Making It On Your Own

I have always been fascinated by those individuals that decided to go out on their own and make a business out of what they really love to do. Mostly I seem to hear about people who love to bake and cook going out on their own and starting a little shop. Maybe it is only known because of the numerous cooking competition shows that take over the airwaves. Oh yeah and a whole channel dedicated to food, but who could really live without it?

But the fact remains true, whether the business is successful or a complete failure there are people out there that are still going out on their own and at least trying to make their business happen. I am so floored by the fact that people are able to figure out where to go to make their dream a reality when it comes to small businesses. I just don't have the first clue as to even figuring it out.

Many people lately have been saying that I should open a bakery or market the foods that I have been making because they are impressed with the taste and the quality that comes out of my little kitchen. I can honestly say there is something desirable about a job that I could make the hours for. And to be able to do something that I really enjoy versus sitting at a desk all day. Don't get me wrong I am very grateful to have a job, but I sometimes feel like I am wasting away inside for 8 hours a day.

 

As I start to think about how I have no idea what I would be doing trying to start a business, where I would get money, equipment, supplies, or even how to advertise, I am even more amazed by those who do it. I guess sometimes it all comes down to whether or not you are willing to chase a dream that might fail and live or you are fine with something that seems mundane but safe.

Old Ways

I am sure many people do this, try to imagine what life was like for some older generation. Sometimes I think back on actual how it was before some gadget became the everyday thing that never leaves our sides. Before flat screen TVs and cell phones. They become such a part of our everyday lives it is hard to remember they didn't always exist.

Last night I had such a moment when I was drying my hair after a shower. As I flipped my hair to dry the underside, I was thinking about changing the area of my room where the hair dryer was and how there weren't really any empty  plug spaces over in that area. Then I thought about a power strip and how many things I can plug into each strip and I immediately thought, what did people do before power strips? Did they actually unplug things? Ludicrous

There are any number of things that I keep plugged in to make my life function. Just in the living room alone I have the Xbox and TV, a light and a couple other things. I came to the conclusion that maybe back in the day not only did they unplug things they also didn't have a DVD player, VCR, cable box, TV, game console and sound system that all connect together and need to be plugged in. Simple thought, probably true, kind of makes you think about what we might be able to get by without in our lives and creating simpler times.

Puzzle Pieces

Puzzles can be metaphors for many things, but they work really well for the analogy of small pieces making up a bigger picture. With each small piece you can't necessarily tell what the overall image is going to be, it takes a couple of pieces together to start to form the begins of the picture. Sometimes a section to the right of the puzzle forms and then a section in the bottom corner. Slowly things come together.

It can take a long time to get the whole puzzle of our lives together, in fact it pretty much takes an entire lifetime and maybe then some to get it all completed. But what I am fast learning is that each of us can take away some happiness even from the partial sections of the puzzle that are beginning to come together.

I think most recently I can apply this concept into my life through a health stand point. I am no doubt far from perfect in the eat healthy, work out everyday mind set, but today was one of those days that I notice a small section of my puzzle coming together. At work our offices get cleaned once every other week and I can usually monitor what week it is by how much my trash is full. For a while I was eating out a lot at lunch but for the last while I have been working on improving dislike of preparing meals to bring to work.

I have eaten out very little in the recent past and it definitely reflected the hard work that I have been putting into making that change in my life. When the janitor came in to clean my office this morning my trash was less than 3/4 full. Usually when I eat out more often it it compacted at least twice by my foot and still overflowing but not this time. A sound purchase in some snapware, doing more dishes at home and staying in some nights to cook food to last a couple of days has lead me to better health and a positive step towards saving the environment from my trash.

It may not be a big section of my puzzle it may not even be all that important but it is the small pieces that make up the larger puzzle, and rejoicing the small and simple things is what is going to help get us all through until we are able to see the bigger picture and how beautiful that is.

Happy To Be Without

I got home tonight and was weirdly happy for the first time in a while that I am not in a relationship. Not because I don’t want one, of course not, I am honestly looking forward to having someone to cook dinner for and sit with to watch TV with on Sunday nights, but today I was just happy that I didn’t have someone who would take me away from all the people and things that I get to enjoy in my life.

I know that there are plenty of people that get into relationships and don’t miss out on their family and friends, but there are some that unintentionally seem to push away from those around them. They lose themselves in a relationship and everyone else falls by the wayside. I hope that when the time comes I will not be one of those people.

One thing that I always seem to forget is how lucky I am to have the people I do in my life. But because of the counseling that I have been going to, my counselor always reminds me that I am blessed to have such supportive and wonderful people in my life and that they are lucky to have a friend like me.

As The Day Turns

It is always amazing to me when a day starts out in what seems to be the worst possible way and ends up evening itself out with some good and bad. When I woke up this morning for work, I hadn't slept much, I had an argument the night before with a good friend and a headache and neck pain that made me want to cry. I knew that it was best that I call in sick for work because there was no way that I was going to be able to do any work in the condition I was in. It bummed me out a little bit because for the first time in a long time I had a great number of consecutive days of work without calling in sick.

Besides the aches and pains of my body, I received a call from the hospital telling me that the application packet that I sent in back in June and they originally told me that they had was actually lost in the mail. Interesting to say the least, I do feel a little bad for raising my voice at the lady on the phone, she was just the messenger of bad news. I knew that I had to get this taken care of so I decided to hand deliver the application packet this time. I had to go to my office and get all the paperwork, then go to the hospital where I was shuffled to three different departments before I found the person who could actually help me. He was a rather understanding man and even let me print out the only paperwork I was missing from his computer.

Then came a decently restful afternoon and a difficult should of been dinner. I was starting to lose hope that the day was gonna be a loss, then we went to the pub. I was thinking it would just be a chill night with some karaoke and meeting new people, nothing special. Then it just turned into all kinds of fun. My friend and I were cheering for the singers and random people just starting talking to us. We danced, we laughed, we conversed, and by the end of the night we begrudgingly had to leave so that we could be ready for a hike in the morning.

It is funny how things can happen that just change your perspective and attitude and make the world right even if for just a short time. All I know is that we vowed to go to the pub again sometime soon. 

HP Challenge - Day 30 Harry Potter Changes Lives

I am trying to sit here and really think about how to word my thoughts on the affect that Harry Potter has had on my life over the last decade or so. I never really think of myself as an overly obsessed fan it is really just something that I enjoy. I don't camp outside of theaters days before the movie opening, I don't fly across the country to premieres of the movie and I haven't yet been to Florida to Harry Potter world. Although take note that I will one day very soon be doing that.

I think there are a couple of main things that have made an affect on my life in regards to this series. For one, just like many other people in the world it got me to read again. I for many years before the books came out always wanted to spend more time reading in general, but I was never really interested in any other books. Then the Sorcerer's Stone came along and I remembered the pure joy of my imagination. Of being transported to another place and having a connection to fictional characters like they are real, like you could actually know them in real life. Amazing how the brain can do that.

I love how it not only helped me realize the potential of books but it helped the rest of the world do the same. Learn to love their imaginations and reading again. To remember that a good story is really enjoyable and worth reading.

Secondly I really love the camaraderie that is brought on by the mere fact that a bunch of people like the same book. I have watched families come together over this book. Families that sat down together and read out loud to each other so they would all finish at the same time. I have seen friends that have conversed over the subjects found in the books. There are whole college courses that relate the world of Harry Potter to real life. We have even adapted Quidditch to be played and teams in schools to be formed. And most of all there is that feeling you get when you go to the release of the book or the movie and you stand in the cold, dressed up in Hogwarts gear talking to other people in the area that are there to share this experience with you.

I can honestly say that this series will live on for generations. The movies and the books, I already plan on reading them to my children from a young age. My hope is that they will learn the many lessons that I have from the books about good and evil, about friendship and love, about perseverance and triumph, about greatness and how to live up to your destiny even when you aren't really sure that you can. So yeah Harry Potter has influenced my life as I am sure it has for many others and I could never imagine not having it around.