Stars

Someone made an interesting comment the other day about the people we admire and put on a pedestal and it got me thinking.  In this day and age the popular people, people we look up to, admire and use as role models are a lot different than they were 1,000 + years ago.  It seems today we like people who have money, power, or fame.  We like actors, we have baseball trading cards, we create dream teams of our favorite football players and the more money you have the more power you can get.  But it wasn't always that way (except maybe the money = power part).  In the times of the Greeks, Romans, Spartans, etc, the people you admired and built statues of were warriors, philosophers, and poets.  Actors were people just struggling to get by, there for entertainment of the rich and games were played by servants.  I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with liking actors, admiring a good movie, or getting lost in a close game; I like many of those things myself, I have my list of favorite actors, movies that I like and sports teams that fascinate me.  But maybe some of our time would be better spent if we focused a little of that energy and admiration on people who really made a difference in our lives, people who do things that go unnoticed.  Such as the men and women that serve our country and protect our freedom, that more often get ridiculed rather than praised and admired.  Or doctors that work hard to keep us healthy or get us well, that in this day and age are more likely to find themselves at the end of a lawsuit.  Just a thought from someone who herself spends way too much admiration on fluffy things.

Books

I love books.  I love to read.  When you dive into a book you are transported to another world, you become a different person who does amazing things.  You can travel on a spaceship as the padawan of a Sith who has been seduced by the dark side or you can learn that you are actually a princess in the midst being thrown into a heroic situation that you never had any wish to be in or you can discover that you "bloom" once a year and are not a human as you thought you were but a plant that humans call faeries.  You can go through all these wonderful, strange, harrowing adventures in the safety and comfort of your own home.  You can travel to thousands of places and experience different and exotic characters for the simple price of a book.  The imaginations that books come from are a fabulous creation that human will ever be able to duplicate.

Routines/Schedules

There are two kinds of people in this world, those who like routines and those who are spontaneous.  I am a child of both.  Dad is on the spontaneous side, he's very laid back and can do things on the spur of the moment.  Mom is on the routine side, she likes certain things done on certain days and is not very happy when that order is upset. 

There are good things to be said for both sets: those who are spontaneous worry less because they're not set into a certain way or doing things at set times so if something happens to upset those plans they can go with the flow and not get stressed out; those who like routines are organized they have plans and goals, are good with responsibility and are more likely to get ahead in life. 

I was very much like my mother, I liked things to be done in a certain order at a certain time and if anything happened to upset that or make anything late, it just made me mad.  Finally one year I decided I wanted to be more a go with the flow kind of person and became more relaxed and just went with it if anything interrupted my day and looked at it as a new adventure.  It became such a natural thing for me that I thought I had switched and become a spontaneous person but as I was thinking about it tonight I realized that while I can do things on the spur of the moment I also have things I like to do every day and if I'm away from them for too long I get a little depressed. 

While there is not one of those that is better than the other a well rounded person would benefit from elements of both.  If you're spontaneous, make sure you take a little time to do some of the important things, exercise and spending time with the Lord and family.  And if you're someone who likes routines, make sure you do something unexpected every now and then, go out with friends after work instead of going straight home, and if something interrupts your day look at it as an adventure and just go with it, you'll live longer avoiding the stress and who knows, you might actually have some fun!

New Year's Resolutions

I think New Year's resolutions are a good idea to an extent.  I belive if you're going to start something there's no time like the present.  Why wait till New Year's or give it up if it's already past?  Don't be one of those people that say I'm going to wait and start Monday!  If it's the middle of the week when you've figured out what you want to do then make a plan and do it!  Start the next day.  If you're committed and start at the beginning doing it in the middle of the week or as soon as you can, then chances are if something upsets your plans you will be more likely to get back to it as soon as possible.

Some of my New Year's resolutions are to spend 10 minutes a day writing this blog, 10 minutes each writing and emailing 2 of my friends and trying to live more instead watching movies and internet tv so much, doing something fun with my life.  One of the ways I plan to accomplish this is by getting a job as a camp counselor this summer.  I love kids and I've always wanted to work as a camp counselor but with my job that was hard to do, I quit my job and so now I'm going for it!  10 minutes is up, until next time.