Welcome to Independence

Tomorrow is America's birthday! Or at least our founding fathers signed a document declaring us independent from our parent country England on the 4th of July. Still it's time to celebrate our independence.

I will likely spend the day watching the movies 1776 and Independence Day (the one from the 90s with Will Smith). I might catch the fireworks show, but it really depends on if I want to walk over to the park or not.

Having independence is a great thing. I love being independent from my parents. I make my own rules and don't have to answer to anyone except myself. Though paying my own bills and being the only person responsible for the chores isn't fun.

At first independence from my parents was a lot of fun. Of course my first real taste of independence was in college. I still had the responsibilities of a student, but my parents were still supporting me in more ways than one. I am extremely grateful for that and recognize that for others it sometimes isn't possible.

After I graduated, my whole world seemed to change. My responsibilies increased exponentially, but I had even more freedom than before. Balancing the two is hard work and a little scary at times.

At least now I know what to do when my toilet starts shooting water onto the ceiling in the middle of the night.

I'm still growing as a person (much like the United States is growing as a nation). I know there will be more good and bad times. Hopefully I'll know what to do when crazy things happen.

Now I'm going to celebrate being independent.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off), please like, share and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Happy American Independence Day everyone!

Welcome to Frustration

When nothing goes your way.

I will be the first to admit, that I tend to learn things the hard way. This can be very frustrating. I want things to go smoothly, but it's not always that easy.

In math, learning things the hard way is actually quite practice. It makes it easier to identify short cuts in equations and solve problems a lot faster over time. The way people  work is not the same way as equations. I have to constantly adapt to different people's styles and personalities to get similar results.while one person might get back to me right away, another might take a whole week to respond.

Personally, I don't like this kind of inconsistency. I live for stability and patterns. Humans aren't that great at either of those two things. Just because change is a constant, doesn't mean I have to like it, only accept it.

When my stress levels are through the roof, my frustration levels go off th charts. Yes, these are too different things. I can be frustrated about the fact that I am suffering from writers block, but not stressed out about it. On the flip side, I can be stressed about getting to a place on time, but not frustrated since nothing is preventing me from being on time.

Does that make sense?

The way I combat frustration is similar to how I deal with stress:

1) Knitting - it soothes the soul and helps me calm down. The repetitive nature of knitting is soothing and I feel like I'm being productive.

2) Medetation - It helps me focus on what I can control vs. what I can't change. Since I'm not able to make other people do what I need to, I have to learn to accept that fact. Meditation helps with understanding my feelings and accepting them.

3) Writing - if I can't control my world, I might as well control someone else's (even if the characters aren't real). I am able to put myself in a different pair of shoes to see a different perspective.

These things work for me, but there are other ways people can cope with being frustrated. I recommend sharing them on social media. Shout it out with a hash tag. Sometimes it is good to take th see things out.

If you enjoyed this post, or it really pissed you off, please like, share or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Until next week.

Welcome To Moving Part 2

The boxes, oh the boxes...

Before I begin, I'd like to give a shout out to my mom. Happy Mother's Day! I hope you are having fun with the rest of the aunts. I am happy you're my mom. Have a beer for me.

Now back to our regularly scheduled blog post...

 
This week was a challenge in unpacking. I honestly wish I could just wave my hands, say some magic spell like in Harry Potter, and have everything put exactly where it needs to be. I'm not a wizard in the Harry Potter world, so I can't do that.

No, this week I spent unpacking all of my stuff and finding places for it to go. My roommate has been very kind and understanding. In fact I just managed to get the last big box out of the apartment a few hours ago. I feel accomplished (even if my bed still has a million and a half things piled on it that I need to put somewhere before I sleep tonight.

At least I've found everything...or at least I think I have. There were a few boxes that had been misplaced (mostly pillows), but I did end up finding them eventually. I have also brought some new containers that fit nicely under my bed.

My biggest advice when it comes to unpacking is set a goal of at least one box per day...and maybe take a few items out of the car.

It's certainly a process and if you can find help, take it. My wonderful cousin and his wife came down on Friday to help me move somethings and just hang out. It was nice seeing a familiar face. I think the hardest part of all of this was that I did it by myself.

It's a hard thing to do and if you don't have someone there with you it can feel like the world is ending. At least if I have to move again by myself I know what to expect, but I highly recommend having a friend or family member help.

I need to go finish cleaning off my bed. Hopefully I get some sleep soon.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off), please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you like hearing from me. Now, back to unpacking.