Archives for August 2010

Today on a walk with my mother, she gave me some powerful advice. As we walked in a rhythmic balance through the tree-lined streets, I complained about a number of issues I was dealing with on a daily basis. I was venting my way through a laundry list of stressors  that were clogging my brain and inhibiting my ability to just enjoy what was going on in the here and now.  Then my mother said they exact right words at the exact right time.

“You can’t change your entire life in one day, but you can change one thing,” she said. And then she continued, “You can do one thing differently every single day of your life and it can be as small as you want. It can be as simple as going somewhere different for lunch or emailing someone you haven’t spoken to in awhile. The key is to do one thing, just one thing, differently. Change your routine in the tiniest way and it will change your entire life.” Do I need to tell you that my mom is a really smart woman or are you already getting the picture?

What she said made complete sense! I realized that I do what most people do, I get stuck in a rut. I keep doing the same exact things hoping for different results (isn’t this also the definition of crazy?) and wonder why I am repeatedly disappointed.

So I took my mother’s advice! Instead of spending my Saturday reading on my back deck (which, don’t get me wrong, is a FANTASTIC way to spend a Saturday but it has become a bit of a routine for me), I took a day trip to a gorgeous seaside town. I shopped, I walked, I ate a delicious dinner and I enjoyed every single minute of this beautiful, beautiful Saturday in August.

So I am going to open this up to you, dear readers.

-Do you ever find yourself doing the same thing, making the same mistakes, and optimistically hoping for a different reaction or result?

-Have you ever tried switching things up? Changing your routine? Has it worked?

-What is the best way to get yourself out of a funk?

Oh I am a bit of an emotional mess today.

I made the mistake of thinking too much. Does that ever happen to you? You start analyzing where you are in this crazy, mixed up ride we call life. I started thinking about where I thought I would be, and compared it with where I am. Yes, they are very different places but one can’t really be compared to the other, it’s like apples and oranges. BUT this is also a SUNDAY and don’t we all know how Sunday’s can play with our minds a bit.

It’s cold outside, even though it’s AUGUST and New England weather is supposed to be kind to us in AUGUST because it beats the cr-p out of us all year long (Blizzards in April? Oh yeah, we’ve got those).  So it’s freezing cold, it’s the weekend, the time for playing and having fun…ideally on beaches and in pools… and I am sort of trapped inside because I am a wimp and don’t feel like braving the cold.

So instead I’m surfing the internet. Then I start beating myself up (because I do that so well!) for spending a perfectly good, if slightly cold, day on the internet. It’s as gluttonous as watching TV! I yell to myself. I want to be productive and accomplish so many good things that will allow me to look back on the weekend and say, “Good job, Jocelyn! Look at how much you got done!” But instead I will say, “Did you really spend your day on your computer? The exact thing you spend Monday through Friday doing and cursing at!?”

So yes, I am feeling like a bit of waster of time. And I’m sure I will look back on this blog post and say, “Did you really write that? For all the world (one person?) to read?”

And because it is SUNDAY and I am in an emotional and sad state I will feel bad about it…for about a minute until I realize that Big Brother is on tonight and I love me some bad reality television.

So that’s my day, folks. Let me know how you spent YOUR weekend…but if you did a lot of great, exciting stuff, don’t bother leaving a comment…I don’t want to know.

Here are just a few things I’m loving today:

This kitten makes me happy.

This is a really funny visual description of what an overnight flight feels like.

You will want to send a thank you note after going here.

I want to read this book.

They are feeding into my guilty pleasure!

{Photo by The Cherry Blossom Girl}

I have been thinking a lot about optimism and how important it is to possess this trait in your daily life. We are constantly faced with issues and dilemmas, obstacles that make us think we are failing or not living the “ideal” life.  We get down on ourselves and tend to adopt a “woe is me” attitude. The truth is that being optimistic is hard. It’s actually much easier to wallow in misery and feel like we are getting the short end of the stick. It’s easy to complain. It’s easy to blame. It’s easy to find fault with other people and circumstances that leave us feeling deprived. We get stuck in destructive patterns and stop looking for the silver lining. It is so important to always look for that silver lining because the amazing thing is that there really is a silver lining to every single failure, tragedy or sadness in our lives. Sometimes it might be harder to find, but even the act of looking for it can bring about a complete change in attitude.

There is a series of HBO documentaries called Masterclass. Recently they featured the playwright Edward Albee. He made an interesting (and uplifting) point about failure and mistakes.

“I think people should be adventuresome,” Albee said. “I think people should make mistakes. Make the interesting mistakes. The trick is making more interesting mistakes and doing stuff that you may regret, but what’s wrong with that? There’s more regret in what you don’t do than what you do.”

{Thank you to The Dating Optimist for bringing this fantastic and inspiring quote to my attention. I am now addicted to her blog.}

So start looking for that silver lining, because it’s always there!

I find it humorous and a little ironic that my last post was on how stressed out I was and then I ceased blogging all together. I know why I stopped and it is something that has happened before with this blog. I tried to force it into a specific direction. I tried to give it a theme, a niche, when all I really want this blog to be is a place for me to record my thoughts. I write for other sites that are very specific in their content. With those sites, I don’t deviate from the subject matter that the blogs revolve around. But Daily Moxie is supposed to be my own tiny space, a small section of fast and far reaching world wide web that is just for me and my thoughts. I’m sorry I abandoned my original intent and started to turn this blog into something that it was never meant to be. Daily Moxie is my place to clear my mind, reflect on my life and find inspiration. Daily Moxie is my lazy Sunday.

Today I was up early and outside immediately, enjoying the dry air and warm sunshine that hasn’t been present much this summer. We have been plagued with deep humidity for the past month and the cool air today felt like heaven. I took a long walk with my mom, dropped off a baby gift for my neighbor and stopped by the beach to take in the awe-inspiring site of large waves and smell the salty air that was filled with the Sunday night scent of hot dogs and hamburgers and the grills they sizzled on.  A perfect Sunday!