sweats, watched TV (when’s the last time I watched tv…?), and enjoyed my club sandwich, diet coke, and CARROT CAKE (when’s the last time I really indulged in a dessert…?), and played Sims. That “indulgent” night cost a whopping $26 dollars and put me in the best mood. I really need to invest in the little things more often. HAPPINESS = LITTLE THINGS
It’s my first official day of October break, so “chill” seems like an appropriate mantra for the day. However, I only have 2 more days at home, then I will be spending 3 in Orlando at the E-Learn conference, 3 in Fort Lauderdale at the twins’ tournament, and then one traveling back to school. In this time, I have to write 2 papers, do various other assignments, check roughly a million things off my “tedious crap” list, and hey, maybe I’ll get to do a few of those fun things I have been dying to have time to do, like bake, or watch a movie in bed, or read my new book. Now that I’ve just ranted about a fraction of the things that are occupying me, I must remind myself: this is the manner in which I CHOOSE to live my life. It’s crazy. It’s hectic. It’s life. -This chart makes me realize I am on track for the top schools: http://www.bc.edu/offices/careers/gradschool/law/lawlocator.html#the25 I don’t even know if I want to go to law school, and if I do, I don’t even know if I want to go to a top law school, but it’s just nice to see I’m right in there with the kids who are going to do those things… and if there were a chart for other types of grad schools (I wonder if there is…) I’d probably be at the top of those too. I really don’t have to be a perfectionist about grades to get where I’m going (intentionally ambiguous… I have no idea where I’m going!) -My new food-related mantra: Eat like the boys. My guy friends eat what they want. Sure, this may seem a little silly since I’m sure their metabolisms can handle much more than mine can, but the idea is the same. When they’re hungry, they eat, and they eat what they want to. That way, they don’t go through the day (or week, or sometimes longer) craving something. When they’re not hungry, they don’t eat. The key is that they listen to their bodies and give them what they’re asking for, while I try to control my body and tell it what it’s asking for. They rarely plan ahead, because how will you know what your body is going to want for lunch tomorrow? (I use that example because I know that I will be at the mall tomorrow for lunch, so naturally I already tried to plan my lunch and calculate the number of calories I would be taking in, until I yelled at myself to stop, which worked, I think). Overall, the mantra has made eating a lot less stressful this week, but it’s a gradual process from the obsession level I was at to the healthy level I want to arrive at. Slowly but surely, I’m getting there. Now off to find a snack!
My Personal Commandments (inspired by Gretchen Rubin- surprise, surprise!):
1. Be Rose- in every facet of life.
2. Be imperfect- Voltaire said “don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” Embrace imperfections.
3. Mess up and keep trying. Even Einstein said, “it’s not that I am so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” On the same note, Lisa Grinwald said, “Best is good. Better is best.” And I read about a study in How We Decide that people actually learn a lot more by making mistakes and correcting them than just getting something right the first time.
4. Love- EVERYONE
5. Lighten up- after all, “it’s only life.”
6. Be flexible- roll with the punches, and just let life happen once in a while. Eisenhower said, “In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” Make all the plans you want, but accept that they will probably need to be adjusted or canned altogether. Then move on.
7. Everything in moderation- everything, for real.
8. Act the way you want to feel- this reminds me of “My Favorite Things” from Sound of Music- “when I’m feeling sad, I simply remember my favorite things and then I don’t feel so bad.” GK Chesterton said, “it’s easy to be heavy; hard to be light,” so take the high road, ACT light, and soon you’ll actually BE light.
9. Enjoy the process- it’s not all about the end result; embrace the steps taken to get there.
10. (along those lines) don’t wish your life away- Mom used to tell me this a lot, until it was finally engrained in me. We always think somehow life will be better in the future. Just be in the moment and appreciate it for what it is.
11. Take risks- There is an African proverb: “If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much room.”
12. Carpe diem- kind of sums up a lot of the others- today is the best day to do WHATEVER! “The days are long, but the years are short.”
Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project (a great book that I would recommend to almost anyone!), composed a list of the secrets she has acquired in her life. Being the list-lover that I am, I decided to compose my own, as a constant reminder to maintain perspective:
1. One treat won’t change your body… And neither will 2.
2. 5 positive actions are needed to counteract 1 negative.
3. If you want to make a list, just do it!
4. But don’t forget that checking items off The List is not always most important.
5. You only get one body- take care of it, but love it the way it is.
6. The days are long, but the years are short.
7. Be who you are- you will respect yourself and others will respect you.
8. Being nice to someone feels so good.
9. Being anything less than nice to someone feels so bad.
10. You can hold your own. Anywhere.
11. Confidence matters.
12. What seems important today will likely be relevant soon.
13. Your virtue is also your vice.
14. You don’t have to (and can’t) be good at everything.
15. Happiness doesn’t always make you feel happy.
16. Always grow.
17. Enjoy the process- all processes.
18. Ask for help. But first try on your own.
19. One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make others happy. One of the best ways to make others happy is to be happy yourself.
20. Change is normal and often a good thing.
21. What you do every day matters much more than what you do once in a while.
22. All you need is love, and everything else will fall into place, so love fully.
