I have to give credit to Matthew Wettergreen (@organprinter) for sharing this one. Being alone is something I usually take for granted and learning to embrace my alone time is something I definitely should work on.
I think the problem is sometimes we get overwhelmed with the stillness or the thoughts about what we should be doing instead of enjoying our “alone-ness”. We get so antsy that we just need a distraction, something or someone else to channel our energy into, instead of ourselves.
Instead Tanya beautifully points out that without being alone we might not go on spontaneous adventures or have random talks with strangers on park benches. For it is in being comfortable alone that we find the inner happiness we all search for.
Are young employees really the slackers, whiners and praise-junkies they’re made out to be? Here’s what the experts have to say.
Lazy. Selfish. Demanding. America, meet your new generation of employees. At least, that’s what the media would have you believe. Generation Y, those born between 1978 and 1990, is being hailed as the most narcissistic generation to date, a group of “uber-stroked kids” who, as adults, are demanding from their employers the same supervision and self-esteem building their parents gave them.
Certainly, some of the horror stories about these young employees hold true. After all, stereotypes are born from realties. To make sweeping statements of an entire generation, however, isn’t only unfair to young employees, but it’s also dangerous to employers who blindly believe them. Generation Y, also known as millennials, is the fastest-growing segment of the workforce. Over the next four years, close to 10 million more Gen Yers will enter the workforce. Can you really afford to write this generation off?
We asked two generational experts to address some of the common misconceptions surrounding Generation Y. What we discovered is that some of the “negative” behaviors these young employees exhibit are actually intuitive responses to a changing economy. And if employers want to keep up, they better change, too.Read the full article
But who doesn’t, right? I have a friends whose family is located in Monterrey, Mexico. The site of the recent landing of hurrican Alex. A couple days ago I was asking her about her family and she showed me these pictures of the town she use to live in. WHY HAVE I NOT SEEN ANY OF THIS ON THE NEWS? Why have there been little to no effort at getting fresh water and food to the people of Monterrey? Instead family members here in the United States are being forced to load up their cars with water and drive it to the border in hopes it will get to their struggling families on the other side. I am a little disguested right now. Take a look at the pics and see for yourself…
I was at a bar the other night with a bunch of friends downtown. This is the type of place you always go with a big group. It’s dark, loud, has a little bit of a funky smell from the mix of all the smokers on the patio and the melted cheese in the kitchen, and the jukebox is filled with eclectic albums such as The Bellville Outfit and Tom Waits. My point in saying all that is, this is not somewhere I would expect to be taken for a romantic evening.
Maybe that’s just me, for as I sat in a crowd at the bar, waiting to close my tab, I saw a couple sitting at the counter. At first I was extremely perturbed they were taking up valuable bar “real estate”, preventing myself and the 10 people around me from being served by the loan bartender, but I quickly changed my tune as I began to witness one of the most beautiful things on earth, body language.
Have you ever thought about your body and it’s ability to speak without words? It’s magical! We don’t go to a class to learn how to do it, and we all speak it differently, yet everyone on the entire planet can understand the meaning of a frown, a touch or a smile.
As I watched the couple at the bar interact with each other you could tell there was a certain infatuation each of them had for one another. The bar could have caught on fire and it would have just crumbled around them. They were consumed with the others presence.
I couldn’t hear their conversation, but I watch as she placed her hand on his knee and used the other to prop her head under her chin as she locked eyes with her date. He, on the other hand, was nervous, but honored to be the focus of this beautiful woman. He wasn’t sure what to do with his hands as he fuddled with his drink, twisted his class ring and attempted touching her face, each time pulling away for fear of rejection. It was a beautiful, romantic dance.
Each of their faces had a pleasant smile full of butterflies and nerves, yet reassuring to the other there was no other place they wanted to be at that moment in time.
The crowd started to get annoyed with the wait and got louder and louder as patrons from the back began to yell their orders. Yet, the couple stood their ground and continued their beautiful dance, or maybe it was the respect from people like me that could clearly see this couple was “falling in love” before our eyes.
I have heard it a million times. “You know to get yourself out of a rut you should try some daily affirmations.” Daily what? Yes I know what they are, but my next question is always the same ” do they work for you?” . I never get a real answer back. “Well I guess, but I only remember to do them like once a week.” Well how does that help me?!?! That’s like going to the doctor and asking, “hey doc is this medicine going to make me better?” “Well it might, but then again I don’t really know” If my doctor gave me that response I would be out of there faster than green grass through a goose.
I digress, my point is this daily affirmation thing seems like a bit of a waste of time for me. Every book or blog I have read on it says I need to stand in front of my mirror with my note cards pre-filled with affirmations and say them to myself in the mirror. I can already see the look the cat and dog are going to give me for this one. “What the hell is she doing talking to that piece of glass on the wall?” ” She looked way less crazy when she was asking us what shoes she should wear.”
Maybe I just need to get past the “feeling silly” stage and actually concentrate on the words. I still have so many questions though, where do I come up with this affirmations? If I can think them up doesn’t that mean I already think them and therefore don’t need to chant them to myself in the mirror every morning? What if I have so many that I can’t get through them in the hour and half I give myself to get ready for work? Can I split them up or do they loose their effectiveness if not said daily?
I don’t know, maybe I should just do what this Jessica did and be silly about it…although she is going to have to teach me how she did that dance at the end. Left, right, right…wait you lost me.
Exercise 30 minutes every day. – I would like to be able to say that I do this daily, but that would be lying. Instead I like to plop my happy butt down on a couch when I get home from work or go out to dinner with friends, this being the antithesis of exercise….awesome
Eat breakfast every day.- Umm no, I would rather sleep an extra 11 minutes than eat. Sorry, but I will drink a cup of coffee, does that count?
Sleep 8 hours. – This is probably the only one that I manage to do 3 out of 7 nights a week and that’s simply because I will get sick if I don’t.
Avoid snacking between meals. -No comment from me or the bag of peanut M&Ms in my desk
Eat five portions of fruits and vegetables every day. – A day? How bout a week?
Eat fish. – I’m allergic…
Drink one glass of water when you wake up. – I hate the taste of water. I know many of you are saying, “but it doesn’t taste like anything”, my point exactly. ( P.S. Talking to yourself is weirder than not liking water…i’m just sayin)
Avoid soda. - I have just recently switched to diet soda….baby steps
Keep your body clean. – Check! I shower daily….good for me!
If you smoke, stop it. – I have asthma, that would not work so Check!
If you drink, stop it. – Umm no
Take the stairs.- The person who wrote this list is obviously a dude. How do I know? He has never done 5 flights of stairs in heels.
Use an idea system. – Check! I have a Moleskin notebook in my purse, by my bed and in my car.
Prioritize. – Check! Family Friends Life Sleep Work
Plan, but not too much. Can you define too much? Cause air travel does not work with this rule, unless you are Oprah and can afford to not only book your flight last minute, but also bring the whole audience with you.
Wake up early. HAHAHAHAHA no
Check your email only twice per day. OMG what is this? 1995? If i didn’t check my e-mail every half hour I’d be fired.
Eliminate unimportant tasks. – Personally I think reading TheBloggess is the most important part of my day, while my boss would probably tell you otherwise.
Clean off your desk and room. This person obviously does not work for a living, not only have they made the time to create this ridiculous list, but they want me to exercise, eat breakfast and clean after I get home from work.
Automate. – I pay all my bills online, does that count? I say YES! Check!
Set strict deadlines. – I am pretty good about this one, especially when it comes to my “To Do List” …it is my gift/curse as a project manager. Check!
Take one day off per week. – I have been trying to do this, but with a computer always in my purse or pocket, my Iphone, it is very hard to turn everything off. What?!? Leave my phone at home for a day?!?! Blasphemy!!!
Read 1 book per week. – What books are you reading? Goosebumps? Nancy Drew? I read a lot and while sometimes I can get through a book in a week, most take two weeks or more.
Solve puzzles. – Does trivia night at The Flying Saucer count?
Think positively.- well this list is not helping
Make fast decisions. hmm I dunno about that one…
Wait before buying. – Already do it. Check! I am my father’s child and while I don’t take 5 years to select a pen like my father(ok maybe it was a car), I do think about my large purchases for several months before taking the plunge.
Meditate 30 minutes per day. – I have tried this…it’s actually quite amazing…you wake up 8 hours later quite refreshed.
Start a blog. – CHECK!
Build a portfolio. – What if your job is not about creating stuff? What if you job is about making creators create stuff on time? This is a bit bias, I think the person writing this was just desperate for a #30…lame!
As you can see I didn’t do very well, what about you? Copy and paste this list into the comments area and mark off your own list of Healthy Habits.
I quickly thought, I love cooking and there is only one of me, this book is perfect. Then a wave of sadness came over me, nothing like a cook book to point our your alone in this world At first I thought that the cashier would give me the sympathetic “it’s ok you’ll find Mr. Right someday” look, but instead she smiled and said “hey! I got this last week and I love it.” A comment I was more than welcome to hear. Anyway, I purchased the book and quickly found a recipe that I could prepare this evening and took off for the grocery store.
Half way through the veggies I noticed a guy looking at the cover of my book and he smiled. I don’t know the meaning behind his smile, but I am guessing he was smirking at the fact that I would willing walking around Kroger with a sign in my basket flashing “I’m Single! I’m Single!”. Nevertheless my interpretation is up for debate.
Chicken Divan- So Yummy!
As I was cooking my meal this evening, Chicken Devian, I started thinking about the art of cooking. It’s really not something that everyone can do. My mom is an AMAZING cook, and I have learned a lot from her over the years, the most important of these lessons, how to improvise when missing ingredients and timing timing timing. Tonight I replaced extra dry sherry with extra dry red wine. You can have that tip for free, your welcome.
The dish came out perfectly! It was delicious and I actually ate some broccoli which is unheard of for me. I wanted to call my mom and friends to share my success and then it hit me, I’m not alone at all. I have an amazing family and incredible friends to share my life with. I am surrounded by nothing but love and support, I couldn’t be alone if I tried!
My Awesome Family
So while I might be “Ridin Solo” in the dating world, my friendships and family are more abundant than most. I am a very lucky girl.
Imagine a day in the life of a couple you probably know. He’s 27 years old, and she’s 26. They wake up beside each other in his downtown bachelor apartment and have sex that neither of them particularly enjoys. They’ve been sort-of dating for a while now, but they’re not willing to commit to each other: he likes her, but doesn’t know if he always will. She can’t decide if she likes him more or less than the other two guys she’s sleeping with.
He bikes to work at an advertising agency, where he uses his master’s in English to proofread ad copy, and spends several hours reading music blogs and watching movie trailers, periodically Twittering updates about his workday to his 74 followers. He doesn’t really hate his job, but feels as if his skin is crawling with vermin most of the time that he’s there, so he has a plan to move to Thailand, or to maybe write a book. Or go to law school.
At her government job, she instant messages her friends and mostly ignores the report she’s drafting because she’s planning on quitting anyway — and has been planning to quit for about a year now. She spends her lunch hour buying boots that cost slightly more than her rent, then immediately regrets it.
He listlessly works through lunch, then goes to the bar after work to meet up with some university friends, where they talk about their jobs and make ironic jokes about other people. Back at home, he wonders why he feels so gross and empty after spending time with them, but it’s mostly better than being alone.
She walks to the house that she shares with three friends and spends a few more hours on celebrity gossip websites, then clicking through the Facebook photos of girls she knew in high school posing with their husbands and babies, simultaneously judging them and feeling a deep pit of jealousy, and a strange kind of loss. “When did this happen for them?” she wonders.
They both eventually fall asleep, late and alone, each of them wondering what it is that’s wrong with them that they can’t quite seem to understand.
This phenomenon, known as the “Quarterlife Crisis,” is as ubiquitous as it is intangible. Unrelenting indecision, isolation, confusion and anxiety about working, relationships and direction is reported by people in their mid-twenties to early thirties who are usually urban, middle class and well-educated; those who should be able to capitalize on their youth, unparalleled freedom and free-for-all individuation. They can’t make any decisions, because they don’t know what they want, and they don’t know what they want because they don’t know who they are, and they don’t know who they are because they’re allowed to be anyone they want.
I really wasn’t planning on going this morning. I had decided last night that there were others more worthy of a seat inside the church than myself. I got up, got dressed(in my blue jeans) and drove over to Kingwood Dr. where your family would be approaching by police escort. My parents and I hung banners and put out flags in your memory. There were already people lining up to give you the proper hometown welcoming you deserved.
I got a text thirty minutes before the ceremony was about to begin saying that my best friend was saving me a spot and she was sitting amongst half our high school graduating class. Wow. I suddenly had a gut feeling I needed to be there. My understanding parents quickly dropped me at the church and I sheepishly entered with my blue jeans on.
I didn’t think you would mind. After all, I was there to support you, your family, your wife, your two beautiful boys who, by the way, look exactly like you, and I really didn’t think you would care about my fashion faux paus.
The more I hear about the adventures you had when you left Kingwood, the prouder I am to say I knew you from the spaghetti armed 6 year old in my elementary school class to the talented basketball player and kind guy you were in high school. We were always friends. I do remember that.
Brandon you are a hero and the community was proud to welcome you home this morning and say goodbye, even though it was a goodbye given much too soon.
I know you were watching this morning and I hope you realize the tears that were cried were not out of anger or regret, but simply because we will miss you. From the site of it, you were a wonderful father, fantastic son and loving husband, but today you were everyone’s hometown hero.
This afternoon 
Bird of the Summer by A Fine Frenzy
