The turtle wins… Do something, not nothing.

Last Sunday, I did a 5k run/walk for the first time in over 6 years. I was the turtle…. Slow. I walked a few times but I mostly tried to jog it however slow I was. And… I did it.

Now, you don’t have to do a 5k like I did. We all have our own races we choose or challenges that we face. Our own goals. Our own lives. We can do nothing or we can do something. The choice is ours. No matter how slow or how small, if we do something then we’re ahead of choosing nothing.

It’s easy and can feel comfortable to do nothing, but we don’t overcome, challenge ourselves, or change if we don’t do something. Don’t choose nothing.

The turtle wins. Do something, not nothing. Live by the famous line by Nike… Just do it.

The Stay

Photo by Mink Mingle on Unsplash

Note: This is not a picture of the actual room from the stay. I didn’t take any pictures to keep, unfortunately. This was the best I could do to portray the comfort, simplicity, and vintage-like style of the stay based on my memories. Oh, it was divine!

• The smells of old wood and an old home are the first I notice.
• A family keepsake and strong heritage.
• A family tree in the hall hung with pride.
• Beautiful memories and strong, close-knit loved ones.
• A beautiful bedspread, so soft and fluffed… Then I get in and the sheets feel so crisp and clean… Flowered and old feeling… so refreshing and calming. So nice for a nap. They smell like the outdoors with fresh flowers just picked. Sheets were hung on a line outdoors to dry, I’ll bet.
• Beautiful lamp — Very classic yet minimal.
• The pillows feel amazing & divine. Feathered.
• The walls wallpapered.
• The bathroom is even more beautiful. White porcelain sink with hot & cold water that comes out at the most extremes in temperatures on either end. Can’t keep the hot on too long. Love the mix of temperatures… refreshing to feel.
• The soap — so luxurious and feels and smells divine.
• The bathroom walls are covered in pretty floral old style wallpaper.
• Metal baskets & decor.
• A perfect lotion and soap of the bar type that smells so refreshing in a basket on top of the metal toilet stand.
• Q-tips in a glass jar.
• A white framed mirror.
• Old style windows with white blinds.
• White cotton sheets… white, thick, comforting cotton towels.
• The meal in the morning was crafted and delicious, served on the very best china.

Memories from my overnight stay at Peaches Bed And Breakfast — http://peachesinn.com/

Time to smell the reality flowers and stop smelling the turds of imperfections… my people.

Photo by Nicole Honeywill on Unsplash

For many years now, when it came to starting a business of my own and creating action towards the entrepreneurial passion I’ve had since high school, I have sat in my own head creating endless loops of thinking and overthinking. Downing myself and putting away this passion as something that’s just not for me. Literally any excuse I can create for myself or hear from others, I’ve allowed it to dictate my movement forward. I’ve finally decided…. I can do this and be this and I don’t care what my former self told me as true or anyone else for that matter, and I need to get out of my own head and move forward.

For years, I have sat around and thought and thought and thought and thought and thought about business ideas and written endless business plans and gotten excited and then, sadly, torched my own beautiful fires.

Mostly, it’s been me entirely… my own insecurities not allowing myself to move forward with my own thoughts of myself. But, it has also been the people I’ve told my thoughts to over the years who have helped me to add to my list of endless excuses and crutches with moving forward.

There have been VERY FEW people in my life that have encouraged me and I mean really encouraged me to go after my entrepreneurial passions. They say, “Take the safe road, you’re not ready, you don’t understand the work involved, you’re an accountant — you aren’t going to be good at sales & marketing — why do you think you’d make it? just wait — you’re young, laughing at me for my creativity for my business ideas because apparently, they think this is just some funny shit to add to their entertainment and not something serious, that’s not good enough of a career for you, etc, etc, etc. Mostly, I haven’t thought I actually WAS listening to them and taking those things to heart, but I was indirectly as much as I wanted to think I wasn’t. I figured, hey great they want to say what they think and offer me little golden nuggets that I can choose or not choose to use in my life. (Yea, I still think that’s true…. but what the bad part is about it is coming…)

What listening to everyone with all these crutches concerning moving forward did to me was that it slowly crept into accepting those truths about myself and they gave me endless excuses for myself even in ways my own mind couldn’t….. it just added to all the misery that kept me away from passionately and positively pursuing my own gems in my life.

I’ve been stuck in my own head… examining those worries or allowing them to be truths for too long. So, recently I decided…. you know, nobody — including myself — can stop me. I don’t care if I fail at this or not — I’m doing it. And I don’t care about perfection anymore.

People, including myself if I let myself, can hold onto every imperfection they see or think, or even smell from afar as a turd even if it truly smells like a beautiful flower in reality. Time to smell the reality flowers and stop smelling the turds of imperfections… my people. Go forth and get out of that head and everyone else's head too!… GO FORTH!

(Yeppp… Got into my real crazy, nutty writer’s head here on that last paragraph! LOL!!)

Sitting Beside the River in Grand Rapids

Grand Rapids, Michigan

Fishermen are the first I see.

Then a runner, then more…

A homeless man walks with his cans hoping for a little more.

He sits dead center the bridge…praying.

The river, so calming.

The birds… they’re flying.

Two dogs walking… all magnificent as they seem.

A man in transit, with his lunch in a tote carried beside him.

Canoes floating… on a river so calming.

The bridges, they’re beautiful…

And this peaceful rest…

Wonderful.

We are great. I’ll say that again… WE ARE GREAT. ❤

Photo by Miguel Bruna on Unsplash

Oftentimes, we don’t give ourselves enough credit for the very person we are that makes us amazing. We’re more than the amazing parts though… our good, our bad, our beautiful, our ugly, our worst and best habits and self…it’s all us. And well, that’s all fine! Every part of us. Stop the comparing. Stop the trash-talking about ourselves. Stop thinking we are no good and putting ourselves deeper and deeper into a pit of awfulness that leads nowhere. We only hurt ourselves. We are great and beautiful in every way we are and aren’t.

Instead of comparing, look at all those things you love about someone and be so happy and thankful for them for all their grandness. Love them to death. And the parts you don’t like about yourself or others… Have patience, stop being so harsh, and find relief and joy in the fact that we don’t and will NOT have everything perfect in life. This is life. We all have things to work on.

Be grateful and thankful for all you’ve done and became given the circumstances you were dealt in life. Nobody’s history is the same. We’ve had to do and become things through our lives, not just all because we wanted to, but because sometimes we had to. And those traits and skills we’ve developed and/or some of the downfalls we have collected in ourselves over the years are the remnants of history and battle wounds of our lives. Stop putting yourself down for things that were out of your control.

We are great. Don’t compare. Don’t trash talk anyone including yourself. Love yourself and love others to death too.