Daily Archives: July 13, 2012

Self Reflection

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Sometimes, it is a good idea to take a step back from your life and see where you are.  I have recently been pushed into having to do this in my own life, and even though it has been a difficult situation, I am absolutely in love with how my life has been shaped and where my life is headed.

There are a few things that I have done to have helped with my personal self re-discovery. First of all, I deleted Facebook.  Even though I am a huge fan of Social Media and even though I have been Tweeting more than ever, I am happy to have shut off one way of communication in my life.

Why am I happy I shut off Facebook?  Well, in the past week or so since it has been deleted, I have realized who really wants to contact me and who I really want to contact.  Now, I do miss some people and have logged back in to get into contact with them, I have also found the people in my life who honestly do care about me.  While I am thinking I will be back on Facebook at some point in my life, I am loving the freedom of worrying about other people’s lives.  I first and foremost need to be focusing on myself and what I need.

The other thing I have started doing is an on-line Bible study that my friend Dawn started and I stumbled upon.  I was a little leery of beginning; was this really something I wanted to start?  Was this something I would find beneficial?  I started day one today, and am already on day nine.  Ooops.  It is okay to work at your own speed, the writer even said so, but each devotional has been speaking to me.  I am learning that it is crucial for myself to stop and look around.  I must start living in today.  I must stop planning for the distant future when I need to start planning for today.  It has been a blessing for me to find this, and I cannot thank Dawn enough for starting this amazing soul detox and letting me find it. For those who are interested, find more about She Reads Truth and follow along.  I am Instagramming photos regularly, and you can find those photos here.

My devotional journal.

I am keeping towards my goal of being great.  A great friend, a great person, a great librarian, a great love.  Continue on towards your own personal goals of greatness.  If you have a secret way in which you find greatness, feel free to share!

Sometimes You Just Gotta Jump

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Thursday, I went to the Middleton Pool for some sunshine and reading time.  I was happy to spend some time alone and getting some reading done.  Plus, I needed some time to reflect on my life.  So, off to the pool I went.

For the first hour or so, I was listening to some Podcasts, watching children participating in an Easter Egg hunt in the pool, and attempting to leaf through a few pages of my book.  (For those interested, I am slogging through How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer.)  After being at the pool for an hour, it was finally time for adult swim.

Now, for those who have never experienced adult swim, it is a magical time.  All of the children MUST exit the pool for ten minutes.  Glory exists when there is no line for the water slide, no splashing in the deeper end of the pool, and no screaming from gleeful children.  It is pure magic.

I hopped into the pool during adult swim to dunk my head underwater.  At that time, I realized there were no children going down the slide.  I hopped up the stairs, got the go ahead from the lifeguard, and flew down the chute.  Then, I repeated that again twice.  I was loving life; bounding down the water slides.

When I was finished with the slides, I realized I only had a few more moments of child-free adult swim time.  I decided I needed to take the plunge and jump off of the diving board.

Now, I must confess.  I cannot remember the last time I jumped off of a diving board.  My best guess is sometime in elementary school either in swimming lessons or at a friend’s birthday party.  Honestly, fourth grade is the last time I remember swimming at the Shawano Recreation Center, so that is the best guess of the last time I was jumping off of a diving board.  So, again, this was fifteen years ago.

I mustered up some moxie, climbed up the small ladder, and reached the end of the diving board.  I took a few quick bounces, plugged my nose, and jumped in.  It was not a graceful jump whatsoever.  But, I just took the opportunity to jump and went with it.

Of course, I’m thinking of how this is a metaphor for my life.  I need to stop thinking and letting my mind talk me out of opportunities and just go.  I need to start thinking about now and the immediate future instead of three years down the road.  It is a definite paradigm change I need to make in myself and it is something that I am going to be working on.  But, I can do it.  I know I can.

The summertime glory of the Middleton Pool.