Thoughts & Ideas

Why Is Connecting With People Over 40 So Hard?
If you’re like me, maybe you stick close to home. I mean, I have three kids, no money and I have an online business that I’m always working on. I sometimes joke that I literally need to figure out how to clone myself so I can actually get all my work done. I don’t belong to any community groups, and to be honest, I abhor shopping ever since Covid. I actually get anxiety when I’m around a lot of people for any length of time, and so my connection with... Read more...
Is Self Care and Personal Care The Same Thing?
In today’s age, one almost has to ask oneself if personal care and self care are the same thing. In the technical definition, personal care (for the use of this article) are those things that you do to groom yourself. These things include bathing, dying your hair, shaving or waxing - basically daily hygiene activities. Self care includes actions to deliberately maintain or improve health and regulate emotions to reduce stress and stop burnout form happening. Examples of this might look like picking up a new hobby, getting a restful... Read more...
Boring Can Be Good
When you’re 16, waiting for anything is like feeling you’re going to die if it doesn’t get here now! That goes for anything - waiting for summer, your next family vacation, school to be over, learning how to drive - basically everything worth waiting for! We pass every summer with gusto, living in the moment and not worrying about next year, let alone the next week or month. The only thing on our mind at that point is our summer plans and how long we’re going to sleep in the... Read more...
You’ve Manifested What You Got, So Why Are You Still Unhappy?
Have you ever heard the phrase “The Pasture is always greener on the other side?” Well, you’re going to hear it here today. We’re also going to talk about manifesting - not how you do it, but that you’ve already done it (every single day of your life) and you might be completely oblivious to it! So, imagine one day you’re sitting at a park bench, dreaming up your perfect job. Fast forward a year later, and you have it! You have your dream job and the raise that you’ve... Read more...
The New Dichotomy Between Men and Women in the Alpha/Beta Generation
As I have been browsing social media, I’ve noticed some changing trends, as in posts that have come up fairly recently and maybe reflect how a lot of people are currently feeling. This post is not discounting healthy relationships - this goes beyond relationships and maybe shows how people (especially women) are finally attempting to express a concept we’ve been feeling for a very long time. So first of all, I’ve noticed these posts from women online saying that they’re tired of the mental load they carry all the time.... Read more...
Busywork
I was reading a post on one of my Franklin Covey Facebook sites, and in passing, I read that someone was trying to minimize how much time they were wasting on “busywork”. I passed it by, thinking it made sense. I mean, we’ve all been there - in my case, many times were spent on projects I made up to avoid something else I was supposed to be working on. The term “busywork” is different for each one of us, but is generally defined as tasks that keep you busy... Read more...
How Singing at Karaoke Helps Me Deal With Stress
Ok, so I know not everyone sings karaoke, but you can get some of these same benefits from singing at home , humming, or practicing meditation or simple breathing exercises. Read on to see how singing at karaoke alleviates my stress. It’s something that I enjoy and like to do. Studies show that when we make time doing things for ourselves that are enjoyable, it helps us to relax. Karaoke can really take as long as you want, but generally, one session runs from anywhere to 3-5 hours in one... Read more...
Manifesting: Removing Self-made Constructs
Every day when you wake up, the world is full of possibility… This is what I believe and what I have always believed. Some days are tough though, especially these days with our political troubles, high rate of inflation and little money in the bank. Still, it’s important to keep an open mind and let possibility keep you looking at the glass that’s half full. I’ve got a list of blogs that I’ve written in the past that skirt this area that I want to discuss today. There are bits... Read more...
Using Morning Pages to Cope With Anxiety, Worry and Stress
Hello and welcome back! Your first step before reading this blog is to read my blog on Morning Pages. Once you’ve done that, please continue on! We all cope with stress and anxiety in our lives. We may see it in our jobs, our business, our personal, home and family lives too - It’s everywhere. What changes the outcome of these is how you react to them, adapt and change. I want to discuss how morning pages can help you cope with anxiety and stress. It can actually help to... Read more...
Idealism and How It Relates to Dichotomous Thinking
When we’re young, we seem to develop a lot of ideals. By this, I mean we are attempting to figure out what we want from our life, so we form these idealized situations. For example, I knew that I wanted to be married by 25 and have my first child when I was 27. As we all should know, things don’t always work out how we plan. I never ended up getting married, ever, and my first child was born when I was 31! Idealism is defined as the belief... Read more...
New Year Planner Love
Even though we are well past the new year by now, at the time of writing (December 31st, 2024), I have the best positive feelings. It started when I was putting my planners together and getting them all ready for the start of 2025. Since I have an online presence, I set up my planners a little earlier than some. I need time to ensure I can film and edit my content before it goes live. That being said, my planner setup videos are posted before Jan 1. One day,... Read more...
Creativity and Recovery
I’m writing today’s article during the busiest time of year - December. In the midst of buying presents, wrapping, writing Christmas cards, doing Planmas, vlogmas and getting all my planners prepped and ready for the new year, and doing all the regular routines on top of it all, I am exhausted! I’ve been tracking sleep lately with my Apple Watch and I’ve been averaging four hours of sleep per night. I’m pretty sure 7-8 is the normal “healthy average”. Concentration and focus are usually out the window on very little... Read more...
Becoming Wise
I have just finished another book from the Janes Agenda Masterplan Book Club. It was called Thrive, by Arianna Huffington. I honestly had a hate-love relationship with this book. First of all (completely unrelated to the actual content of the book) - I started reading this book on the airplane the last time I flew to Vancouver and I hate flying, so now this book reminds me of something I detest). Secondly, there were chapters that I loved and found super easy to read and other chapters I found really... Read more...
Fill Your Days With Purpose & Meaning
I’m writing this blog quite awhile after reading this professional development book from Janes Agenda masterplan Class. The name of the book is called Digital Minimalism. The author, Cal Newport, says to ‘strategize your free time’. The message is pretty basic: we tend to waste a lot of time on social media in this day and age. In the Janes Agenda course, part of the assignment was to time track for an entire week - no matter what task. At the end of the week, we checked in to see... Read more...
What Creativity Really Means
When I think about creativity, the first thing that comes to mind is art - singing, music, art, painting, drawing and all the rest. When I was younger, I always found time to draw and paint. I still do those things, but to a lesser extent as I have small kids to watch and not as much free time on my hands. Despite the fact that I am an artist, I don’t consider myself creative. I always used to be scared of sharing my answers with the class, or having... Read more...
Releasing Limitations on Your Loved Ones
When I was younger, I used to be far more judgemental than I am today. I’d like to believe that aging and experience have enlightened me somewhat, or at least made me a bit more pliable. Looking back, I remember I would sometimes feel embarrassed for people, but not in any sense of appropriateness…more like I was embarrassed for them because I felt they embarrassed me by their actions or by who they were. Of course I never ever said anything because I knew, even when I was younger that... Read more...
Pro-activism and Essentialism
I’ve been reading some books (self-help books some like to call them) during my Janes Agenda Masterplan Class on productivity and I realized that two concepts really tie together for me to help me understand myself better (and maybe even more about other people and the world in general). The first of these is being pro-active. This is the first habit in Stephen Covey’s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. It means that we are each responsible for ourselves, for our actions and our feelings and we have... Read more...
Resiliency
I recently read a Costco Connection article and the headline on the front page didn’t sit right with me. It said “Cultivating Resilience, A look at what it takes to grow through adverse experiences”. They had a picture of a flower growing through a crack in cement right next to it, which really does scream resilience, doesn’t it? The part that I had an issue with was “grow through” adverse experiences. First off, resilience is defined as successfully adapting to challenging life experiences, focusing on the mental, emotional and behavioural... Read more...
It’s a Privilege To Be Here
Ever since my Dad died in 2006, I’ve been thinking about death. It’s in every thought I’ve had before bed, every funeral I’ve attended or every death I’ve been aware of and it’s in every movie or tv. show I watch. The thoughts I have about death have become more prevalent since I’ve had kids, and also as I get older. Of course I’m scared - everyone should be. It’s makes our time here on Earth that much more sweet and precious. Now you may be thinking “My goodness, this... Read more...
Why Ex’s Should Remain Ex’s
How many times have you ever thought about going back to an ex? Have you done it? In my experience, it’s a bad move. Read more to find out why. Most people site love as the most important factor in relationships. Have you ever wondered why (most) arranged marriages last longer than regular relationships? The two people may or may not even know each other at all, so cannot love each other, but they build a relationship based off of learned respect and trust, and then love eventually grows. Love... Read more...
What Is Our Purpose?
“You have purpose just by existing each day” -Demetra Demi   When I was a kid, I always wondered what my purpose on this earth was. These times of wonder would usually be brought on by some kind of event - usually something bad. For example, my stepdad would say something awful to me and I would go to my room and stew over it for a very long time. Instead of releasing that anger and resentment, I would cry and bottle it up inside and think to the universe... Read more...
Do You Control Your Thoughts, or Do Your Thoughts Control You?
You might wonder, how would your thoughts control you? Well, I can say that everyone has had this happen to them. It might not be a big deal, and you might not even have consciously thought about it, but it has happened to you. For example, you’re sitting at your desk at work, and it’s close to the end of the day. You might be getting hungry, but you continue working. After awhile, your stomach growls and you decide to go to the vending machine to grab a small snack... Read more...
Struggling With Hardship and How To Deal
Everyone has hardship in their lives. It can happen sporadically, without notice, and when you least expect it. But what do you do when bad thing after bad thing happens and it seems like you can’t recover? You might try to fight back initially, proving to the universe that no matter what it throws at you, you can come back bigger and stronger. But how many times can you do that, and for how long? Does it make you stronger? Wise people say it does. Does it break you? Only... Read more...
Brain Dump: What It Is, and Should You Do It?
A Brain Dump is essentially writing your thoughts on paper. It could look like a master task list in your planner, it could be a journal entry. It is basically taking any and all thoughts from your head and writing them down on paper. The concept is that you’re taking thoughts (intangible) and making them tangible by writing them down. It doesn’t matter what it is. It could be a to-do list, your worries and anxieties about your life or future, or maybe even a packing or cleaning list. When... Read more...
Changing Perspectives
Almost every time I have a conversation with someone who talks about something negative, I find myself arguing the case; playing Devil’s Advocate. Ask my mother - she always tells me that I lack compassion, because I never feel sorry for her situation. I find myself doing the same thing when my husband is sick, since he acts like he’s dying when he has a simple cold. I try to sympathize, I truly do, but I have changed my perspectives on certain things. I don’t know exactly how or when... Read more...
If I Knew Then What I Know Now
If I knew then what I know now, would I have done things differently? How many times have we asked ourselves this question? Does it honestly even matter? People say “live with no regrets”. Regret implies that you would go back and do things differently, and I’m pretty sure everyone feels regret at some point in their life. It’s hard not to - we’re all human after all, and regret is simply one more emotion that the human psyche is wired for. We are very emotional beings (unless of course... Read more...
Originality: How It Helps and How It Hinders
Originality: the ability to think independently and creatively, or, to be unusual. That is the official definition. In terms of social media and online business, originality is key to getting and retaining business. There are ups and downs though, so let’s explore this concept. In basic terms, originality is being unique - different from anyone else. It allows one to use their imagination and creativity to produce something that no one has seen before, or to come up with a new concept that has not been seen before. The best... Read more...
If I Had a Million Dollars…
Barenaked Ladies songs aside, we all know that in this day and age, a million dollars won’t get you very far. I remember a time when I was around nine years old, my dad would sit beside me and contemplate what he would do if he won the lottery. He always said, all he would need is one million dollars to live comfortably. Now, we’re lucky if that amount pays off our mortgage and debt. If I won a million dollars, the smart thing to do would be to invest... Read more...
Getting Older and Needing More Alone Time
People are all born different. We also all go through different life experiences and we also all react to those experiences with different emotions and because of other experiences we’ve had. For me, I was an only child until I was about six, and then I had a baby sister. For the first six years of my life, I spent most of my time with my mom or by myself, or with my dogs. As a generation X child, growing up on a farm, without technology, I spent a lot... Read more...
The Dating Game: Why It Sets You Up for Failure and Divorce
You know when you’re single, and all you wish is that there were someone out there that checked off all your boxes? You think about that perfect person; what they would look like, sound like, the kind of job they would have? Well, it’s one thing to fantasize, and completely another to actually expect to find that someone. You know why? No one is perfect! We tend to build up these expectations in our heads of what we would want in our “perfect partner” and then are completely caught off... Read more...
Should I Let My Kid Start a YouTube Channel?
Well, this is certainly something I can’t ask my parents or in-laws about. This is something that I think only Generation X and Millenial Parents (and generations in the future) must deal with. Our technology has advanced so much, that it’s really kind of scary when you stop to think about it. I mean, it’s amazing too, right? I actually just hooked up a new internet modem just by downloading an app, scanning a QR code and clicking a few buttons. Tada! Magic. Imagine that twenty years ago, let alone... Read more...
My Emergency Room Visit & How I Feel My Health Care System Failed Me
I had a recent health scare during the first few weeks of September 2022. I was chugging along every day, like I always do when all of a sudden, I experienced this severe, kill-me-now pain that I’ve never before experienced in my life. Of course, being part of Generation X and having access to Google, I googled my symptoms and came up with the most logical conclusion: gall bladder stones. My pain started at 12:30am one night. I had eaten a piece of French bread with some tea because I... Read more...
My Thoughts on Continuing My Education
Education has always been important to me. I’ve always wanted to learn things - needed to learn new things; sometimes for fun and sometimes out of necessity. There are many ways one can learn - we learn from our environment, situations, interactions with people, at our jobs, school and so forth. Some people don’t get the chance to experience what it’s like going to a post secondary institution (sometimes by choice, and sometimes because it’s either unaffordable or simply unobtainable due to situational happenstance). I find that very sad, because... Read more...
Having a Third Baby: What Was I Thinking?
As I look around my living room, I notice all the toys on the floor, and the mess that is my constant companion. It honestly looks like a hurricane has swept through my home. That’s my two year old’s mess. We are currently working on having her help clean up her messes, but it’s a constant challenge. She loves helping me do dishes, but she refuses to clean up her toys from the floor. Now, if she does help me, her “cleaning” is throwing stuff into her toy bin in... Read more...
The Handmaid’s Tale, Oppression and Why It Scares Me
As usual, I’m late on the train, watching this show in 2022. It first aired in 2017, so I had a lot of catching up to do; but, late is better than never! I came across this show at probably the worst time of my life. I am currently 5 months pregnant and each and every episode seems to bring me to tears. Sometimes I get the throat-locking, not able to swallow emotion, and then there’s the ugly crying. I think other than Outlander, it’s one of the most emotional... Read more...
Finding My Purpose
It wasn’t until I hit my late 30’s that I started asking myself what I was put on this earth for. I was searching for a reason to validate my existence. Why, in particular was it me that was born, and not some other baby? For that matter, what makes me have conciousness and not feel like some other person? Well, that’s a whole other conversation. For now, I want to discuss how I feel about my existence - my journey in finding myself as well as coming to terms... Read more...
The Things That Keep Me Up At Night
Disclaimer: This article is a list of some of the things that terrify me, so if you are sensitive to that, please do not read. Sometimes I find myself laying in bed, listening for all the creaks and weird noises the house makes when everything is still and quiet. Maybe if you are single and don’t have kids, you grow used to these noises over time. They scare me, and I start imagining all the things that could be happening. Maybe someone is trying to break into my house? Maybe... Read more...
How To Be Happy
Have you ever encountered someone who always seems happy? They bounce around like a perky little rainbow and sometimes you just want to throttle them? Have you ever considered that maybe it’s just a show, and they are not like that all the time? It’s easy enough to make people believe that you’re happy, but are you truly happy? Let me let you in on a little secret. No one (I said no one) is happy all the time. And that’s ok. We don’t need to be. So don’t let... Read more...
Contributions To Society
How do you contribute to society? How do you define contributions to society? The Collins Dictionary defines it as saying or doing things to make society successful. This is also dependent on how success is defined. Here is my take on this issue, along with some thoughts. When I first see the word “contribution”, I think money, as I think most people would. Society can be viewed as our community, our people, people in general, and all of the interconnected bits and pieces. An example of my first take on... Read more...
Happy Love Day: A Love Letter
Happy Valentines Day ❤️ I have always believed that we should celebrate love on Valentines Day. I try to celebrate the loved ones in my life on this day, and treat it as something special. There are people who don’t believe in making this one particular day special - that we should show love every day of the year. I agree with that too, but there is no harm in giving a little extra love on this one special day. Today. I am writing a love letter - a love... Read more...
My Experience of Having a Baby During the Pandemic
Hey friends! So admist all of the chaos that is my life, and the chaos that Covid brought into everyone’s life these past two years, I didn’t really get to explain what having a baby was like during the pandemic. I know there were a lot of people having babies the same time as me, and there were a lot of worries, anxieties and and overall panic. I remember reading a joke meme on Facebook that said since everyone had to stay home, there would be a new generation, henceforth... Read more...
Changing the World One Little Step At a Time
Hey guys! Welcome back to this week’s blog. I wanted to talk about something that I think about from time to time. It’s one of those things that takes the form of a fleeting thought, and so crosses my mind for a nano second and I don’t really pay attention to it. But maybe I should. I have never journaled about it (as you may know, journaling is a large part of my life - it helps to form my personal/self development journey, and helps me work through thoughts and... Read more...
Raising Kids & Some Important Differences Between Three Generations
Good day friends! So I am here to talk to you today about some differences I’ve noted between my kids generation, my generation and my parents generations. I am writing this from my perspective and experience, which is in raising my own kids (who are NOT teenagers yet) and talks I’ve had with my mom and mother-in-law about raising kids. There are about forty years difference between the generations that I am talking about. We currently live in a digital age which affects the raising of kids in a very... Read more...
Being an Independent Woman & Feeling Great
Hi everyone! Welcome back to my blog. Today’s piece is more about how I was feeling in a particular moment. Lately, it seems that the good things that happen in life are more fleeting and farther between than ever, so when they do happen - even if they only last for a few seconds, we need to embrace them and cherish them forever. This blog is about one of those moments. It was a particular sunny day in June 2021, and I had spent the entire day looking after my... Read more...
Setting Boundaries and Saying No
Hey there! Welcome back, and thanks for checking out today’s blog. Boundaries are defined as a dividing line between two separate areas. In this instance, I want to talk about how boundaries effect our relationships, our self care and how our life experiences define and change us as we age. So first of all, I want you to pretend that emotion didn’t exist. Imagine that scheduling yourself to do something ONLY depended on whether you were available or not. That makes things pretty easy, right? If you have 24 hours... Read more...
Getting Help When You Need It
We, as human beings can be very stubborn. We don’t want to admit defeat and just give up. I know that’s how I feel. Being an Aries however, I can admit that I’m very stubborn. I will keep going, even if I know that the end result is hopeless. The crazy thing is, if I keep at it long enough, I either push through and get the win, or I think of another way of doing the task at hand so that I can succeed. I want to let everyone... Read more...
What’s Out There: Random Speculations
Hi everyone and welcome back! Today I’m going to write about a conversation I had with my mother one day. We were both just going back and forth, building off of what each of us said. Now, I want to say I’m agnostic, but really, I’m a true aethiest at heart and do not believe in creationism, or God or the afterlife, however much I want to. One side of my family is very much religious but I was allowed to discover religion on my own. I like to learn... Read more...
Empathy: Are You an Empath?
Hi friends! Welcome back! So, to start off I wanted to say that I had thought of this topic many months ago and I had it written down in my content planner, intending to write it in the coming months. After I had set a date to write it, my mom sent me an article from Apple, talking about how you know you’re an empath. Coincidence? As I’ve been thinking on this topic, I have reflected on things that have happened to me throughout my life. When I was young,... Read more...
Gratitude
Hi everyone and welcome back to my blog. Let’s be real - it’s February and it’s hard to write about anything to be grateful for right now. I’ve had some super stressful things happen to me lately. I’m not going to go into the specifics of the bad things, because this blog is supposed to be about the good things. It’s just going to be that much more challenging for me to write this blog. Honestly, that’s probably a good thing. We need to be grateful for all the good... Read more...
My Thoughts on the Pandemic
Hi everyone! Welcome back to my blog. As I’m writing this piece, I must warn you that this topic is my opinion only, based on what I have been through, what I know, and what I see. I have not done research on past pandemics nor do I care to look at the specific numbers related to this topic today. (You’ll hear why if you continue reading). So, first, a warning: I am speaking on the current pandemic and all the things associated with it. This is a sensitive issue... Read more...