You're Never Too Old To Learn

I'm killing two birds with one stone.  No, not literally, but I am doing TWO things that I NEED to do, at the same time.

I want to learn more about nutrition and write for my blog, so, I thought that in order to hold myself accountable for both, I would do some blog posts about what I learn.

I was always a skinny kid with high metabolism who never really worried about eating right.  Eating vegetables was not my priority or my desire.  In fact, I would sit at the table, like most kids who do not want to eat their food, and waste time until my family would get tired of seeing me there and take my plate.  I also used to throw my peas under the table in hopes that my little white dog would eat them.  Well, apparently, my aim was not so good, because she would give me up by trotting around with peas on top of her head.

As a 40ish-old woman who now weighs considerably more, who has type 2 diabetes and who still doesn't like vegetables, I find myself teetering on obesity and a life of hospital stays.  Due to a recent bacterial infection, I lost 24 pounds in 3 months and now that I am getting healthy again, I don't want to gain the weight back.  Now couldn't be a better time to make some changes!

I'm going to be learning out of two awesome books: The Complete Idiot's Guide To Total Nutrition written by Joy Bauer, M.S., R.D. and Nutrition For Dummies written by Carol Ann Rinzler.

Stay tuned to learn with me!

REPOST: How To Delegate

We all get to be the boss sometime in our life, whether it be with our work, our school, in our homes or with our children. Being a leader has it's challenges. There is a job that has to get done and you either need help with it or you need someone else to complete the task. There is a certain way the project needs to get done and usually a time frame that has to be met. Knowing how to ask for that help and see that the project gets carried out is a skill some people need a little help with.

#1: Describe the job and the outcome that needs to be reached. For example: "Today, we need to get this mailing out to all of our clients."

#2: Specify who's responsible for meeting this goal: "I would appreciate your help in spearheading this project and seeing that it gets completed today. Can you please take care of this?"

#3: Describe the steps that need to be completed so that the project is successful: "It's important that we make enough copies of this memo so that all of our clients receive it. We will need to put it on letterhead, prepare labels and envelopes and tri-fold the memo so that it fits in the envelope. Then, let's make sure that the correct postage gets applied and that the mail is done before the carrier arrives at 4:00 pm."

#4: Ask if there are any questions or concerns with accomplishing the task: "Do you have any questions? Do you think that you will be able to get this mailing out by 4:00 pm today?"

As the employee being given the task, this would be the time for you to clarify the instructions to make sure that you understand everything that is being asked. Far too many times, employees feel intimidated and they proceed with a project without fully understanding what needs to be done. This leads to mistakes and delays in completing assignments.

#5: Make yourself available to the employee and check on their progress.

#6: When you see that the job is completed, praise your employee: "I see you got those memos out. Thank you so much for taking care of that, you did a really good job. Those memos were really important."

The steps above can be applied to any sort of delegation, whether it be asking your kids to do a chore or working with groups for community service. Following these steps will help make you an effective delegator.

It's That Simple

Nothing to say!

Sometimes, you just have nothing to say.....

Stay posted, I might feel inspired.

Thanks,
Me

Codependency - Here's What I Have Learned

I used to know someone who had an addictive personality.

He chose to deal with things by relying on something to ease the pain of life, depression, suicidal tendencies and while doing so, it helped him deal with my co-dependency.  We both were aware of his issues and I always thought I was the one to live with the burden of his addiction.  I felt so much love for him that I made his problems mine, because both of us took on each others pain, depression, etc.  In a healthy relationship, when one is down, the other is there to lift them back up and help them see things differently.  We did not function that way.  

I found myself so tired of taking on his emotions and trying to walk on egg shells to keep him from going over the edge.  Things that bothered me were not talked about, I learned to keep them in.  Too long of doing this causes resentment and detachment.

What I haven't mentioned is that, he never asked me to take these things on.  There is no fault or blame today.  I struggled silently with my own pain and depression and, unknowingly, my own co-dependency.  It's so much easier to avoid your own issues when you are so focused on making someone else better and then resenting them for their mistakes.

If you are like me and have misconceptions or are unsure of what it means to be codependent, let me give you it's meaning:

A codependent person is one who has let another

person's behavior affect him or her, and who is

 obsessed with controlling that person's behavior.

So all those times that I prided myself on being a caring, compassionate, empathetic person, I was taking it a little too far.  I worried so much about trying to do the right thing in my relationship and for my kids, that I just needed to step back and let the man that I still, to this day love, handle his own shit!

Prescott, AZ

Beautiful Cherry Blossoms 

Great New Song - Burning House, CAM

"Burning House"

I had a dream about a burning house
You were stuck inside, I couldn't get you out
I laid beside you and pulled you close
And the two of us went up in smoke

Love isn't all that it seems I did you wrong
I'll stay here with you until this dream is gone

I've been sleepwalking, been wandering all night
Trying to take what's lost and broke and make it right
I've been sleepwalking too close to the fire
But it's the only place that I can hold you tight
In this burning house

See you at a party and you look the same
I could take you back but people don't ever change
Wish that we could go back in time
I'd be the one you thought you'd find

Love isn't all that it seems I did you wrong
I'll stay here with you until this dream is gone

I've been sleepwalking, been wandering all night
Trying to take what's lost and broke and make it right
I've been sleepwalking too close to the fire
But it's the only place that I can hold you tight
In this burning house

The flames are getting bigger now
In this burning house
I can hold on to you somehow
In this burning house
Oh, and I don't wanna wake up
In this burning house

And I've been sleepwalking, been wandering all night
Trying to take what's lost and broke and make it right
I've been sleepwalking too close to the fire
But it's the only place that I can hold you tight
In this burning house