Tag: life

F.I.R.S.T.

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Tell us about your first day at something — your first day of school, first day of work, first day living on your own, first day blogging, first day as a parent, whatever.

There is always a first time to do something. The problem is, often none of these are as simple as they seem. Starting a new job, having a baby or beginning blogging,  they all need a strategy.

To help us with this mission, I have made an acronym of FIRST.

F:  Fear

I: Inspiration

R: Resolve

S: Stategy

T: Test

All new things have a fear attached to them. Use this fear to develop inspiration as to why you want to overcome this fear. Then resolve to make a strategy to ensure your success and finally test it out.

Don’t let fear get the better of you. Make a plan to overcome it and make lots of firsts. They keep your life exciting.

Never

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/first/

Weekly Photo Challenge: New

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Possibility. Opportunity. Potential. As another year gets underway, let’s celebrate the new.

Today we had our serious day of winter weather. The first day of real snow in our 5 weeks in Canada. Whilst on the odd occasion it has snowed before never was it like this. When we left our motel this morning the streets were clear. By the time we returned home there was 15 cm of snow. It was awesome. Fine powdery snow that was fun to walk in, although I am sure I found muscles I didn’t know I had. I have never not seen the streets not cleared before, so it was difficult at times to tell where the footpath ended and the road started.

Winter Fun in Ottawa

I am hoping it continues to snow tomorrow as the prospect of freezing rain, another new experience actually doesn’t excitement me. But que sera sera, whatever will be will be. It’s all part of understanding what it is like to live in Canada, which is why we traveled from Australia in the first place.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/new/

Someone Else’s Skin

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If you could spend the next year as someone radically different from the current “you” — a member of a different species, someone from a different gender or generation, etc. — who would you choose to be?

The idea of living in someone else’s skin has never occurred to me before as I am quite happy in my own despite its flaws. However, given the opportunity I would live as someone I could learn from and gain new experiences to consolidate my want to be a full-time writer.

At present my book is non-fiction, based on my years of experience working with people with eating disorders. My future goal is to write fiction in the adventure romance genre. Janet Evanovich is my favourite author in this genre and I have all 21 of her Stephanie Plum series as well as her Plum series and Wicked series and several of her co-authored books.

Janet lives in New Jersey, outside New York, a city I would love to live and work in for a limited time. It has many things I have dreamt of experiencing as well as being a centre of excellence for writing.

Other reasons I choose to live in Janet’s skin are:

  • She spent many years learning the art of writing dialogue, which is one area I am only just beginning to learn.

 

  • She Is a New York Times Best Seller author something I aspire to be.

 

  • She started out as a mum with no expectations, grateful for what she achieved and her success grew from there.

 

Stephanie Plum

 

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/new-skin/

Tears of Joy

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We cry for lots of reasons: sadness, pain, fear . . . and happiness. When was the last time you shed tears of joy?

Psychologists now believe the purpose of tears of joy may be for the body to “restore emotional equilibrium”. This possibly explains why you can never stop tears coming, they are just there like an overflowing bath.

I am a sensitive person and I cry easily. Both tears of joy and sadness. I am more likely to cry tears of joy as I respond to other people’s statements, personal memories or connect with something. When people tell me happy things I get teary because I am happy for them. As I am a nurse and counselor, this is sometimes initially a surprise to the other person. The chances of me crying are doubled if the person I am listening to is describing how something I suggested to them worked out well. For this reason I have to watch the mascara I use or I live my life with panda eyes.

Photo Credit: Google Images

Photo Credit: Google Images

The last time I cried tears of joy was today, New Years eve in Canada. My husband showed me video of Sydney’s New Year’s eve fireworks. This took me back to my usual New Years eve in Sydney with family. We have a nice family dinner at home and when it is time for the fireworks, we go for a short walk to a position from which we can see some of the high fireworks from the Sydney harbour bridge live and several other fireworks displays going off all over Sydney. It is exciting. On our return home, we watch the television version to see the lower fireworks that we missed.

http://youtu.be/etij8MBThHY

Happy New Year everyone. I hope 2015 bring you all great joy.

http://youtu.be/etij8MBThHYhttps://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/happy-happy-joy-joy/

Weekly Photo Challenge: Warmth

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This week, let’s keep things nice and cozy.

We have traveled for thousands of kilometres from sunny Australia to have a Northern Hemisphere winter. Whilst we have been disappointed to not have snow we have kept warm in many ways. The most successful one being eating chocolate and drinking hot chocolate. The following photos are from our favourite – Newfoundland Chocolate Shop. The ceiling had   pretend melting chocolate dripping from it and a train track. It was awesome and there were free sample. Yum!

052 - New Foundland Chocolate Co

053 - New Founde Chocolate Lande

 

055 - New Founde Chocolate Lande

Chocolate definitely makes me feel good inside and out.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/warmth/

Two In The Bush

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Clichés become clichés for a reason. Tell us about the last time a bird in the hand was worth two in the bush for you.

Personally, this is not a phrase I use. However, it is a phrase I heard often growing-up. It is a cliché that means giving up something guaranteed for the possibility of something better in the future.

Sometimes, we all need to make decisions.  When making them,  if we are not careful, it is easy to over look the bird in our hand.  Sometimes, it is either something or someone we have known for a long time e.g. friends, jobs or houses that we leave behind as we go looking for something better. The secret here, I believe is to keep the bird in our hand until we find another one that suits us better. Many people decide to take the bigger risk and give up the bird in their hand, to go wholeheartedly after the new bird, without success.

For me, I like security. I take calculated risks however I won’t give up my bird in the hand until I have found the new ones and they are in my hand.  Being a nurse if I want or need to leave a job I have always been able to find another one even if it only casual. On the odd occasion years ago was  I have been caught by this as staff freezes have stopped me obtaining work when I want it.

Today, when making changes I consider all the risks and where possible will keep a bird in the hand .  Over the next few years, I hope my job description will change from nurse to full-time writer. I will however be staging these changes. I will balance my life by changing from nursing full-time to part-time nursing/part-time writer and finally completing the journey by becoming a full-time writer after I have caught my second bird.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/clich%C3%A9/

 

Changing Christmas

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The holiday season: can’t get enough of it, or can’t wait for it all to be over already? Has your attitude toward the end-of-year holidays changed over the years?

Christmas is a special time of year. For me, it usually involves a glass of champagne while opening presents with my family in Sydney. We all then travel to spend the rest of the day with our extended family. On occasions we are lucky enough to see all members of both sides of our family in the one day.

In Australia, Christmastime is usually hot. The question on everyone’s lips is will the bush fires stay away long enough for the volunteers to celebrate and enjoy a lunch with family and friends.

This year I get to learn about and love Christmas in a new way. All my life I have dreamt of  a white Christmas. So we have left sunny Sydney and are heading to hopefully snowy Quebec. Google tells us it is one of the few places in the world that has the best chance of snow on the ground as well as falling on Christmas day.

It will be very different for me only having my husband around on Christmas day. I will miss the rest of my family, but I am loving the build up to Christmas in Canada. Christmas traditions I am experiencing include:

  • The cold
  • The fires
  • Hot chocolate
  • Snow
  • Christmas parades
  • Ugly sweaters
  • Mulled wine
  • Hot toddies
  • Hat, gloves and coats
  • Snowmen
  • Snow shoveling
  • Snowflakes
  • Christmas markets
  • Christmas tree shopping
  • Christmas movie marathons daily
  • The smell of Christmas
  • Sugar cookies
  • Street Carolers
  • The weather report
  • Flights cancelled due to bad weather

I was surprised to see everything that I had seen on television happens in everyday life. And I love it. It’s great to see how the other half of the world lives during this special time.

148 - The Parade - Santa Arrives

St John’s Newfoundland’s Christmas Parade

 

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/getting-seasonal/

Purple

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I am often described as the lady in purple. I wear purple at every opportunity—it is my favourite colour.  Up until recently, my hair was also purple, matching my clothes. There are many shades of purple so I don’t get bored and have plenty of variety.

Apparently, I have a purple aura. Who knew? People who have a purple aura are known to be highly psychic, attuned to the emotions of others and very sensitive. They are also known to be healers and teachers. This describes me well. Empowering people to improve their mental health and be the best version of themselves is what I do. This blog complete with its purple trim is based on inspiring people.

I am both grateful and inspired by the colour purple. Every time I need extra support to get through tough times—I wear purple. I use it as a protective armour. It works for me and gives me confidence. Purple helps me be creative and my writing desk has many purple accessories.

The colour purple has a long history associated with royalty, spirituality and significant events. It is a mixture of red (warm) and blue (cool) colours, so it is balanced.

What colour inspires you? Is it you favourite colour or a specific you wear when you need a lift?

 

The Ocean Train

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images-packages-73-2

Last weekend we traveled from Moncton, New Brunswick to Montreal, Quebec by VIA’s The Ocean  Train.  It is Canada’s longest continuously running train and it’s full journey goes from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Montreal. The Ocean Train links Atlantic Canada to Central and Western Canada and has done so using the same name since July 3, 1904. It follows a route established by the Intercolonial Railway in the mid 1800’s.

Our journey took 18 hours so we choose  sleeper car. And we were pleased we did. No only did this give us a private space, bunk beds, a shower and toilet, it also gave us access to the viewing carriage. This is the last carriage of the train and is higher than the others with a glass ceiling. It was a relaxing way to watch the picturesque scenery speed by.

Traveling on this train during winter had other advantages. The sight of beautiful Christmas lights in the towns we traveled through. Unfortunately, because of the speed we were traveling, we were unable to take photos as the lights went streaky.  They were however, beautiful against the crisp, white snow.

I loved waking up during the night and looking out the window. I imagined what life was like for the people living in these  towns in remote Canada.

This was a great experience. I loved every minute of the 1 042 kilometre journey through the snow.

 

Kick The Bucket

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What are the top items on your anti-bucket list — those things you never, ever want to do, places you never want to visit, books you never want to read, etc.?

Being a positive person, I haven’t really considered things that I never want to do. However, with two minutes of indulgence, I was able to find several items for my list.

Activities

  • Base Jumping
  • Bungy Jumping
  • Driving a Racing Car
  • Flying A Plane

Books

  • Horror Books
  • Science Fiction Books
  • Science Manuals
  • The Hunger Games
  • War and Peace

Countries

  • Afghanistan
  • Pakistan
  • Siberia

Films/TV

  • Sports Channel
  • War movies
  • Westerns

Music

  • Heavy metal
  • Opera
  • Symphony

Sports

  • Boxing
  • Hunting
  • Softball

All of the above are things that I am not interested in, do not like or in some cases cannot see myself doing, such as flying a plane. The more I think about it, an anti bucket list isn’t a bad idea. It allows me to know what I do and don’t like. I think I might keep it as a work in progress adding to it regularly.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/kick-the-bucket/