Laughing Ladybug Yoga

I’ve been struggling lately with “doing too much.” It’s kind of a cliche, isn’t it? Women who do too much? After talking it through with a good friend, I realized that many of my commitments were bringing no real value to my life and weren’t fulfilling their original purposes. I won’t bore you with those details; I’ll just say that I’ve been running on a hamster wheel and expecting to find connection, inspiration, enlightenment, and time! Oh, and by the way, I was forgetting to make conscious time for myself or my marriage. (!)

So I’ve gone through my schedule with a new consciousness and an eye for priorities. I’ve let go of some things that I can admit weren’t working.  And lo and behold, one of those things has actually started working a little better without my ironclad grip on it!

I’ve also revisited some decisions I’ve made and changed them. One of my favorite sayings is a Turkish proverb that reads: No matter how far you’ve gone down the wrong road, turn back. Funny how I make sure everyone knows this applies to THEM, and how I forget that it also applies to me. 

Another thing I’m going to do is take a break from this blog. “But Beth,” I hear you saying, “you haven’t written on this blog since your bithday. (Great post, by the way!)”

That’s true. (And thank you. ) So I guess what I really mean is that I’m going to take a break from feeling guilty when I don’t write on the blog. Every week, I have it on my list.  BLOG ENTRY.  Then when I don’t have it checked off by the end of the week, I feel like I’ve failed. So I put it on the list for the next week. Again, fail. So no more of that. I may write here, I may not. When I do, I’ll let you know.

You can always catch me on Facebook or Twitter.  And I’ll always have my schedule up to date here, so you know where to find me. And check out my  new nifty chat box, there on the left. If I’m online, it will tell you so, and you can IM me right there in that box. Cool, huh?

So you can find me if you need me, and I’ll post here when I can. In the meantime, I’ll be doing my best to build the life of my dreams, learning not to let things that are less important take precedence over things that are more important. It’s all important. I won’t forget that. I will be prioritizing much more skillfully.

Today marks my 105th month smoke-free. I smoked for about 12 years and was up to over a pack a day when I quit.

I quit 4 months before I got married. I couldn’t imagine myself smoking in my wedding dress! And I wanted to start my married life without this habit, with clean lungs and a new outlook. It was so, so, so hard. But with the help of a little pill called Zyban and endless support from my finacee, Weldon,  I was able to do it. (Weldon, of course, is now my wonderful husband of 8 1/2 years.)

I’ve been smoke-free ever since and I celebrate the day I quit, September 11,  2000, every year with a cake from Weldon. I acknowledge the 11th of each month as a milestone for another month smoke-free.