Monthly Archives: June 2008

We All Matter

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“We All Matter”

June08-4I went to San Diego for a conference recently and our hotel was located right on a marina.  It was amazing to look out of my hotel room window and see the sun rise each morning above all of the boats.  One afternoon I decided to rent a kayak to explore all that the marina had to offer.

I thought I’d be able to take my camera with me until the dude advised me not to take it in case I flipped over.  Huh?  Flip over?  That sounds a little scary.  He said there was only a ten percent chance that would happen.  So, I put on my life vest and went on my way.

It was a pretty relaxing experience to be in this body of water surrounded by all types of things.  I first encountered a barge.  Chillin’ on the barge sat a large number of seagulls.  Next to them were sea lions that made enough noise to let everyone know they were in charge.  It was cool to kayak right next to them and just stare in amazement.

I then moved on out further into the marina and passed various boats, yachts and tour boats.  I laughed at the various names “Only Child”, “Hidden Pleasure”, “In Charge”.  Some were stationed in place, while others were floating around.

The wonderful thing I encountered was that although I was just this little person in this little kayak, I gained the same amount of respect as the larger yachts.  We all had to share the same space.  Even as I again paddled close to the barge, some of the sea lions jumped in the water in front of me.  At first I thought they’d confuse my black skin as being one of them.  However, they just swam in the water minding their own business.  It was all about co-existing together.

The entire experience reminded me that this was a reflection of life.  So many of us feel like the little people in the world. But what we fail to realize is that our contributions are still important.  When the tour boats went past me, people waved at me because they were excited to see me in the water.  The sea lion didn’t care who was around because he was going to enjoy life regardless.  We are all pieces of the puzzle.  If your piece isn’t included, the puzzle is not complete!
M.Y.  June 2008

Internal Alarm Clock

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“Internal Alarm Clock”

June08-3I used to wake up at 6:40 every morning for work.  The alarm clock would go off and country music would play in the background.  I used to try to wake up to B96, but it sometimes didn’t get good reception so the country channel was the first that came in crystal clear! As soon as the alarm went off, I pressed the snooze button.  Ahh, another 8 minutes of sleep!  I continued to press the snooze button every 8 minutes until it was close to 7:30am and then I would get up and get ready for work.

Over my winter break,  I didn’t need an alarm because I was on vacation and on my own time.  I realized that I still woke up pretty early in the morning.  I thought about my weekends also and realized that I get up pretty early on the weekends.  So I stopped using my alarm clock beginning January 1, 2008.

Without the alarm, I woke up each morning sometime between 7:24 and 7:39.  My sleep did not discriminate against the weekends.  If I went out and did not get to bed until 3:00am, my body still woke up only a couple of hours later.  (not cute, but true).  Sometimes I could fall back asleep, and other times I just laid in bed watching tv.

Life was all good with my internal alarm clock – until Daylight Savings Time hit!  At first I set my alarm again because I wasn’t sure how my body would react.  Well, my body decided not to participate in the time change so now I wake up at 6:30ish every morning.  I feels wonderful to wake up peacefully and on my own accord.  It’s nice to take my time getting ready for work.  It sometimes sucks on the weekends, but I find hope in the joys of a mid-day nap.

Footnote:  I am just telling you this as an FYI.  Please do not try this tonight right before your big presentation at work tomorrow.  When your husband tells you to wake him  up at 8:00pm so he can watch the NBA finals do NOT tell him Michelle told you to use your internal clock and you realized yours didn’t work.  I believe if you have one – great, if not be blessed that God created alarms.  Sleep on!

M.Y.  June 2008

My Dad Loved Me

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“My Dad Loved Me!”

June08-2About two years ago I moved back into my childhood home.  I have so many great memories that existed there and it’s interesting to transition from being the child in the house to now having full ownership and paying all the bills.
My house is in a great neighborhood with a backyard that is connected to a golf course.  It’s peaceful to sit outside on a cool day (haven’t had those recently) and enjoy all that nature had to offer.  But, my backyard also has something very unique.  A homemade balance beam!  Starting at the age of six, I was a very competitive gymnast.  I’d go to practice four days a week and could tumble without thought.  My father was always very crafty, and during elementary school, he built me my own wooden balance beam so that I could practice at home.  It was the exact length and width (4 inches) as the real thing.
Recently I went outside and walked right next to the beam.  I thought about the serious thought my father had to put into creating this masterpiece.  He had to carefully measure each piece of wood.  He also had to create something study enough so that it would stay in the ground.  It had to be able to outlast wind, rain, snow, hail and just my general body weight.  It had to be perfect.   Over 25 years later, it’s still perfect.
Growing up I probably took for granted the beam. Although I appreciated it, I never really contemplated the dedication and love my father had for me to even consider creating something like that.  I was my father’s baby girl, his only child, his pride and joy.  Still seeing the beam today lets me know that he wanted to do whatever he could to bring me happiness.  My father passed away in 1993.  Who would have known that  almost 15 years later an object made of wood would bring back the feelings and strong emotions of unconditional love and gratitude!!
Happy Father’s Day

M.Y.  June 2008

Negative-less

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’Negative-less’

June08-1When I started training I tried to remain as focused as possible.  One of the things I had to do was remove negative energy.  In order to do that, I had to separate myself from people that weren’t doing anything but offering trouble.

Some of these people were just acquaintances.  These were the type of people that although not around a lot, when he/she is, there’s always some type of drama.  For some reason, when you walk away from these people, you feel more frustrated than anything else.  They want to gossip about you and everyone else.  They’ll smile in your face and stab you in the back within minutes.  With these people, I just completely cut them out of my life.  Instead of seeing them out in public and acting as if we were cool and carrying on conversation, I now just keep on walking.  ‘Fake friends’ are not a requirement for happiness.

Some other people were my relatives.  I couldn’t (well I guess I could) just cut them out of my life.  So instead, I watched the conversations that I had with them.  One of my aunts is constantly worried about any and everything and she was the only person that tried to discourage me from competing.  Although I love her as a person, I would intentionally not update her on my progress because I knew support would not come her way.  We would talk and I appreciated her calls, I just knew my limitations with the conversation.

I even changed around how I operate at work.  Instead of checking my work emails at home on the weekends or at night, I would wait until I got to work.  I appreciate my ‘my time’ more and didn’t let things stress me out that could wait until work hours.

Once I was able to rid myself of the negative vibes, I also surrounded myself with positive people.  I loved going to the gym and meeting other people equally into fitness.  Some of my friends were there with me every step of the way.  They became my cheerleaders and biggest fans.    On my birthday, I even started a ‘Thank You Journal’.  Each night I take the time to write down something positive that occurred that day. It can be something as simple as being thankful for having a great group of co-workers, allowing me to travel safely to Cincy or even be thankful for making a positive connection with someone new.  When I got rid of the negative and increased the positive, I found that life felt so much better.  I start to further appreciate the wonderful things in individuals which in return makes you want to give back to others.  So, if you have people or things in your life that are stressing you out or really have no positive purpose, find a way to separate yourself – you definitely will notice a difference!

M.Y.  June 2008