Everything’s Perfectly Fine … Until It’s Not

It’s funny how content we are with things around us — or at least I am.  I mean, I love where we live and I like my cozy little house.  Then I’ll notice something and it all goes to pot!

Right before the holidays I started thinking about maybe it was time for a new couch in the living room.  The old couch looked fine, but I had begun to notice a tremendous lack of support.  While comfy,  it was getting harder and harder to get out of.  The springs were shot.  So, off hubby and I go to look for a new couch.  That got us thinking.  Big problem, that thinking stuff is. 

Right now we have a sectional.  The couch before this couch was a sectional as well.  Maybe it was time to branch out and go old school and get a simple sofa … and maybe an armchair.  That would be nice. So that’s what we did. Of course we found the perfect sofa and chair combination but it had to be custom-made out of just the right fabric and color.  That would take 8-10 weeks.  No problem!  We still have our sectional.  Or, rather, we did still have our sectional until last week when we found a friend-of-a-friend whose daughter needed a new couch and would be willing to pick it up.  So now we are couch-less.

Having a relatively empty living room makes you notice things.  Like that big wall.  Why is it still white?  I hate white walls.  I know, let’s paint it! Which is exactly what we did this weekend.

Well now that the room has hardly any furniture in it, wouldn’t it be nice to get the hardwood floors refinished?  I mean, how easy would that be?  Hardly anything would need to be moved and the new sofa and chair would have a shiny, new beautiful floor to show it off.  So… this Friday we’re getting our floors sanded and refinished.

Well, OK, there is no possible way we could even think of putting our old area rug down on the brand new, shiny floor under the wonderfully new, custom sofa and chair and up against the freshly painted wall!  It would look hideous!!  So yes, the new area rug has been ordered as well.

Funny how everything in that living room was perfect — until it wasn’t!  I can’t wait until our new room is finished … if it is ever finished!

The Intuitive Playlist – or lack thereof

I recently got a new phone.  Now, for many this is not a big deal, but you have to understand that I have had my previous cell phone for approximately 7 years!  In no way, shape or form was this a “smart” phone.  But I loved it anyway, with all of its faults and limitations.  It served me well.  So off I go and get myself a shiny new iPhone.  An entire new world opened up to me with that phone.  Not least of which was the fact that I no longer needed my iPod when I ran or walked.  I could just take my phone as all my music magically appeared on my phone courtesy of “The Cloud”.

The only problem is that I have certain playlists that I had created for my walks and runs.  Apparently when all my music magically transferred over to the phone, the playlists did not.  (Hubby assures me he can fix this problem easily for me).  But the point is, sometimes the perfect song comes to you at the perfect time.  When you least expect it and when you totally forgot that said song existed.

As I’ve mentioned before in this space, I’ve changed direction a bit with my work and my life goals.  Things haven’t turned out the way I envisioned, but that certainly does not mean I am not happy with the end results.  It’s just a turn and a change that was not planned.  And you know I’m a planner! 

So fast forward to earlier this week as I’m out for an early morning jog before heading into my new part-time job that I’m thoroughly enjoying but never imagined I’d be doing.  Here I am, jogging and walking through the neighborhood that I have come to dearly love when what pops into my ears but Natalie Imbruglia’s “Intuition”. http://youtu.be/s__B4XMgulU

“Could have turned left,

Could have turned right,

But I ended up here —

Bang in the middle of a real life”

And I couldn’t be happier about it!

Risk Free And No Regrets

Recently it has come to my attention that I live a fairly sheltered life.  Personally, I’m OK with that.  Some of my friends are far more adventurous — it never ceases to amaze me what they’ll do or the situations that they will willingly put themselves into.  I am not, by my very nature, an adrenaline junkie.  I don’t drive fast, I don’t jump out of perfectly functioning airplanes nor do I gamble much.  I take a daily vitamin, I exercise regularly and try to eat right.  Simply put, I’ll almost always pick safe over sorry.

That does not mean, however that I have not taken risks in my life.  It’s just that compared to a lot of people, I will not jump in with both feet into unknown waters. I like to know what I’m getting into.  I do, on occasion, choose the road less-traveled and I will throw caution to the wind, but only when the consequences aren’t too great (and I generally have a pretty good back-up plan in mind!).

Does that make me boring?  Perhaps.  But I’ll tell you what:  I sleep very well at night (except, perhaps when I’m worried about said crazier friends).

I like my bubble.  It’s comfy.  I think I’ll stay.

And suddenly… there was light!

Call it an “Aha Moment”,  call it finally getting your stuff together, call it a New Years’ Resolution that stuck, call it growing up, but whatever you want to call it… I’m hoping this time, it sticks for good.

Now, you’ll have to hang with me here for a while on this post.  I’m not even entirely sure what it is I’m writing about as I’m writing it.  I know that I’ve been trying to make these posts about quick, blink-or-you’ll-miss-them moments of joy, but sometimes it really is the big picture that makes all the difference.

Things are starting to suddenly make sense to me.  What things, you ask?  All sorts of things…. family, diet, exercise…. etc… etc… etc…  It’s as if in a way, I have finally made peace with the world.  That’s great I know, but the thing is, I don’t think I ever realized I wasn’t at peace with the world. Then again, maybe I’ve just grown up!

First things first:  Like about a gazillion other people, I made the typical New Year’s resolution to lose weight and get in better shape.  Yadda, yadda, yadda… I know.  I make these promises every year.  Now, I am not drastically overweight or out of shape.  But at any given moment in my life, I find I am trying to lose anywhere from 5 – 15 pounds.  I never really get there.  I make progress. I try… then I get bored and I stop.  Not this time.  I am three weeks into it and have lost half of my goal weight.  And unlike all the other times, this time I fully expect and know without a doubt that I will make said goal weight by mid-March (my target date).

So what’s different this time?  A new diet? No, I never really believe in “diets” per se.  Eating nothing but celery or grapefruit or special teas or potions never appealed to me.  I love food and cooking way too much.  I have always found it helpful to use an online diet foodlog such as FitDay which I am also doing again this time.  I am a firm believer that for me, a calorie is a calorie is a calorie.  Where I get them doesn’t matter as long as I don’t get too many of them per day.  So I’m using FitDay and eating real food like I always did.  But I think my “Aha Moment” is simply realizing that food never runs out … there will always be another opportunity to eat good stuff!  I don’t need to panic and eat everything in sight if we go out to a restaurant or have friends over for dinner.  Food will always be there.  I can choose how much of it to eat!  Revolutionary, I know!  Who would have thunk it?

I also have always been a regular exerciser.  The difference this time is my mindset going into it.  This time my daily workouts are not something I have  to do.  They are something I want to do!  It was easier for me to determine where this change in thinking came from.  Recently in my family I have seen what lack or exercise or mobility can do… let’s just say I’ve seen the future and I chose to change it.

And finally the big picture… making peace with the world.  You know what?  Most of the things we stress about and fret about and spend valuable parcels of time deliberating about are not the important things.  I’ve decided this year,  I am simply going to live and let live.  My new motto?  “It is what it is, so deal”.   It’s amazing when you let things go — such as how you are viewed by others, what your perceived “role” is, or what you’ve always been told you should do.  Just let it go and do what feels right…and it will become right!  Or at least, that’s how I’m viewing things from here…in Grownup Land.