So it's been over a month since I've updated our blog! What's been going on?
- I started a new side business called ProofreadAnywhere -- a project that'd been swimming around in my head for years! It's a training program where I teach people how to proofread transcripts just like me. It has become a huge undertaking for me and consequently...
- Spanish has been on the back burner... kinda. I've gone from 3-4 hours of intense study to 1-2 hours a day... if that. Some days I don't do any Spanish. But, I am finding that what I'm learning seems to be sticking better with the slower progress, so maybe it's true what they say: Slow and Steady Wins the Race!
- We've postponed our "leave date" to July. Ben's "graduation" event hasn't even been scheduled yet, but they want to do it in late June, most likely. I've had a lot of mixed feelings about it. Firstly, Ben finishes his program in, like, February. Why they are waiting until LATE JUNE for this event is beyond-freaking-me. When I get something in my head that I want to do, I want to go DO it, y'know?! And this event is the ONLY thing we're hangin' around for. Ben will be done with the program in February and then... what. We sit and twiddle our thumbs until his event and then we go?
WRONG!
Life is an adventure. Every day is an adventure, and the adventure, if you're not living it already, starts now. No need to wait until LATE FREAKING JUNE to start your adventure. While I had my mixed negative feelings about Ben's event being so late in the year as opposed to, um, right around his program end-date (honestly, it's the wishy-washiness of it all that has annoyed me the most, but I won't get into it!!) I failed to realize the many positives of the situation:
- More time to learn Spanish... especially since it's kinda been on the back burner as of late.
- More time to plan and make sure we have ALL our ducks in a row.
- More time to snag good deals on clothes for a less-than-sweltering climate
- More time with family and friends here
- More time to teach my fitness classes (currently earning me $700-$1000 per month, that I will lose when we hit the road)
See the pattern here? MORE TIME! Of course, we don't know how much time we have, but in this equation I'm making some assumptions :-)
We'll also have more time to take adventures here at home -- just yesterday Ben and I ventured into Little Vietnam here in Orlando and had the MOST DELICIOUS tofu banh mi sandwiches from this teeny-tiny, almost-couldn't-find-it shop ... for $3.50! They were so good, I considered never leaving Orlando...ever. And then we snagged a $5 matinee of the new film Interstellar. And we're planning a day trip right here in town as soon as we both have a weekday off. We'd like to get on the new light rail here in town and and ride it to Winter Park, and spend the whole day going to museums and hanging out. Maybe do a picnic!
Adventures don't have to be a date on the calendar. Every day can be a little adventurous. Even if it's something as simple as trying a new restaurant, or speaking Spanish to a stranger. If you're used to the hustle and bustle of the daily grind, perhaps your adventure is found in solitude, and a day at home in your PJ's is in order. Have FUN, set aside some time for yourself every day and relax, soak it all in. Do you realize 2015 is just around the corner? Time is flying by faster than the above-mentioned light rail, seriously.
I'm making a "now, here" resolution (not a "new year" resolution). It's to just stop worrying about things that really do not matter. That I have cellulite on my size-4 frame DOES NOT MATTER. If I don't get my five veggies in one day, it doesn't matter. How much money I make does not matter. That's a big one. Do I have enough money? Yes. Done. That's all I need to know. We've been taught to wait, wait, wait, and save, save, save for the future, save for the future and as I mentioned at length in this post this can be a big mistake, 'cause we aren't guaranteed ANY of it.
We've been taught we can have it all, but aren't taught that when you have it all, it can really weigh you down.
Ben and I discussed this recently. We can gather "stuff" and have this house and our cars and tons of cash everywhere (LOL, right) but it's all weight holding us back from going, and doing. In one way or another, it limits us. We think having all this stuff will make us better, but it doesn't. Either we spend our money on stuff so we have no money to go anywhere, or we have so much money and stuff we are buried under it and can't go anywhere. Or, a third possibility, we work so hard to earn all this money to buy all this stuff, and we're so busy we don't realize we're losing time.
TIME!!! Ah, TIME! My now, here resolution is to REVEL in it. I want to bathe in time: the seconds, the minutes, the hours, the days, the weeks, the years, the decades... I want to soak in it, not miss a second of it, because the bathtub of time is draining... the longer we wait to go out and do whatever it is we want to do, the lower and lower the waterline gets. And I don't know about you, but when I'm taking a bath and the waterline is too low, I get COLD. And before too long, it's time to get out of the tub. I'm wrinkly and cold, and all I want to do is get in my bed and do nothing. Don't let the bathtub of time drain on you! ENJOY it while it is still warm and full. Then, when it's time to get out of the tub, you'll be ready.
