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 |   A blog to house my musings, curiosities, and fascinations. |
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When it came time for me to start blogging again, I found myself paralyzed. I was trapped by the belief that my blog had to be unique, that it had to have a defined theme, and that it had to be appealing to everyone. After some time scouring Google for advice, I realized that if all I did was worry and plan, I would spend forever worrying and planning and never get to writing. From that realization, I've decided to display my blog writing guidelines here for everyone to see, but especially for me to see when I come here to write. ~1~ Blog about what is appealing to YOU. Don't worry about anyone else. ~2~ Allow yourself to WRITE! Don't restrain yourself to one voice, one writing style, one genre, or one topic area. ~3~ Throw out the fear of maintaining a consistent theme. Blog about your passions, interests, fancies, inspirations, opinions, musings, curiosities, ramblings, and loves. ~4~ Explore, experiment, and have fun! So, this is my solution. A blog about anything and everything that sparks my interest.  The title is inspired by the quote at the bottom of this introduction. Everything you love, even for a short time, becomes part of you. Our experiences and perception of the world is colored by those things we love and have loved, whether those things are  or not. This blog will be a place to house those passions and curiosities. Please enjoy! "It came to me that every time I lose a dog they take a piece of my heart with them, and every new dog who comes into my life gifts me with a piece of their heart. If I live long enough, all the components of my heart will be dog, and I will become as generous and loving as they are." -Anonymous ![Merit Badge in Aloha
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Only the most selfless, dedicated person would come up with an idea like an Aloha MB. But then, from all those things you do on WDC and we know you're doing out in the world, it's what we should have known you'd do. You've always been working to make things better and help people, animals, and places. Maybe the badge should have your picture so everyone knows a real example of Aloha.](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-Aloha-2171989_14.gif) Cover image by Jessica Woulfe
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Howdy! April man … it was a month. Spring weather was popping – snowstorms, rain storms, tanning in the hammock, all of it. GOT came back and I’m thrilled to say the least. I managed to write a mini poem every day in April, which I’m pretty pleased about. Not what I would consider NaPoWriMo quality, but I put a poetic observation on paper every day, which isn’t something I thought I’d be able to do. Of course, not every piece is print-worthy, but I expect to find at least a few gems when I go back through. That collection is right here:
Other successes include 22 reviews, 2 new poems, 1 short story (haven’t written a short story in a looong time), and 2 Quill wins for short free verse and long free verse  That was a mega surprise  I also read five books and wrote reviews for them, and kept up with my "WdC SuperPower Reviewers Group"  guardian duties and my sleep tracking over at the "Habit Heroes " . May is another official month at the "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" so I’ll be posting the first prompt for that tonight.I guess the big writing project looking ahead is for the "Musicology Anthology" contest. I’ve committed to writing 14 short stories over the next three months, and I’ll be storing them all in the book linked below. I haven’t been very good at my storytelling in short formats in the past, so I’m glad for this opportunity to stretch my writing muscles and get in more consistent practice 
Other April writings:
As for goals, there are a few important changes from previous months. I’ll still be reviewing, but other things are being cut, like Wodehouse (which is on hiatus), MHWA Challenges (which are on hiatus for May), and several contests because I’ve frankly not been too good about entering and I want to focus on the big project anyway. Review: 15 for "Anniversary Reviews" : 15 for "Newbie Welcome Wagon" :12 for "SuperTower Review Room MB Rewards" :At least 5 for "Invalid Item" as part of May ChallengeRead: For "CLOSED!The Monthly Reading Challenge" , "Invalid Item" and "Angel Product Reviews"  “The Feather Thief” by Kirk Wallace Johnson Product Review: "The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century" "Brief Answers to the Big Questions" by Stephen Hawking Product Review: "Brief Answers to the Big Questions" "The Other End of the Leash" by Patricia McConnell Product Review: "The Other End of the Leash: Why We Do What We Do Around Dogs" Enter Contests: "The Contest Challenge" "SugarCube's Monthly Random Contest!!" Five short stories for "The Golden Age" Continue Regular Commitments: Normal review crediting for "WdC SuperPower Reviewers Group" Sleep and update "Habit Heroes " every morning "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" prompting, admin, and judgingSee ya later! -Emily |
If your personality was an element type (earth, fire, water, air), which would it be and why? Would your elemental type change depending on the day or would you fit fairly neatly into one category? Has your element type changed throughout your life? From the "Invalid Item" Just for fun, here are the word associations I make when thinking about the four elements and how they relate to someone’s personality: Earth – solid, dependable, steadfast, loyal Fire – passionate, eager, volatile, witty Water – fluid, respectful, easygoing, gentle Air – ephemeral, free, joyful, simple My own personality and the way I live my life always falls somewhere in the Earth/Water realm. Maybe you could say my personality element is mud.  My roots begin in Hawaii, and I do believe I was shaped by the easygoing lifestyle there, reflected in both the Earth and Water personalities. I like the feeling of being carefree and accepting of the twists and turns of my path through life. I value respect and honesty and consistency. I dislike change and can most often keep a level head in all situations. I am loyal to those I love and trust. I like to have firm ground to stand on and need to be prepared before doing something new. The disconnect for me between water and earth is that one is so mobile and one is so fixed. I think I see myself more fixed than mobile, but I work to embrace the fluidity of water as well, though it requires more conscious effort.A perfect example of this is in my work. I plan and coordinate workshops and other events where there are many moving parts and things need to go according to plan. I am in charge of making sure that happens. My earth side needs to feel in control, which often leads to stress and worry about whether something will go wrong. My water side reminds me to roll with the punches and trust my ability to navigate the challenges as they arise. Water reminds me that it is worthless to stress about things out of my control and reminds me to keep a healthy balance between structure and flexibility. Anyway, main takeaway: My personality is muddy. -Emily |
How does your diet affect your mental health? Do things like caffeine, fried foods, or high sugar snacks impact your mental health at all? What do you think the connection is between physical and mental health? From the "Invalid Item" I was thinking about this last night as a matter of fact. The thought came up because I’ve recently been feeling very lethargic and unmotivated. Even things I used to find fun are boring now and my work has been a struggle every day. My to-do list is getting longer and longer and I’m having a difficult time focusing on anything long enough to get it done. I used to never be this way. I used to have an even level of motivation throughout the day and be able to work on something, even something boring, for a long period of time. I was highly motivated to work on undesirable tasks, if only to get them out of the way. I was always one to do the things I dreaded the most first so that I didn’t have to stress about them any more once they were off my plate. That was a really satisfactory way to live and it was helpful to my mentality because I was able to preserve the regular mental breaks I needed so I wouldn’t get burned out. Now though, something has changed. I’ve been dwelling on hard tasks, but not working on them at all. It’s more than procrastination. I know I need to work on them, but I just don’t. And I think last night, I had an epiphany about why. Caffeine. I never used to drink coffee or any other type of energy drink. I drank water, and that was it. For some reason, I really couldn’t tell you why, I started drinking the leftover coffee in the pot that my bf makes in the morning. I think it has had a negative effect on my productivity. I’m jittery when I drink too much, and so lethargic as soon as 1pm rolls around that all I can think about it going home from work early. I long for days I have the privilege of working from home, but when those days come, I hardly work at all and convince myself I’ll make up the time later. I sleep way more than I used to and have a wretched time getting up in the morning. I used to consider myself a morning person able to be fresh and ready in the morning without needing much time to wake up. Now, I go to sleep early, wake up late, and still feel tired. With coffee, I can get a solid 4 hours of productive work in before I start to crash, and then I don’t want to drink more coffee since I know it will affect my sleep and make me more tired. This is all bringing up another thought in my mind about impulse control related to food. When there is food available that I want to eat, especially when the fear exists that if I don’t eat it right then, someone else will eat it, I will eat it even if I’m not hungry. When there is a piece of pizza left in the fridge in the morning, I will eat it for breakfast even when I don’t want to because I worry it will be gone by the time I do want to eat it. I believe this is what happened in my mind when I saw the leftover coffee in the pot. My bf used to make his coffee in the Keurig (only making as much as he needed), but with the pot, there was enough left over for me, and so I drank it! For no other reason than that I didn’t want it to be wasted and I didn’t want someone else to have it. It makes no sense why I feel this way about food. I always had food security as a child. The only potential reasoning I can see for my behavior is that I grew up with a younger sister who stole my food and a constantly dieting mom. As for other bad-for-you foods like fatty foods or fried foods, they do affect my mental health in that they make me feel bloated and upset with myself for eating them. Physically, they make my body feel heavy, which negatively affects my self-esteem. I know that when I feel good about my body, my mental self-image is more positive as well, so in that way, I do believe physical health and mental health are related. After writing this post, I’m going to try to focus more intentionally on my food intake again. I lost 30 pounds at the end of last year, but now my weight has plateaued and I’m feeling frustrated again. Maybe cutting the caffeine out will put me back on track. -Emily |
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