Let Go

I have always been told that love and friendship should come easy. Family is more challenging due to the fact that you can't choose your family. You may never see eye to eye with your mom, dad, or siblings, but you sure love em' like crazy.

There have been many times that I have made my life harder than it has to be. For some reason, I enjoy working hard at friendships and love, but I'm starting to learn the meaning of that constant advice I've been given: love and friendship should come easy.

At this age, there is a lot of "work" to be done: work itself, enjoying the here and now, eating healthy, making it to the gym everyday, paying your bills on time. These all take work. And now I understand, if you have to work uber hard to keep some of your friendships and relationships around, you are probably working too hard. Friendships are a blessing. Friends keep you up when you're falling down. They support you, make you laugh, encourage you, and love you for YOU. That shouldn't be hard. If you are finding it hard to connect with an old friend or to have a friendship at all with that person, it's probably time to let go. I get bitter about this, because I do love all of my friends with all my heart, even the ones I've lost touch with. But I have learned the hard way to let go of friendships that bring you down, as they say. Make sure your friendships are a blessing in your life, not another challenge. And as for relationships? Refer to the "Partner=Best Friend" post.

Let go of what you need to let go of. What is supposed to be will be. And be grateful for those who are a blessing in your life today.

Being Bored can be a Blessing

My parents always referred to me as their party girl since I was born on a Friday night: the girl who always likes to have fun, always likes to be in party mode, and always likes to have something to do. I hate being bored. I grew up playing a variety of sports, mainly soccer, which made it very easy to stay busy, leaving little to no time to be bored. There have been many transitions throughout the past year from my family moving away, to being tight on expenses, to finding my place in the workforce, to my social life declining (which I have found to be normal?). I have spent many Friday nights in watching movies in hopes to save money and many weekday nights full of boredom. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. So I've been told.

Part of growing up is learning more about YOU: what you do when you're bored, who you are when no one's watching, actions you take to better yourself, how you choose to handle situations, etc. What do you do when you're bored? In my life, working out doesn't count towards what I do when I'm bored because that is a part of my daily life. Tonight, I was supposed to be attending another yoga class with a friend, but she ended up not being able to go. I could have still attended, but I spent a few hours at the gym, only to find myself bored after my workout. What did I do? I turned on my old i-pod that hasn't been updated in about two years, cooked breakfast food for dinner, and made gingerbread cookies. Not only did I cook, I turned up my i-pod and sang my heart out. No, the roommate didn't have to suffer through my cooking concert tonight, but I sure hope the neighbors enjoyed it. I had a blast, even though I was bored. And that is the first time I have ever cooked bacon and eggs for dinner by myself. I found joy in the quiet moment I had with myself tonight, turned up the music, and enjoyed my surroundings. 

You don't necessarily have to do the same thing. But I encourage you to try this: Next time you're bored, instead of calling your phone contacts to find something to do, or sitting on Facebook for the night, try just enjoying yourself. You need to get to know yourself during these years. These may be the last years you get time to yourself (assuming you want to get married and have kids-or one of these, or none of these).

Being bored can be a blessing, too.