A little self-affirmation never hurts

Well folks, in my last entry, I spoke about a 'guy in my life.' That guy is no longer in my life and some other things haven't been going as planned. I haven't posted an entry lately because I don't want to just bitch about men and being single and how decision-making is so difficult. That's not what this blog is about. Talking to a great friend today, it was suggested that I do a little self-affirmation and write about things I DO like about myself. It's a simple trick, but it's easy to get down on yourself when things aren't going your way and this is a great way to combat it. Please understand, this isn't an opporunity to brag on how perfectly wonderful I am; it's simply reminding myself of some of the great things about me. I'm writing it and posting it as a reminder to do the same thing for yourselves every so often. So-- here goes:

1. Let's get the physical stuff out of the way first-- my hair and my smile. My hair is long and thick and I can do a ton of stuff with it. It's lightens in the summer and I love that. My smile is hard-earned after a longer-than-normal awkward phase of braces and other corrective metal, but it looks great now.

2. My taste in music. My sister borrowed my iPod once and put it on shuffle. She told me that my iPod is 'just a bunch of random awesome-ness.' I have older parents so their musical tastes rubbed off on me with greats like Buddy Holly, The Beatles, The Temptations, etc.. I got into John Mayer, Dave Matthews and Jack Johnson in college--plus a little country because I went to school in small-town Missouri. I lived in the mountains for a year and bluegrass is a big part of my shuffle now, which I never thought I'd like. I also have those guilty pleasures from middle school and high school that include NSYNC, Hanson, and the occasional gangsta rap song. Yeah. I said it. And I can't believe my mother let me listen to some of that stuff!

3. My need to be a better person. There are people that are totally fine with their lives the way they are. Then there are people like me who always want to do something different. My 30 x 30 list is a perfect example of goals I have for myself. Not everyone has that. This is not to say that I'm mapping out my life; I just want to be a well-rounded person with healthy interests. Something outside of bar-hopping and meeting guys.

4. Cooking. I will readily admit that I'm not the best cook in the world. But, I like to do it and when I do, the dishes don't come out half bad. Occasionally, I'll even get a compliment or two out of someone. My friend Katee loves my scrambled eggs and my rice krispie chicken. My friend Andrea loves how I make popcorn. My mom loves my honey mustard chicken. They are all simple things, but I like to make them and they make other people happy.

5. Creativity. In high school and college I really got into scrapbooking. Say all the old lady jokes you want, but it was calming, thereaputic, almost. I also enjoy creative projects at work and looking at things from a different angle. It's fun and I love doing it. Photography is a love of mine too, although all I have is a digitial camera. It's fun to snap pictures of my nieces and nephews or of completely inanimate things. I love to see the finished product.

6. Good Friend. I have been very blessed to have groups of friends from different areas of my life. I left high school with 6 good girlfriends. In college, as I've mentioned before, I left with 4 new sisters. Since college I have met friends that have had a major impact on my life. I try to make sure these people know that I appreciate them and how they affect my life. I'm a big card sender... usually a birthday/Christmas girl, but sometimes a card 'just because' is a great surprise amongst the bills in the mail.

7. My need to serve and give back to the community. Just since I moved back to the city, I've started volunteering, joined a gym and became a board member on my city's chapter of my college alumni organization. I also am trying to plan a fund raising event for a vocal group in town and and joining Young Variety-- a group of 20s and 30s that volunteer around the city to help children's organizations. I believe that if you are completely happy with yourself, then at least you can make someone else happier in the process. If you aren't happy, volunteering is a great way to get you happy. Either way, everybody wins. It's called civic duty, people!



My family on vacation last summer!



8. My relationship with my family. I have two brothers, two sisters, their spouses and a half brother. Collectively we live in 3 states. Normally a family this size is dysfunctional and non-communicative. At times we are dysfunctional, but no one can say we are non-communicative. At any time I know that I can call them and they can help with a problem or share in good news. It's a great support network. I also have 4 awesome nephews and 2 gorgeous nieces ranging in age from 7 years to 4 months. When I can, I go to all their school shows, baseball games, etc. We play pirates, dress-up, Twister and board games. I don't ever recall my aunt or uncles being around for that stuff and I'm happy I can do that for my kiddos.

9. Intelligent conversations. I will admit that I am not the most knowledgable person in the world on any subject, but I watch the news and keep up on the happenings in this crazy world! So, if someone were to ask me a question, I not only wouldn't be completely clueless, but I could offer some feedback. Bonus points for understanding politics and who's who in that world. I am from a very conservative background and my college friends are very liberal, so there's a balance. By that, I mean that I'm often outnumbered and shunned for voicing my opinion. However, I'm a political independent and I like to offer a little of the conservative side to liberals and vice versa to bring them back to center. What was that stereotype about the dumb blonde again?

10. Humor. 9 times out of 10, I can see the humor in just about anything. I'm one of those people that thinks of something amazingly witty after the fact so I'm not always quick with the snappy comebacks, but seeing the humor in things and taking them in stride is important. I wasn't always like this and everything was a big stressful problem, but I'm learning to take a step back and see it for what it is-- part of life! Usually they are hilarious.

Ok-- Those are 10 things and admittedly, I had to ask for some help on a few of those, but that just shows how important it is to look at yourself positively regularly. Amazingly, I feel much better than I did when I started writing this entry!