Day 5 Write to get it out

Whenever my friends come to me for advice about any sort of decision they make, I always have one reaction: Write it down. This is usually followed by 5-10 more minutes of them verbally working through the topic that's dancing around in their head before I repeat it one more time. Write it down. If you can get it out of your head and start to visually sort through what's on your mind, you no longer have to try and jungle all of the thoughts in your mind. (This is the same reason I like to make lists...as soon as it's on the list it is out of my head.)

Sometimes it's hard to follow our own advice. Solutions seem crystal clear when they're someone else's problems. As soon as we're left to our own devices things that are crystal clear become clear as mud. Because now emotions are involved, which end up clouding our judgement and decision making process. I can't tell you how many times I've looked at a situation that I'm involved in and thought, "Jeez Andrea, this isn't a hard decision. Just (insert the easy logical clear cut solution here)." Except then the emotions sit there and play devil's advocate. "But Andrea, (insert emotionally clouded judgment here) makes a huge difference."

Now as someone who is fairly artistic/musical and fairly in tune with her emotions (melodramatic only when necessary) I constantly run a balance of using my head and using my heart. The ultimate romantic in me sometimes will force me to lead with my heart, but I’ve never met anyone who died from loving too much, so as long as I can still keep it fairly in check I figure I’m not causing any serious permanent damage. So…not totally unfamiliar territory for me, but it usually doesn’t ever help the decision making process.

So now here I sit. Not that I have a huge, epic decision to make or anything, but more so that I feel like I’m all over the emotional map. Which is exhausting. But it’s time to listen to my own advice. Write it down.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to splash ALL of my thoughts all over for the world read. (*See yesterday’s blog post about the world of overshare.) That’s a date for me and my notebook tonight after the Ingrid Michaelson concert. But I will say this…

God puts you where he needs you to be, when he needs you to be there. Consequently, the people are in your life are in your life because they’re supposed to be there. So whatever happens in your life happens is happening for a reason. So today, I’m thankful for everyone in my life. Whatever role you play…if you’re my Twitter friend, if you’re my lovebucket friend, if you’re my family friend, if you’re my Facebook friend, if you’re my work friend, if you’re a friend of a friend, if you’re my best friend…I’m thankful that you’re in my life and making me who I am today, and who I will be tomorrow.

That’s enough for today. Tomorrow we’ll try and keep it lighter. =)

Live, laugh, love,

Andrea

Coffee and Doughnuts...Day 4

Anyone who has spent any amount of time around me in the morning knows that I enjoy a good cup of coffee. Whether it be after a late night out with friends, $1 coffee morning at Blue's Egg, or just necessary to function, there's little I enjoy more in the morning (especially a Saturday morning) than a hot cup of coffee and a tasty bakery treat. It's my version of comfort food.

Today I went to Rocket Baby Bakery for Anodyne Coffee and Cranky Al's for a crueller. A two stop morning...fun night, but a rough morning. 

It's hard to know...how much do you put up on a blog? How much do you share with the world? I read an article earlier this year that suggested that people are oversharing online. I couldn't find the exact article, but a quick Google search will produce plenty of articles supporting this statement. The article that I read suggested that because of our constant desire to immediately share information on social media, that the important events in our lives are becoming desensitized. Every time you share an experience with someone, the original feelings you had in that moment aren't quite as special and the memory of the original event is desensitized. It encouraged people to hold onto some of those experiences and cherish them personally before sharing them with the rest of the world.

I'm a person that is fairly open with my life. You have a question? Ask! If I don't want to answer, I'll tell you. Otherwise, it's pretty much what you see it what you get with me. But I'm also a person that is driven nuts by the overshares on Facebook. I don't mean to offend anyone with this next statement, but the amount of information about birthing and nursing and child raising shared on Facebook by people my age is ghastly. Now the response I usually get is "Well, if you don't like it, don't read it or block my status updates. This is what's going on in my life and I want to talk about it." My response is...doesn't that defeat the purpose of a social network? In my mind, I don't need to see pictures of you or your child immediately after birth (like...immediately. I don’t car once the baby is cleaned off, but if you want to show me the icky pictures…do it in person) or hear about your milk production or problems you're having with it, and I'm really happy that your child is being potty trained because it is a skill that will serve him/her the rest of their life, but I don't really need to see a picture of it while enjoying my coffee and crueller.  Is it important for people to have an outlet to discuss these things and ask questions? Absolutely. But what happened to people picking up the telephone and actually talking to someone? Where has our sense of modesty and privacy gone? How much is too much?

So now that I've ranted about all these other people and the oversharing of their lives...am I about to commit the same crime? Is it ok to talk about relationships but not pooping? I don't know. But here goes...

Yesterday I wrote about things Lost and Found. I've been thinking a lot about losing things in the last couple of weeks. Usually we're upset when we lose something because it has some sort of value to it... functionality, monetary, sentimental/emotional. Lost keys? Lost functionality. Lost wallet? Lost money. But these are things. Things can be replaced. It's not always easy and is often times very frustrating, but things in our life can be replaced. However, when it comes to people it's not quite as simple.

I read one of my friend's blogs yesterday about how her life was changing. She’s in her fifth year of college so it’s that time where most of her close friends have graduated and they are entering another chapter in their lives. Life is changing. You don’t have all your friends around you all the time. It’s work to maintain relationships as lives evolve and take different directions. Some people you might not ever see again. Some people get married. Some people start careers that become their lives. Some people have kids. Some people move far away. And all of a sudden these people that you were once close with and shared everything with become acquaintances whose lives you learn about on a Facebook newsfeed or Twitter update. And there’s nothing wrong with that…and in fact it’s perfectly normal. But that part of your life is over. It’s a feeling of loss because that situation and those experiences won’t ever be able to be recreated.

I struggled with this after college too. Let’s be real, this is still something I think about. I miss the days of going to the Bakerei on Fridays after music class with Schlicht, Josh, and Jon…or sitting and watching hours of Friends or Sex and the City with April…or going to Target and not really needing anything…or middle of the night trips to Perkins in Mankato. I still enjoy doing all of those things, but it’s different. And not a bad different…a good different. I have a whole different set of wonderful people in my life (and some of the oldies but goodies =) and a whole pile of new and different experiences. Brewers games, Badger games, Packers games (in my living room) patio nights, St. Louis road trips, Civil Wars concerts, babysitting, wine nights, Bachelor Mondays, triathlons and races, breakfasts at Blue’s, late night scrambled eggs and singing marathons, more laughter, more love, and more people who care about me and are concerned about me than I could ever have imagined or deserved.

Sometime people come into our lives in the most unexpected ways. One of my cousins and I have become so close over weekly watching trashy tv together (and lots of other fun things too). I consider some of my coworkers my good friends outside of work and their kids are my pseudo nieces and nephews. I’m friends with someone that was my flight attendant on one of my business trips from last March. A former student of mine has been there through almost everything I’ve gone through the last five years and is my lovebucket. I went to get a birthday drink last January and found someone who has become one of my best friends and I can’t imagine my life without. There are so many amazing people I’ve become friends with through other friends of mine. I’m more blessed by the people in my life than I could ever deserve. It’s funny that when I started writing this blog post, I was mentally going someplace different…but I ended up here. Feeling so blessed. Kinda how life goes sometimes. So the I guess the best way to sum this all up is this:

Thank you. Thank you for being my friend. And I mean this with my whole heart…I love you.

Until tomorrow,

Andrea

Day 2...not bad so far!

Well, we're on day 2 and I've managed to post two days in a row. Great success. I need to get my butt out of bed and into gear and go running. Hopefully I can go tonight after babysitting. Ooo! I am leaving work early today to pick up Ingrid Michaelson tickets! I could probably go after that and before I babysit tonight. Even if it's a short little run.

Lots of good things coming up. I'm hoping and praying that one of my friends gets a callback on his job interview. I know he could do such a good job and I really hope that he gets this opportunity. Wednesday I have the last Brewers game of the year. Bummed they got knocked out of the post-season already, but here's to 2013. Thursday is voice and shopping for Teri's get well basket. Friday is the concert! REALLY excited for this. Saturday there's a Badger game to watch and Sunday there's Sara B.'s birthday and a Packers game to watch! Not to mention there's a Schommer/Oppermann coffee date coming up, as well as Chrysta's birthday, another Badger game, a 15k run, Halloween, the quilt retreat...AUGH! Life seems like it's running by me sometimes.

Sometimes I feel like I don't spend enough time appreciating all the good things in my life. Yeah, sometimes things are hard and difficult. But there are a lot of positive things in my life. And the last couple months I have learned to let go of control of certain things, and just let them happen. I have a hard time with that. I want to know when things are going to happen, what's going to happen, and what I need to do to prepare for them. And I've been forced to relax and just let things happen. And WOW has it been hard! But, sometimes in life we don't always have control. We just have to let God be God and trust that things will work out how they are supposed to. And it's something I'm still working on, but I'm finding out that sometimes when we can let go...it's better than we expected. And there are good things that happen that we have no control over.

So. For day two...ramblings? Not bad. Here's to another day. See you tomorrow. =)