what the woods have taught me

What the woods have taught me - check out the full post on Free People's BLDG 25 Blog today!

weekly scenes: happy thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

It's hard to believe that it's been a whole year since I was last home for my favorite holiday. So much and so little has happened all at once. 

It's been the year of growth - learning to stand on my own, gaining financial control, and finding perspective. I'm thankful for the downs just as much as I'm thankful for the ups. I'm glad that life isn't always as easy peasy as you think it should be. That the road isn't always straight, and that sometimes you have to struggle to find answers. I don't regret the slumps in friendship that forced me to confront my faults, or the mistakes that taught me what better to do the second time around. I've been able to take these happenings and turn them into understanding.Without it all, I wouldn't learn, I wouldn't grow.  

After all, the downs create the ups. If they never happened, I might not realize how lucky I am to be completely in love. How lucky I am to have friends and family that I adore, a roof over my head, and fresh food on my plate. I can truly look back and say that up until now, my life has been nothing but full.

There is no better schooling than life, and for that I am thankful. Here's to another year.

sometimes you should: practice patience

My grandmother slapped her card down on the table, and cheered with victory at her extra point. To my left a finger wagged in my face, my brother and her teammate, "you weren't patient enough!" I had felt secure with our four-point lead, but there it was slipping away. I cowered into myself, that wagging finger hit a switch. It had a point.

I don't think he really meant to teach me a life lesson, but I flipped it that way and decided to make an attempt to apply less haste in my daily life. I've been taking deep breaths and putting up stop lights when I want to leap forward, opening my mouth a little less and listening more.

 I've found that a lot of mistakes occur just because we act too quickly. But we're products of our surroundings, and it is easy to get caught up in the speed of things these days. At times, it feels like it's all about how much you can pound out in one day, but instead we should focus on a job well-done, not quickly done. It's always better to work on something, and then revisit it later with fresh perspective. Gather all of the details, don't hit send right away, and try not to want everything all at once. Accept that some things will take forever! It only means that you'll be able to look upon your actions and results with more pride.