Making work work for you

Note: as I read back through this post, I realized that I may have been ranting a bit…okay a lot. But I do think there are good tidbits hidden beneath the scattered thoughts that maybe interesting.

Because my job involves marketing and social media for our company I read a lot of articles from Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, Talent Management.com and Bloomberg News (just to name a few). Lately I have been noticing more and more articles related to job happiness; How Will You Measure Your Life?, How to do Well and Do Good, How to Keep Positive in a Gloomy Atmosphere, etc. etc.

Just like the Katherine Hepburn’s quote below, I firmly believe that it is a shame and a waste of your precious time to work somewhere where you are unhappy, feel unwanted or are just plan miserable. Now I am not saying that people don’t have to do things that they sometimes don’t want to do, what I do mean is that you should not settle for a long term job that is not fulfilling or at the very least a place where you enjoy spending 1/3 of your life. (True statistic. Very scary to think about.) I have been with the same company for two years now (I am a lucky girl) and I have seen first hand what happens when people put their minds and souls into getting a job that they want and feel passionate about! Believe me, people are getting jobs, it is just a matter of how you go about it. (More on this some other time.)

"If you have to support yourself, you had bloody well better find some way that is going to be interesting."
- Katherine Hepburn

In today’s economy most people feel like they do not have the leisure to be picky about a job offer, they are often just happy they have received an offer at all!  They may feel that this will be their only chance to secure an income so they desperately accept the position. When this happens people tend to turn on their automatic button…get up in the morning, go to work, come home, eat dinner, watch tv, go to bed, do it all over again and again and again.  They tend stop enjoying things they used to enjoy and begin developing bad habits and often people become depressed.

I have two thoughts for this type of person. First, I understand why people do this; I see them everyday at work, in friends and in family. The need to feel safe, secure and to provide for himself/herself or family, these are huge feelings that are not easily pushed aside. The thought that there may not be another opportunity to earn an income is scary and that thought is surfacing more often today than in a long time. For the sake of family, house and bills people more often have to take positions they would not otherwise think about taking in a good economy. 

Second, if you choose to accept a position that you know will not fulfill you then make sure you take the needed time to do the things that do make you happy.

Even though a I am lucky enough to have a great job that I enjoy, most of the time, there are still those moments, days, weeks, that I start to feel sorry for myself. I get “what if” thoughts that tend to take over my mind.

Common thoughts: Poor me, I don’t like sitting all day, its making my butt wide and flat, I don’t like being inside all day, I’m not getting enough vitamin D. I don’t like staring at a computer all day it is ruining my eyes. Poor me.

Remember, what makes us human is the ability to choose how we feel in each moment and circumstance in our life. “Are you a whiner or a fighter?” my mother used to say. It used to annoy the heck out of me till I started asking myself the same question when my mother wasn’t around.

We have options. Everyday we choose how we think someone else makes us feel, we think “they don’t like me”, “I’m ugly”, and “I’m not good enough”, “Why is he mean to me?” All of these thoughts that pass through our minds are choices. We can allow other people’s actions and words to impact us negatively or we can choose to turn it into something positive that could potentially benefits us. The choice is yours.

The miracle is not that we do this work, but that we are happy to do it.
- Mother Teresa

It’s all about attitude!

"Work and Play are words used to describe the same thing under different circumstances."
- Mark Twain

Often people attempt to live their lives backwards: they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want so that they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then, do what you need to do, in order to have what you want.
- Margaret Young

These great quotes explain a solution to, what I believe, is a big problem, not only in corporate America but also in house holds. If we can learn to change our attitude to be thankful for all we have and focus on the positive side we can change a whole day or week. Simply by saying something nice to someone may have a big impact on that persons day. So go head and enjoy to today and be thankful for every little thing that happens because ultimately God’s hand is leading us through this life, so why worry, stress or struggle, simply live and love.

We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.- Carlos Castaneda

Sweater time yet?!

Sleeping with our patio door open is one of my favorite things about fall. The feeling of jumping into cool sheets and snuggling up with a good book (starting The Romantics for my book club) and burrowing my cold feet into a warm pair of socks leaves a comforting feeling nuzzled in my heart. The cool breeze that gently sways the curtains speaks of pumpkin spice and apple cider. It makes me wonder what the holidays would be like without the weather change, even if it just cools down at night here in the valley.

This year I am very excited about the holidays, especially Christmas! The last two Christmas’s we were living in an 800 sq ft apartment that left little room for a Christmas tree. This year I plan to splurge (a little) and get a tree that is bigger than 3 feet tall.

 

Our tree from last year, small but cute

Last year I wanted to have a desert Christmas tree, a tree that is native to Arizona, like a nice Cactus or a Polo Verde. When we went to search for one it was really difficult to find one that would support all the strands of lights I put on my tree. Side note: my mom taught me to decorate a Christmas tree properly… the lights are supposed to look like they are little candles, not just thrown on,  hiding the string is tough and time consuming but well worth it in the end. I may try to find a desert tree again this year, now that we have more space, but something about the smell of pine completes my holiday experience. Oh it will be so much fun to decorate the house!

I thought about buying decorations for other holidays but it just gets to be too much stuff! I think that a wreath for each holiday will do but beyond that I just can not bring myself to buy and collect containers and tubs to store all the decorations in. When I get old I will start decorating more. For now I plan to keep things simple and classic. A tree, a table runner, a few big bulbs hung from the window and pointseta of course and, if I had a fireplace I would certainly dress the hearth and hang the stockings. This blog has great ideas MovingDesignz Blog.

But enough about Christmas, lets live in the moment already! Halloween is just around the corner and I need to figure out a costume. I have a lot to live up to.

Last year my husband and I dressed up as robots. I won the costume contest in my family.

I have to say I ended up being a rather scandals robot, Mr. Robot was a little more conservative; I think that’s why I won. I will think about it and put up some great options.

For now, remember to sit up straight, think about your plumb line and have a good laugh about something today, go ahead and try :)

The Intentional Eskimo

Fact - the word Eskimo itself comes from an Indian expression which means, "He who eats it raw."

Raw Food is something that I have been toying with for a while now. I read The Raw Food Detox Diet by Natalia Rose about three years ago and it really hit home for me. At the time I was in college dancing 8 hours a day on top walking back and forth to campus (uphill!) and trying to go to the gym. Even though the idea of eating raw appealed to me at the time I thought there was no possible way that fruits and veggies alone could fuel my body for that much activity. Part of that thought process was probably just me being lazy and not wanting to give up bread, crackers, and other processed foods that had become my friends (this is before I found out I had Celiac). The other part, most importantly, was the psychological effect that eating “raw” had on me. Even though reading this book cleared up most of my misconceptions about what eating raw really is, I was still hesitant to ake up this life style.

For some reason I often get this idea in my head that if I do not eat now I will be hungry later and not have enough energy to get me through the day. It is not like I don’t have enough fat on my body that I will die if I miss one meal (or even two or three meals to be honest). But I get these crazy idea’s in my head, “I need food now!”, “I can’t wait another minute!” It is difficult to change my way of thinking and my habit’s but recognition is the first step right? I have reflected on why I think this way and have tried to figure out why these obsessive and scared thoughts cross my mind.

I believe it goes back to my days in dance. I have always been an active girl starting back when I was 4 years old. Like my sisters, I was part of a summer swim team that practiced during the summer. This was great fun and I have the fondest of memories when I think back to this time. Back on topic… In high school I attended Scottsdale Community College and auditioned for the two modern dance companies at the school. This was an intense time in my life. I danced like it was a full time job. From 8am to 5pm, and often beyond I would be at school in class or rehearsing for a show. I felt like if I didn’t get enough food then by the end of rehearsal I would be starving and then I would have to pig down my dinner in 10 minutes between the next rehearsal then I would be all stuffed and believe me, it’s hard to dance when you feel full. This life style continued on through my three years at university. 6 months after I graduated I started training for a triathlon and then 3 months after that I started training for a half marathon. It is almost like I don’t know how to eat without feeling like I need to eat enough food to fuel myself for the next big ride, run, swim or whatever.
I have been working on this. I now ask myself, are you satisfied? (not full). Did you enjoy that bite? I tell myself to take time to use all my senses to eat; to see the beautiful colors and presentation, to smell the delicious aromas, to taste and feel the varying textures, enjoy the process of selecting each spoonful with care and intention, and listen, (not to myself chomping) to conversation around me and my thoughts. I am practicing appreciation for my food. How often do we grab a handful of this or that and take it on the go in the car and forget that we even eat breakfast because it was in car while trying to do ten other things and still driving. HAZARD! Bad idea. Enough of that!

Now I am ready to eat raw with full intention. I want to be an intentional Eskimo. Sounds cute doesn’t it?
I finally bought a juicer, the Breville Two Speed, and I love it! I was using my mom's juicer for a year and it was great but it just took too much time to clean. I can barely get up in the morning to make lunch for the day yet alone another 45mins early to juice. With my Breville it only takes about 15mins before I have a nice cup of purple , orange or green drink ready to be consumed. My husband and I call it "life juice". He says that he can instantly feel the energy producing enzymes flowing through his body when he takes a sip. I agree completely.

Eating raw does not mean you can NOT eat cooked foods. Foods can be cooked up to 118 degrees. This way the enzymes found in raw foods are not killed and the enzymes that are released with heat are available to enjoy!

I am really excited about taking on this endeavor and hope I can get through the first two “with drawl” weeks of no sugar! I am confident however that with all the wonderful recipes out there I can fully satisfy my sweet tooth without refined sugars.

I’ll let you know how it goes!

I did it!

I have attempted to start a blog 5 times. I am not joking. Each time I think “This time will be different”, but, it’s not. I get a really great idea in my head and the next thing I know it doesn’t seem that great anymore. Each time I start writing about my experiences I think who really wants to read about what I have to say? Most people barely have enough time in the day to even sit down and read a good book yet alone read about what I have to say (even though it is gong to be really exciting!). However, after multiple times of starting and stopping, writing and re-writing, this is what I have decided… I will do things that make me happy, I will not let my fear of what I think others expectations are stop me from attainting my goals, I will be bold in my imagination and express myself through this blog! So here it is, enjoy!

* My goal for this blog is express my ideas and thoughts and passions. This is place for me to show what I have been learning, what is exciting and new and mostly just a place for me to be me, completely genuine. So basically, read more if your interested, if not don’t read any further get off the computer and do something that is important to you.

* Terms and conditions may change depending on circumstances and my mood.

A few things you should know about me:

I love to be active. I have a need to physically exert myself before I feel like I accomplished something for the day. You know that feeling you get when you are running and you feel like you can’t possibly take another step and may possibly pass out if you do? Well I enjoy that. I enjoy the endorphins.

My family is my rock. I live within a 10 mile radius of my sisters (all four of them) and my parents. I like this. It makes it easy to stop by during lunch breaks, pick up eggs and produce at my parents (more on this later) and go hiking and grab a bite to eat on the weekends. With family you can show up at their door unannounced, crying your eyeballs out, eat their food, leave them for a boy and they still love you. I know I’ve done it all. For this I am grateful!

I use exclamation points entirely too much.

I am a horrible speller! (Needless to say Spell Check is my special friend).

I live a gluten free life! My husband and I booth have Celiac, a disease in which the lining of the small intestine is damaged from eating gluten and other proteins found in wheat and other grains. My Celiac shows up in dermatitis herpetiformis, meaning that when I eat wheat or gluten I get a really bad itchy-as-all-get-out rash. When my husband eats wheat/gluten he gets sick with stomach pains and other related symptoms. Therefore, our house is gluten free! I will touch more on this in another post because basically I could just keep going on and on and…

Baking, high heels and San Pellegrino, yes all at once. I get in these moods where I just want to bake. When this happens there is no stopping me. Making not only one desert but two or three usually satisfies my urge. I put on a pair of my cute high heels, one of my many aprons and open a bottle of San Pellegrino and start sorting through cook books and baking blogs trying to find something that catches my fancy. Someday I will do this for a living; buy cute shoes that is :)

I am a happy person. I am a people pleaser. I do not like confrontation, unless it is on my terms.

In this venture I strive to become a better, more loving and caring person with more empathy and compassion for others. With that said I also am searching for me, the true Caitlin who is completely genuine and true to herself. I am working on it. With help from my peeps and the Lord I know I will get there.

I leave it at this.

Thank you for taking time to read.

Today: Think about what you would if you had no fears.

Cait