Oct26

Publisher - November 2017

Publisher - November 2017

My sister, Martha, painted the rise (fronts) of the stairs leading down to the lower level of her home with chalkboard paint. When I was at her house over the summer, as I walked up the stairs, each step had a few words written in chalk, which formed this question: What if you woke up tomorrow with only what you thanked God for today?

Oct26

Hissy Fit - November 2017

Control Freaks Report to Center Stage: It's the Most Fabulous Time of the Year to Boss People Around

Hissy Fit - November 2017

Get ready control freaks. The holidays are your time to shine.
Sorry to call you freaks, but I didn’t invent the phrase.
Besides, most control freaks are pretty quick to admit they’re one, as if it’s a good thing.

Oh dear! Did I just imply it’s not a good thing? Well, it can be a good thing if you want to be the one and only who knows it all, plans it all and does it all. Doesn’t that sound relaxing and fun? Plus, other people, such as your friends and family, are thrilled not to have to worry about having a thought, idea or opinion that counts. Everyone wants to live out your version of the perfect holidays. They are perfect, right? Silly question, of course they are. For you. Oh my, did I just say that?

Sep28

Publisher - October 2017

Publisher - October 2017

It’s been a rough year…for everybody. Even if you were lucky enough to have minimal or no damage in Hurricane Matthew, we all had front row seats to the destruction of our beautiful coastal towns. Then, not even a year later, we see Harvey horrify Houston and hold our breathe for two weeks of weather reports telling us to prepare for the worst storm Planet Earth has ever seen.

We’re exhausted. We’re scared. We’re down. I have had numerous women write, call, or stop me in stores to tell me how down they feel. One lady wrote, “This feels completely different. It feels like I cannot breathe, like I am being suffocated with the heaviness of the situation. I feel like crying all the time.” And this was almost 10 days after Irma had passed. What we have experienced is real and has definitely taken a toll on our spirits.

Sep28

Hissy Fit - October 2017

Overstimulation:An Un-Stimulating State

Hissy Fit - October 2017

There’s an epidemic going around. You can call it overload, overwhelm, or overstimulation. Whatever you call it, the truth is, we, meaning our entire society, have too much going through our heads and not enough boundaries, or quiet time to keep it at bay. In fact, quiet time may be a thing of the past, which means our brains can’t concentrate.

There are tons of people who declare they “have” to sleep with the TV on. I have friends who get texts from their bosses at midnight or five o’clock in the morning. People, especially teenagers, sleep with their phones. When I was young, if we would have pulled our wall phones into bed with us, somebody would have taken us to a doctor, or spanked us and taken it away for a week or two.

Sep05

Publisher - September 2017

Publisher - September 2017

In 1988 George H. W. Bush called for a kinder, gentler nation and I believe he was on to something. While our nation is now at the most unkind and most ungentle it’s ever been, I have adopted Bush’s vision for a kinder, gentler life.

As you all know, perhaps ad nauseam, this past year has been a beast for me with a series of one terrible thing after another. There were many days that I went to bed as soon as I got home from work and had to drag myself out to face the next day. I was exhausted both mentally and physically. I was beaten up, beaten down, beaten inside and out. My entire being was bruised to the core. I felt like a pinball being jerked here and there, and when I just wanted to slip down the hole to oblivion, I would get caught by the flippers and slapped back for more.
I had taken so much and faced so much and stood up for so much, I finally realized none of this was going to kill me, and I had the power to be the conductor of the trauma and drama. I hadn’t grown numb to it, I had decided to not step into the boxing ring anymore. I was fine with having a conversation with someone on the sideline, but I refused to lace up my gloves and engage in the fight. I decided I had been beaten up enough, and I wanted a kinder, gentler life. I actually needed a kinder, gentler life, or I was going to go down for the count and possibly not get back up.

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