About That Coping Skills Episode…

I have gotten quite a bit of feedback from the Coping Skills podcast episode that dropped earlier in July. It was definitely an episode that I was nervous to put out in the world because I am such a people pleaser. I was afraid that I would hurt the feelings of those who have known me for a long time and might not know some of this stuff.

Click on the picture to go to the episode or download anywhere you get your podcasts (Season 2, Episode 9).

I was also afraid of “telling secrets” to those who don’t know me as well. But remember the question to ask a people pleaser:

Where are all the pleased people?

Now I like to say I am a recovering people pleaser. I lived as a people pleaser for as long as it was working for me. It was a coping skill and honestly, it worked.

Oh, Tiny Buddha. You know me so well.

Until it did not work. When your coping skills cause more pain that they prevent, it is time to do something different. I love this quote from Peggy Cahn, “It’s quite uncomfortable to be an adolescent at the age of 32.”

Samesies, Peggy. Samesies.

This is not to say its all beer and Skittles, as the saying goes. As I have improved my coping skills, shed some unhealthy responses, and generally stopped (ok, cut down) on my dancing monkey personality, not everyone loves it.

But those are not my people. And that is ok. I am not for everyone, truly. Most days I acknowledge that and don’t mind. Because by not being for everyone, I can make space for those who I am enough for.

Dr Caroline Leaf sure can drop some truth.

I wonder if this might ring true to you? Is there someone in your life that you keep trying and trying to connect with because it seems like you “should?” Are friendships changing as you or your kids get older? Do you miss a relationship that got away from you during a period of your life that was survival mode?

By |2022-07-25T09:19:44-04:00July 26th, 2022|Mental Well-being|0 Comments

The Moment Has Arrived

The moment I have been waiting for has arrived.

After almost a decade of wondering if it would really happen.

It did.

My teenager wanted to spend time with me!

I guess it helps that she is now 20. But I will take what I can get.

In June we went to Sunshine Lavender Farm for their festival and it was such a good time. One of the activities we all participated in was glassblowing. My uncle was a glassblower that traveled around to different shows and such so it has always interested me. When I had a chance to do it myself, I jumped at the chance. Then it got even better when Daughter and Bixby wanted to join too!

I knew that it would not be easy nor turn out as beautiful as Uncle Bill’s creations. I read somewhere recently that the foundation of curiosity is humility. I knew I might just come back with a lump of glass, but I also knew that just learning more from the glass blower and doing this activity with my people would be well worth it. This message may sound familiar as it was the foundation of the recent podcast episode on hobbies.

On the day of the event, we each got to choose our colors and the artist worked with us to create our globes. The master glassblower is George-ann Greth – she is just fantastic. She was no nonsense, which I appreciated because I was nervous with heat of the fire. Once she found out Daughter was an artist too, she ignored the rest of us and chatted up Daughter on all things art. It was neat to sit back and just watch Daughter be Adult Person.

After the event, George-ann took the projects back to her studio for them to cool. They cool in a kiln – isn’t that crazy!? The same kiln that heats up to cure pottery cools glass-blown crafts. Then she finished them into hummingbird feeders for us. Sunshine Lavender Farm shipped them to us about a week later.

We hung each of the feeders in different places in the front and back garden so that we can all see them from where we are in the house. The one below is Daughter’s and she can see it from her bedroom window. While the experience itself was the reward, I love that we created the souvenir that will remind us of the time we spent together.

By |2022-07-19T09:07:57-04:00July 19th, 2022|Mental Well-being|0 Comments

Everyone Else Is Doing It….

We just passed the midway point to the year, and you cannot swing a dead cat without hitting a “Best Books of the Year (so far)” article. Or is that just a bookwork problem?

I regularly send out my 5-star reads via the Sustainable Sue Bookmobile so the cat is already sort of out of the bag there. Not the aforementioned dead cat being swung. This is a different, literary secret keeping very much alive cat.

But I want to share some of my 2022 reading adventures thus far.

Book Sale

I have started volunteering for a local book sale and it is GLORIOUS. Talking books, shelving books, cleaning books, pricing and selling books – DOES IT GET ANY BETTER?!

YES! I got to shop too! Here is my haul.

“It’s always better to have too much to read than not enough.” Ann Patchett

A few of these were actually on my To Be Read list! Toughness by Jay Bilas was the first book I put on Goodreads when I first started my account. And listen, I don’t need anyone naysayers. Don’t come at me with that nonsense about all the books already piled on my nightstand, in Bixby’s nightstand (shhhhh, don’t tell him), on hold at the library, etc.

I could be collecting weirder, unhealthier things. Just watch Hoarders to find that out.

Book Stats

My goal for 2022 was to read 100 books. I have started 89 books and completed 75 so far. Yes, I have quit 14 books – almost 20%. Life is too short to read books that you don’t connect with. I have no shame in my DNF game.

Here are the books I am currently reading:

  • Audiobook: Hidden One by Linda Castillo
  • Physical book: Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly (I already watched both TV adaptations, but its great for the pool)
  • Non-fiction: The Force of Kindness: Change Your Life with Love & Compassion by Sharon Salzberg
  • Kindle: Out of the Ashes by Samantha Grosser

I am not linking to any of these yet since I have not finished I am not sure I can recommend them.

Book Fashion

In related news, I want to be able to read no matter WHAT and my aging eyeballs were not cooperating. I was losing easy readers all over the house, forgetting which easy readers were the right prescription for laptop, work computer, car, crafting, and physical books, and generally hating having to put contacts in to see distance only to need to put glasses back on to read.

So I bit the bullet and shelled out mad cash for some bifocals. Or progressives as is said now. I am not sad about it.

What are you reading these days? Come find me on social media or wherever you got this post and let me know!

Until then… Read on!

By |2022-07-12T09:55:36-04:00July 12th, 2022|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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