Allergies

Is it possible to find a silver lining in allergies?! In continuing my personal challenge to find positives in everything I encounter, and thus be more grateful for everything in life, I'm certainly going to try.

The most common allergic reaction to anything is sneezing. This could allow you to learn who cares for you when they say "Bless You" or some other similar response.

Let's say you break out in hives. These are quite possibly the worst allergic reaction to anything, in my personal experience. The constant itching anywhere your epidermis exists drives me batty! So, what could possibly be the upside? How about your own personal heater? Hives have this nifty quality in that they tend to generate an enormous amount of heat wherever they are found. This is especially helpful in the winter.

My current optimistic challenge, however, is figuring out how to be grateful for the swollen eye (looks very much like Pink Eye, but it's allergy-induced, NOT caused by bacteria, so it's not the contagious kind). Well, I did manage to get an excessive amount of sleep last night because of it (my body naturally wants extra sleep when something malfunctions so it can try to repair it). A red swollen eye is also an interesting conversation piece. My students were naturally curious about my eye and some of them couldn't stop staring at it. While that was a bit awkward, at least I knew that they were not falling asleep in class or playing on their cell phones. :-)

Fuzzy Blankets

I am an unashamed wuss when it comes to cold. I have poor circulation in my hands and feet and everything slows down for me when I'm too frosty. All I really want to do at times like these is sleep. The best comfort for me in the chillier months is not a cup of hot cocoa (love the stuff I got from Costa Rica!) or spice tea, but a warm fuzzy blanket. If I had my way, I would cuddle under the blanket my dad got us for Christmas a few years back from sunset to sunrise, only coming out when the sun finally decided to get to work. Of course, no one can always have their way; we must slog through some of the less comfortable moments of the year to fulfill our obligations to society. That makes the warm fuzzy blanket waiting for you at home that much more special.

My Local Library

I am so happy the public library was conceived and I am glad that our local library is now moved into a larger space. This afternoon I can watch my daughter and her friend as they do their homework, while working on my daughter's Christmas dress at the same time. I love being able to spread out to cut the fabric. While I sometimes think it is sad that so few people frequent the library, I am also grateful that there is still room to spread out. Oh, I can also take a minute to post this blog from the computers available for public use. :-) Kudos to Ben Franklin and all the library advocates out there!

Serenity Prayer

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Please guide my hand, give me strength, and bestow your grace upon me. I ask that you help me find those most precious virtues of patience and forgiveness as I navigate my way through this day filled with encounters with many of your other children. Thank you, dear Lord, for your patience and willingness to hear my plea and aid me in my journey of self-improvement. Amen.

My Night Class Students

Right now I am so very grateful for the patience and understanding of my students attending my night class. I am very behind in my grading and other various paperwork, but they seem to be tolerant enough to not push me. Every once in a while I get a gentle reminder that I haven't graded anything or handed back any graded papers in a long while. They tend to stay on task a little more often, as well. This inspires me regularly to hold onto my life goal: my PhD in educational psychology with an emphasis on adult education. I don't like to see any group of people forgotten, and adult students are the most glossed over group of people in academia. We have years of research in teaching babies through teenagers, but then the research stops. I suppose education experts assume that adults who want to learn will learn; apparently adults don't have particular or specific learning needs and any technique chosen to convey information is interchangeable with any other.

Silence and Burnout

I'm sure many people will agree that a modicum of silence is a blessing. As an extreme introvert, I absolutely agree. The silence I am thinking about tonight, however, is not originated from others, but rather from myself. Sometimes I am thankful that I can choose to remain silent in situations that another person (or even myself) might choose to voice their opinion or feeling. Yes, there is a vindictive streak in me (at least in thought) that occasionally cries out to give people a good verbal smack so they can see they are not the only people of import on the planet. Thankfully, I am usually able to keep this part of me at bay. This is the silence that I am glad to have tonight.

It is actually very closely related to my gratefulness for burnout. I know that burnout is not usually seen with a positive light. Yet, the purpose of this blog is to shed a golden glow upon even the darkest corners if I can. Tonight I am feeling so burned out, stretched and stressed close to my limit, that I find it very difficult to lash out or to even have angry, vindictive thoughts for too long. So, while I may judge that other woman as being rude and selfish, because I am too burned out to give so much as a dirty look to her, I can pause a moment and realize that she probably sees me in the same light. Because of this, I will take the slightly raised ground and walk away from the copy machine while she finishes whatever it was that she decided to stop that allowed me to swoop in front of in the first place. Besides, I did manage to copy the bigger assignment for tonight before she expressed her ire. ;-)

On a side-note, I am very appreciative of my time spent in lowly office positions. I am able to use a copy machine with more efficiency than many "professionals," so I know how to slide stuff in and how to walk away with patience, getting other stuff completed while I wait for the machine to finish.

Hurray, I feel better! :-)

Catching Up

There's no need to rush when you carry your home with you everywhere

I don't know about the rest of the world, but my life is like an accordion. There are times when everything is moving too fast and I struggle to keep up. These are then followed by moments when things slow down so much that I can take that "inbox" pile and process it. I am constantly fluctuating, travelling along my personal Yerkes-Dawdson inverted U curve. I suppose I could do the intelligent thing and take life slow and steady so that I am never behind, but then I will also never be ahead or caught up. I guess the real question comes down to whether one lives life like the hare--rushing about to get ahead so that you can nap, fall behind, then rush ahead again--or like the tortoise--slow and steady, just keep plodding along and you will eventually get there. Admittedly, I am partial to the hare's method, even though I do sometimes seem to take life at the tortoise's top speed. I find that the slow periods are much more enjoyable after I've come rushing through a chaotic period.

I'm late, I'm late. Oh, wait...I'm early now