Monday Minute: An Oasis

Every Mother’s Day, my family and I go to a nearby plant nursery to pick out some plants for my mother and for our garden. It’s become a tradition of sorts and because we went to visit relatives out of town on Mother’s Day, we put this tradition on delay for today.

It was great to walk around the nursery, and take in all the sights and sounds around me. It was really very calming and it prompted me to write this poem on it:

Monday Minute: A Walk in the Rain

Normally, I don’t enjoy being out in the rain. I associate rain with coolness, dampness and lightning. To me, it means danger: threat of getting a cold or chill, threat of getting uncomfortably wet or threat of getting struck by lightning. But today, I went for a walk while it was spitting and found myself enjoying it.

3 Quotes, 3 Days Challenge: Day 3, Adventures

After a busy weekend of volunteering at a conference, I’ve finally gotten to my 3rd day of this challenge 🙂 This quote is about reading and how it transports us to wonderful worlds. In a lot of ways, reading is a lot like travelling: you’re exposed to a new and unfamiliar world, finding out along the way (as you get lost a couple times) that you really enjoy it. After a while, the unfamiliar becomes familiar…

3 Days, 3 Quotes Challenge: Day 2, Failure

Quotes about success have been catching my attention lately. I think it’s due to the place I’m at in my life right now. I’m in my mid-twenties and still in the early stages of my career. In the same token, I feel like I’m also starting to take my writing more seriously.

But amidst all successes and triumphs is failure. Failure is often seen as something bad and something to be avoided but some people have a different viewpoint on it. In my experience, failure is part of the recipe for success. It prepares you for the future.

3 Quotes, 3 Days Challenge: Day 1, Daily Routine

I was chosen to take the 3 Quotes, 3 Days Challenge by At Milliways with a Pen. Thanks again, JRose88. 🙂 Check out this blog: it features a great blend of posts about gratitude, musings, writing updates and quotes. These are usually writing or reading related but also cover other interesting topics.

For this challenge, you have to write a post with a quote for 3 days and nominate 3 bloggers every day.

Here are the 3 bloggers I nominate for the 3 Quotes, 3 Days Challenge:

• enchantedface: This is a great blog with a feature called “Quotable Sundays.” The posts are inspiring and there’s always a great selection of quotes. I also love the honesty and openness in the posts; it feels like a friend is talking to you through them. After reading the blog posts, I always feel better too. Be sure to check out this blog and its encouraging content!
• My Pink Champagne Life: Meredith wears many impressive hats: she is a mother of four kids, a wife, an Executive Director of the Wegener Foundation, co-owner of Mad Cow Enterprises and author of My Pink Champagne Life. Her blog features posts about daily life that are fun, interesting and light-hearted. Check out her blog and the links to her book!
• Cafe Book Bean: This awesome blog covers the topics of books and coffee (two favourite topics of mine as well). Posts cover anything from different types of coffees to book tags to book discussions such as Book Bean Symposium. Check out this one as well!

Now that I’ve finally found the time to do this, I’ve selected this quote for today:

“You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” -John C. Maxwell

As someone who is interested in self-improvement, I’ve heard this repeated by people time and time again. Like others, I’ve made New Year’s resolutions in the past and written down goals I want to achieve. However, I didn’t really get anywhere by making really broad, general goals without numbers or timelines. I never gave myself a deadline to reach or a specific measure to keep myself on track. I always went about it willy-nilly.

I’ve since learned that it’s not the goals or milestones we reach (although those are important and certainly cause for celebration), it’s about the daily routines and habits that we establish. The habits that will lay the foundation for success later down the road.

The past year has been a lesson in this. When I made a habit of writing at least 500-1,000 words daily, I won NaNoWriMo. When I set aside some time for reading, either before bed or in the morning, I not only met my 2015 Goodreads Reading Challenge but I exceeded it, reading 18 books in total compared to the 15 I had set out to read. When I made a daily schedule for my job hunt, I was more organized in how I spent my day and felt more confident in my job search. I also set a target number of jobs I would apply for in a week. Since then, I’ve achieved some progress in my job search.

As I’ve said though, it’s not the milestones that are as important as the habits you form. Winning NaNoWriMo was great but even more important was the habit of writing I’ve formed for myself. The true success of creating a writing habit lies in the fact that I’m dedicating time to my craft and enjoying it. The same is true with a reading challenge: it’s fun to challenge and push yourself but in the end…the true reward lies in what you gain from these rewarding activities. Reading makes me feel calm, inspired and more enriched.

And by forming a routine for my job search, I’ve honed my organizational skills and my creative thinking abilities. I feel more in control of my situation and I’ve learned to think outside of the box in using different job search strategies.

I don’t think it’s unusual that some of the most successful people have formed daily habits and routines. I’ve read articles about how successful people are normally early risers and get ahead of their day before it really starts. My daily routine is something I still have to work on and although I don’t write and read everyday or always reach my targets, I still have those habits to fall back on. John C. Maxwell has it right when he says that “the secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” I believe our daily routine says a lot about us.

Monday Minute Writing Prompt: That One Picture

Is there a framed picture that you love? Is it a photograph, a painting or a sketching? What is it about the picture that speaks to you? 

Reality TV Shows: Why I Hate to Love Them

In response to The Daily Post’s Hate to Love prompt.

One of my guilty pleasures is reality TV.

I know, I know. It’s trash TV that does nothing to enrich you as a person…but it’s one of those things I hate to love. The heart is a fickle thing. You can’t help what and who you’re drawn to… but you follow it anyway.

Wednesday Words: The First Day of Autumn

When I looked on my calendar today, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that today is the first day of autumn. Some people hate the fact that summer is over and it’s almost October but I look forward to it. Fall is my favourite season, with spring coming in close second. There are many reasons why I love fall so much. 

Youth is Only a State of Mind

This is my musing on The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Forever Young.”

If there were a real Fountain of Youth I wouldn’t take a drink of the water.

I’d be tempted to…but I wouldn’t.

Trevi Fountain: Toss a Coin, Wait for the Odds

I’m not sure if I’ve ever thrown a coin in a fountain. I’m more prone to making silly wishes on wish chips and birthday candles. I did, however make a more serious wish to see Trevi Fountain. That wish almost came true.