BatLyssa is now here :-)
https://batlyssablog.wordpress.com/
Wednesday, April 6, 2016
Thursday, March 31, 2016
April Favorites
I love watching videos or reading post about user favorites. It's actually lead me to try new products I now use every day. This list may be small, but it is the start of something bigger!
Here are a few of my favorites for the month of April (technically March, but since April starts soon I decided to just go with April.)
Here are a few of my favorites for the month of April (technically March, but since April starts soon I decided to just go with April.)
Burt's Bees Facial Towelettes (Grapefruit)
Lately, I've been wearing a lot more makeup and I needed an easier makeup removing solution. I was leery of face wipes for multiple reasons, but the biggest was waste. I wanted to find a product that worked but was also biodegradable.
Enter Burt's Bees!
These wipes do the trick. They remove virtually all of my makeup with just a few swipes. I've also started using them in the morning to was my face. I take my showers at night, and I save my actual face scrub for the shower.
I don't have my own picture of this because I *just* used up my bottle! My husband got this as a free sample in the mail. Starting out, I only used it once a week to see how my hair reacted. I ended up using it about 3 - 4 times a week with my normal shampoo/conditioner.
I straighten my hair frequently, so my hair gets pretty thirsty. Roux was able to put a bit of life back into my hair without making it greasy.
Artiste 100% Mercerized Egyptian Cotton Thread
I've been playing around with crocheting my own unique doilies, usually with some type of swear word or inappropriate graphic. When I started working full-time again, I put all of my projects to the side.
I decided to pick it up again, which means more trips to Hobby Lobby for this thread specifically. It's very basic, usually on sale, and comes in a variety of colors, both solid and variegated.
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Am I Willing To Change?
My husband and I are fans of YouTube documentarians Gone With The Wynn's. Last night, we watched their most recent video about catching lobsters for dinner. I'll link the video below for reference.
After watching the video, I told my husband how I wanted to live our lives the same way. Casually, he tells me: "We'll have to give up a lot in order to have that life."
Wow... I haven't gotten it off my mind since. We've always talked about living in an RV, but we've never acknowledged how much we would give up in the process. But when it comes to our current situation, would it really mean giving up a lot of norms?
The American dream for my generation is to go to college, score the big job, buy the best house, get married, and have kids. All of my peers have grown up to do the same thing. And it's what I've dreamed of my entire life.
How come we have yet to settle down and do all of these things?
For one, I haven't found that one job I loved. I've been in and out of every industry imaginable. The only ones I enjoyed were usually the part-time jobs or the ones which paid very little. My absolute favorite was working at an event arena doing housekeeping and conversions. It was back-breaking work, but I looked forward to work every day. I didn't even mind the late night hours. Of course, it was inconsistent work and only paid $10/hour. It's hard to pay off your student loans and keep your rent paid in full with that type pf income.
Second of all, my husband and I have always been restless. We've dreamed of living all over the place: the east coast, Florida, Alaskan Bush, and even over in Europe. There is so much to see and experience, and we don't want to miss out on it. Simply vacationing in these places doesn't offer the same experiences compared to actually living there.
Third of all, and probably the most obvious, we can't possibly have a house or settle down if we want to basically live everywhere.
I've always had a desire in the back of my mind to live in a renovated school bus or RV. Having our home on wheels means we can travel with ease to wherever we want and have those experiences we desire. It's why we've pushed for minimalism and downsized much of our possessions. It's why we're paying off our debt so our money can go towards these dreams.
After putting all of these thoughts and events together, I realized how willing I am to commit to this lifestyle, and how I'm on my way to changing a lot of things so we can have this life.
After watching the video, I told my husband how I wanted to live our lives the same way. Casually, he tells me: "We'll have to give up a lot in order to have that life."
Wow... I haven't gotten it off my mind since. We've always talked about living in an RV, but we've never acknowledged how much we would give up in the process. But when it comes to our current situation, would it really mean giving up a lot of norms?
The American dream for my generation is to go to college, score the big job, buy the best house, get married, and have kids. All of my peers have grown up to do the same thing. And it's what I've dreamed of my entire life.
How come we have yet to settle down and do all of these things?
For one, I haven't found that one job I loved. I've been in and out of every industry imaginable. The only ones I enjoyed were usually the part-time jobs or the ones which paid very little. My absolute favorite was working at an event arena doing housekeeping and conversions. It was back-breaking work, but I looked forward to work every day. I didn't even mind the late night hours. Of course, it was inconsistent work and only paid $10/hour. It's hard to pay off your student loans and keep your rent paid in full with that type pf income.
Second of all, my husband and I have always been restless. We've dreamed of living all over the place: the east coast, Florida, Alaskan Bush, and even over in Europe. There is so much to see and experience, and we don't want to miss out on it. Simply vacationing in these places doesn't offer the same experiences compared to actually living there.
Third of all, and probably the most obvious, we can't possibly have a house or settle down if we want to basically live everywhere.
I've always had a desire in the back of my mind to live in a renovated school bus or RV. Having our home on wheels means we can travel with ease to wherever we want and have those experiences we desire. It's why we've pushed for minimalism and downsized much of our possessions. It's why we're paying off our debt so our money can go towards these dreams.
After putting all of these thoughts and events together, I realized how willing I am to commit to this lifestyle, and how I'm on my way to changing a lot of things so we can have this life.
Monday, March 21, 2016
Simple Sanity Savers::The Passage Of Time
My call center job is going through a slow season, leaving me with large amounts of time to kill and little ways to fill it. We are to be alert and ready to answer calls, leaving me to go insane during the first few hours.
I'll take a call, and then...
I'll take a call, and then...
I'll wait...
And wait...
And wait...
.... and wait.
And when I check the clock...
... I've only clocked in a few hours ago.
AH!
I decided to give myself a menial activity to do to help me keep my sanity.
At my job, I take notes with each and every call. Down in the lower corner, I began writing out time intervals for every 30 minutes. Here's what it will look like for me:
It looks ridiculous, and maybe it is. In any case, I do this every morning before I clock in. And as each hour passes, I can cross off another time.
It's an activity that serves multiple purposes. It helps me keep a grasp on reality, realizing that 8 1/2 hours is not an eternity. It also gives me a chance to look forward to crossing off each interval as it passes. Both purposes serve as distractions and helps qualm any anxiety that may develop.
Why Do I Do This?
I struggle with being in a normal office, and I hate the idea of giving 8 1/2 hours of my time doing something that isn't my passion. While I am working towards removing myself from this part of mainstream society, I still need to keep a job to keep a roof over our head. Until the time comes along where I can kiss this part of my life goodbye, I'll be constantly inventing new, simple, and utterly ridiculous things to make the days pass even faster until I reach the life I dream of rather than the one I dread.
Why Do I Do This?
I struggle with being in a normal office, and I hate the idea of giving 8 1/2 hours of my time doing something that isn't my passion. While I am working towards removing myself from this part of mainstream society, I still need to keep a job to keep a roof over our head. Until the time comes along where I can kiss this part of my life goodbye, I'll be constantly inventing new, simple, and utterly ridiculous things to make the days pass even faster until I reach the life I dream of rather than the one I dread.
Sunday, March 20, 2016
My Time In Minnesota::Growing Up
My husband and I are planning to move to Florida within the next few months. It will be our sixth move since we started living together.
Yes. Sixth move!
We have done this song and dance five other times already. A majority of the moves were voluntary, with one of the latest being involuntary after getting laid off.
I decided to reflect back at each location, starting with the first of them all.
Growing Up in Minnesota
My time growing up and then living as an independent adult in Minnesota left me with two vastly different experiences. I will get into those details in a future post. In this post, I want to reflect back on my time growing up.
Including my time during and after college, I lived in the same home with my parents for 23 years. We resided in a small town on a small plot of land in the country. We didn't have a farm, but we had several acres to explore.
We were working class and always had enough money to survive. We didn't have cable TV or new cars, and we didn't take vacations like other families did. We grew a lot of our own food, and our family gatherings usually took place behind our shed by the bonfire pit.
We didn't come from power or wealth. In small towns, people look for familiar last names. If you came from the right last name, you were going to go far socially. Ours was one of those generic last names. You heard it, assumed it was from one family, but it was from another. Long story short, people stopped caring about my last name and just let me fall into the woodwork.
School
My graduating class had around 80 students total. We were the largest class in our 7th - 12th grade school, with the latest batch of 7th graders totaling just under 50 students. We were a Title I school and often suffered from lack of funds for most activities.
People stuck to their groups, just like they would in schools much larger. Many of classmates would lie by claiming there were no cliques in our class. The cliques existed, but the students with the last names of power had the biggest and best clique of them all. While the rest of us struggled for our grades and achievements, they were held in highest regard with little to no work put forth on their behalf.
I can't express complete bitterness towards it all. I accepted that I had to work much harder than everyone else, and I tried to do so with a smile on my face. It paid off, since I was voted 'Most Optimistic' during my senior year.
Activities
When I first started high school, the theater department struck my interest after watching upper classmen perform classics like Fiddler on the Roof and The Music Man. The end of my ninth grade year, after my band teacher told me he had great plans for me and my talents, we found out that he and our choir teacher were moving on.
Around that time, the money ran dry for our arts department. Instead of spending my last three years of high school participating in culturally rich activities, we were left with one over-worked band/choir director who only did the bare minimum. We were also left performing budget plays found in the back of the theater catalog.
I still desired to have that creative outlet, and continued to participate in mediocre productions of unknown scripts to be performed for less than fifty audience members.
Social Life
My town had less than 600 people. There were more barns than business establishments. The closest hang-out town was 30 minutes away. Activities to participate in locally were to die from boredom, drink to excess, or have unprotected sex.
I had a core group of friends that went against the standard. If we weren't up for hanging out in someone's basement watching movies, we would drive the 30 minutes to grab a bite to eat or sneak snacks into the movie theater. When the local music festival was in town, we set up our lawn chairs in the Wal-Mart parking lot to socialize with festival attendance who were camping there for the night.
Why Did I Leave?
My existence in that small town was merely satirical. There was something comedic about a creative girl who wears skirts over her jeans in a town filled with old-way farmers. When I moved back home after college, I struggled to find a job because people simply couldn't see anything but a little 15-year-old version of me. They meant well, but no one was taking me seriously.
I knew I wanted to explore the world and see everything I could. I wanted to fly in a plane and go see what was on the other side of the ocean. No one really shared my passion. Those who shared my passion had moved on and lived elsewhere.
Yes. Sixth move!
We have done this song and dance five other times already. A majority of the moves were voluntary, with one of the latest being involuntary after getting laid off.
I decided to reflect back at each location, starting with the first of them all.
Growing Up in Minnesota
My time growing up and then living as an independent adult in Minnesota left me with two vastly different experiences. I will get into those details in a future post. In this post, I want to reflect back on my time growing up.
Including my time during and after college, I lived in the same home with my parents for 23 years. We resided in a small town on a small plot of land in the country. We didn't have a farm, but we had several acres to explore.
We were working class and always had enough money to survive. We didn't have cable TV or new cars, and we didn't take vacations like other families did. We grew a lot of our own food, and our family gatherings usually took place behind our shed by the bonfire pit.
We didn't come from power or wealth. In small towns, people look for familiar last names. If you came from the right last name, you were going to go far socially. Ours was one of those generic last names. You heard it, assumed it was from one family, but it was from another. Long story short, people stopped caring about my last name and just let me fall into the woodwork.
School
My graduating class had around 80 students total. We were the largest class in our 7th - 12th grade school, with the latest batch of 7th graders totaling just under 50 students. We were a Title I school and often suffered from lack of funds for most activities.
People stuck to their groups, just like they would in schools much larger. Many of classmates would lie by claiming there were no cliques in our class. The cliques existed, but the students with the last names of power had the biggest and best clique of them all. While the rest of us struggled for our grades and achievements, they were held in highest regard with little to no work put forth on their behalf.
I can't express complete bitterness towards it all. I accepted that I had to work much harder than everyone else, and I tried to do so with a smile on my face. It paid off, since I was voted 'Most Optimistic' during my senior year.
Activities
When I first started high school, the theater department struck my interest after watching upper classmen perform classics like Fiddler on the Roof and The Music Man. The end of my ninth grade year, after my band teacher told me he had great plans for me and my talents, we found out that he and our choir teacher were moving on.
Around that time, the money ran dry for our arts department. Instead of spending my last three years of high school participating in culturally rich activities, we were left with one over-worked band/choir director who only did the bare minimum. We were also left performing budget plays found in the back of the theater catalog.
I still desired to have that creative outlet, and continued to participate in mediocre productions of unknown scripts to be performed for less than fifty audience members.
Social Life
My town had less than 600 people. There were more barns than business establishments. The closest hang-out town was 30 minutes away. Activities to participate in locally were to die from boredom, drink to excess, or have unprotected sex.
I had a core group of friends that went against the standard. If we weren't up for hanging out in someone's basement watching movies, we would drive the 30 minutes to grab a bite to eat or sneak snacks into the movie theater. When the local music festival was in town, we set up our lawn chairs in the Wal-Mart parking lot to socialize with festival attendance who were camping there for the night.
Why Did I Leave?
My existence in that small town was merely satirical. There was something comedic about a creative girl who wears skirts over her jeans in a town filled with old-way farmers. When I moved back home after college, I struggled to find a job because people simply couldn't see anything but a little 15-year-old version of me. They meant well, but no one was taking me seriously.
I knew I wanted to explore the world and see everything I could. I wanted to fly in a plane and go see what was on the other side of the ocean. No one really shared my passion. Those who shared my passion had moved on and lived elsewhere.
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Responsible Freedom
I've been trying to put a label on our latest life journey. Yes, labels are bad in some cases. In this case, I want to find a label so I can find an explanation. The best I could come up with is Responsible Freedom.
It sounds like a huge contradiction, but allow me to explain.
Freedom to me is freedom from a boss and an office. I want to be my own boss. I don't want to be on a regimen of 40-hour work weeks, overtime, and commuting until I'm able to retire. Basically, I want to use my talents to earn my money for myself.
Responsible Freedom to me means I am able to make enough money to keep our basic needs met without compromising my own time. I don't care to miss out on life simply because I had to work an extra shift to keep a credit card paid. It seems like an insulting way to spend my time. For now, I am a professional job-hopper to attack my debt. Once I can make it on my own with my creative abilities, I won't depend on these jobs anymore.
I've tried at-home based businesses, but it still felt like I was restricted by guidelines and brand standards I didn't ever agree with. In this case, I am better off seeking my own way. My blog will document each of these steps along the way.
It sounds like a huge contradiction, but allow me to explain.
Freedom to me is freedom from a boss and an office. I want to be my own boss. I don't want to be on a regimen of 40-hour work weeks, overtime, and commuting until I'm able to retire. Basically, I want to use my talents to earn my money for myself.
Responsible Freedom to me means I am able to make enough money to keep our basic needs met without compromising my own time. I don't care to miss out on life simply because I had to work an extra shift to keep a credit card paid. It seems like an insulting way to spend my time. For now, I am a professional job-hopper to attack my debt. Once I can make it on my own with my creative abilities, I won't depend on these jobs anymore.
I've tried at-home based businesses, but it still felt like I was restricted by guidelines and brand standards I didn't ever agree with. In this case, I am better off seeking my own way. My blog will document each of these steps along the way.
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
3 Benefits of Keeping an Anxiety Journal
Anxiety journals are a common treatment for any anxiety disorder. They may also be referred to as thought dairies. It helps you keep track of your thoughts, triggers, and panic attacks.
There are lots of articles out there that discuss how to use an anxiety journal or a thought diary. In this article, I want to discuss the multiple uses that a journal can have when it comes to treating your anxiety and what has worked for me.
It Forces You To Pay Attention
At first, keeping track of my thoughts seemed ridiculous. Early journal entries of mine sounded pretty much the same: "I'm freaking out right now. I screwed up another order at work."
Okay, yes. That does sound like a trigger. But as time went on, I was able to document more than just the situation:
"My hands are shaking. My boss just came in and asked me to correct an order and she sounded mad. I'm scared that I'm going to get fired. I can't lose this income."
It takes practice to get good at grabbing details. Just keep at it. Try and hit these three areas when you record an entry: your physical reaction, your emotional reaction, and your thought process.
Worry About It Later
Anxiety forces you to hang on to extra worries that drag you down. Take a moment and write down all those worries, no matter how big or small. Don't worry about making a neat, coherent list. Simply document any worries you have, and then set aside time to read through the worries later:
I'm going to get fired for not doing my orders correctly
I can't stop thinking about that fight with my mom
I'm scared about my upcoming performance review
Documentation
Be sure to go back and read through your entries. They will help you keep track of your anxiety disorder, and help you determine your triggers. The results may surprise you.
I used to think my anxiety was socially triggered. I used to think the only treatment was to avoid human contact altogether. Throughout my entries, I noticed I just had an intense fear of negative interactions. I felt any negative interactions, even if it was just work, reflected who I was and made me feel horrible.
Anxiety journals can be any simple notebook or scratchpad you have laying around. There are also anxiety journals for sale, which offer prompts for your entries. Here are a couple that caught my eye at the book store:
I've heard lots of good things about this journal. There are tons of reviews on YouTube. While it's more designed for people with self-destructive tendencies, I still feel it's a great device to help battle your anxiety.
There are lots of articles out there that discuss how to use an anxiety journal or a thought diary. In this article, I want to discuss the multiple uses that a journal can have when it comes to treating your anxiety and what has worked for me.
It Forces You To Pay Attention
At first, keeping track of my thoughts seemed ridiculous. Early journal entries of mine sounded pretty much the same: "I'm freaking out right now. I screwed up another order at work."
Okay, yes. That does sound like a trigger. But as time went on, I was able to document more than just the situation:
"My hands are shaking. My boss just came in and asked me to correct an order and she sounded mad. I'm scared that I'm going to get fired. I can't lose this income."
It takes practice to get good at grabbing details. Just keep at it. Try and hit these three areas when you record an entry: your physical reaction, your emotional reaction, and your thought process.
Worry About It Later
Anxiety forces you to hang on to extra worries that drag you down. Take a moment and write down all those worries, no matter how big or small. Don't worry about making a neat, coherent list. Simply document any worries you have, and then set aside time to read through the worries later:
I'm going to get fired for not doing my orders correctly
I can't stop thinking about that fight with my mom
I'm scared about my upcoming performance review
Documentation
Be sure to go back and read through your entries. They will help you keep track of your anxiety disorder, and help you determine your triggers. The results may surprise you.
I used to think my anxiety was socially triggered. I used to think the only treatment was to avoid human contact altogether. Throughout my entries, I noticed I just had an intense fear of negative interactions. I felt any negative interactions, even if it was just work, reflected who I was and made me feel horrible.
Anxiety journals can be any simple notebook or scratchpad you have laying around. There are also anxiety journals for sale, which offer prompts for your entries. Here are a couple that caught my eye at the book store:
I've seen this one at Barnes and Noble. My book budget is really tight these days, but I plan on buying this and writing a review on it.
I've heard lots of good things about this journal. There are tons of reviews on YouTube. While it's more designed for people with self-destructive tendencies, I still feel it's a great device to help battle your anxiety.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)