New challenges, new ideas, new outlook

Originally posted on my personal blog: Rocket, Swords, & Shields on June 17, 2011

 

 
Hello, Void. Did you have a good week? Here we have been enjoying spectacular weather and new smiles from Owen every day. He continues to get familiar (and less scared of) his laugh, talks constantly, and today started to find his feet for the first time. Through all of the crazy things happening, and the intense lack of employment taking place in my department, Owen honestly is like a baby version of Vicodin. There isn't anything special or over-emotional about it - he simply makes me happy. I've always been entertained my simple things, but this kid makes me literally spend most of my day just smiling at how adorable he is all the time. It entertains me so much to watch him learn new things every single day and each time he smiles, it's like watching a Disney movie for the first time.

Since the wee one has such a positive effect on me in the midst of all this frustration, I've realized that I need to finally work to change my perspective a little to try and be a bit more generally happy with how my life is - because while it is truly necessary I find a job .. there's no telling how long it will be before I have one. And I'm simply no longer interested in letting it bother me. Instead, Corey and I are discussing our options as a family, and I am working on some projects to change how I live my life day-to-day outside of Owen. I'm doing some research for a long term project regarding happiness, learning, and education; I've also been asked to take part in a co-op blog which will start sometime soon - don't worry, I'll give more info once it gets more developed; this entire year I've been working to try new recipes and expand my cooking horizons, and that still moves forward; and lastly a challenge to possibly change how I think of things.

First up, a good friend of mine introduced me to something that was created by Tiny Prints (which is a favorite site of mine, and the place where we bought Owen's birth announcements from) that is called the Gratitude Challenge. This challenge is meant to teach each of us to take a little time each day to be thankful for what is in our life. Over the course of 21 days, I will spend each day completing a task that is written out in the calendar of the challenge which I have printed out and mounted on the wall about our computer. I really want to commit to this and work to make a change with how I choose to initially react to something. This is not going to completely eradicate my pessimism (which I lovingly call realism) but hopefully it will help my general demeanor to be a bit happier and more thankful for the things that are going well in my life despite the things that are problematic at the time.

So I believe that this serves to meet my commitment for Day 1, which asks that I sign the contract and make a commitment to take note and give thanks for the next 21 days. Express why "you" accepted this challenge and what "you" hope to achieve from it. So here we are. Signed, sealed, and delivered.