Feel Good

In last night's daily 5, I mentioned that I'd marked an item off of my to do list that had been sitting there for literally months.

Ages ago I came across this fabulous "Feel Good" list from UpUp Creative.  I loved everything about it, and especially the story behind how it helped the creator overcome postpartum depression.  I was broke at the time I first spotted it, and life wasn't quite as challenging as it has been for most of the last year, so I didn't place an immediate order.

Months ago I decided that I wanted to either make my own version of this list, or order one, and it sat on my mental to do list through all of the hard stuff that life has thrown at me for the past year.

Finally, when it became clear that my one little word for 2011 would be heal, I decided I needed a fun way to keep track of whether or not I was taking time to care for myself and make self-care a priority, and the feel good list came to mind.

A couple days ago I got in touch with the creator of the list to place an order, yesterday I filled out the form, and later last night my custom list was returned to me.  I'm not going to share the items here - I used some of my own, and some of the creator's and I can't wait to press the list into use starting Sunday.  For me this is a way to mark moments of healing and taking time to care for myself.  To chronicle my weeks through the remainder of this year and beyond.  Hooray for self-care and healing!

Productivity

By 8:00 this morning I'd completed 19 practice quizzes and exercises for my Greek medical terminology class.  Oh, and the quiz.  By 8:00.  How's that for productivity?

Actually, I'd planned to use my bus commute to school today to review the multiplicity of flash cards I've made over the last three weeks, and then do the practice quizzes and exercises after class, before writing the quiz.

But, turns out that I woke up an hour and a half earlier than I'd planned.  And, it is Friday, so I didn't really want to hang around school any longer than necessary.  I got up and started tackling the practice exercises, telling myself that if they didn't go well, I'd wait, review on the bus as planned, and then do a few more practice exercises after class, before writing the quiz.  (It's an online class, so I just had to write the quiz sometime between 6 am and 10 pm.)

Turns out the practice exercises went far better than expected.  So, I took a deep breath, put my flashcards and textbook away, and tackled the quiz.

With a very satisfactory A- result, I might add.

Not bad for someone who isn't a morning person!

This means that my bus ride is mine to enjoy.  There will be pleasure reading happening today!

It also means that after a couple of weeks of spending time daily with greek flashcards, I'm taking the weekend off from Greek!  Hooray!

Daily 5 - Year 2, Day 164

Today's Daily 5:

1. sleeping in a bit this morning
2. mostly peaceful dreams
3. starting my day with a shower - this is a rarity because of my weird living situation, I usually have to get up and dressed and leave grandma's house and go to mom and dad's before I can take a shower.  so, mornings like this, when I've spent the previous night at mom and dad's and I can start the morning with a shower are a rare treat.
4. friends who understand the crazy challenges life is throwing at me right now
5. marking an item off my to do list that had been there for months
6. studying in a bubble bath
7. a fairly productive day
8. "winning" a bet over something completely random with a friend - totally made me laugh
9. finding reasons to laugh (that's been harder again lately, so I'm glad when it happens)
10. chocolate

I am...

• sitting in the basement at mom and dad's house at the desk where I spent most of the summer, pretending to be productive
• freezing cold - it's worse down here in the winter than the summer, and I was cold most of the time then
• wearing a t-shirt and two hoodies (with both hoods up) to keep warm.  A regular hoodie, and a borrowed "sherpa hoodie" (which is basically a hoodie with a thick, furry, warm lining).
• having both a productive and completely procrastination laden morning
• needing to buckle down and study for a medical terminology quiz tomorrow morning
• cleaning up the bedroom I stay in at mom and dad's because someone else is coming to stay in it tonight
• looking forward to house church tonight, and a discussion of another chapter of the book we've been studying together
• also looking forward (I think, since I haven't confirmed this) to watching new episodes of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice tomorrow, online
• slightly unwilling to admit that a friend has gotten me a little bit hooked on watching the Bachelor for the sole purpose of being entirely snarky about it
• excited to see my dad tomorrow (he gets back from West Africa tonight, after being away for several weeks)
• thankful that we have been having a bit warmer weather lately
• writing this blog post to empty my brain and hopefully spur an attack on the list of things I'm procrastinating about
• faithfully using the lamp I was given that mimics sunlight and treats Seasonal Affective Disorder.  I think it's helping with the usual winter blues.
• off to do some cleaning, some studying, some reading and a whole variety of the other things on my list!

Find Your Voice

How could I not share this great find, especially since earlier in the week I wrote this post about my one word for 2011 (heal) and about finding my own voice as a part of that process of healing.

Found here, on this fabulous blog that you should all subscribe to.  Such a fun concept - messages on post it notes, left in random public places.