Live Simply

verabear Ramblings and Brain farts 5 Comments

(click on the image to visit the source, and for more Simplicity quotes)

I have known about this mantra for so long, and I’ve also believed in its power. I’ve tried to live by it too. Sadly, it seems that I have all but forgotten it in the past few weeks.

I’ve spent so much money on material things lately, gifts to myself.  My mom asked yesterday, isn’t this supposed to be the season for buying for others? Yeah, she is so right.

Yesterday at the restaurant, two nuns were having lunch two tables down. Alfred asked, aren’t religious people supposed to live simply? Don’t judge, I said. They’re entitled to eat well too, and who knows, perhaps someone gave them gift checks or maybe it was a treat. And who would refuse a treat?

Don’t get me wrong. I won’t go all out and renounce material comforts just to share what I have with the less fortunate, or to live in complete mendicancy just so I can help feed and clothe others. But I sure need to humble myself and stay away from spending away all my hard earned money.

Besides, I’ve already got a lot of presents this Christmas. I got myself new shoes, work clothes, a guitar (for GH remember?), several second hand books lined up on the table at home, and now a new touch-screen/camera phone. I don’t need to buy myself new things.  I should instead focus on helping a few more causes, and maybe lessen the burden a bit on my parents.

You see, I still live with mom and dad, my brother and I both do. And our significant others are always here as well. My bro’s been consistent with helping out with the expenses at home, while I, on the otherhand, have been remiss. That is embarrassing, even more so because my parents rarely call me out for it.

And it just isn’t right that I spend so much on other things, but don’t carry my fair share of the burden at home. My parents are more than capable to still support us but that’s beside the point. At their age they should be spending more time off and weekends taking mini-vacations.

This whole living simply shit? Like most everything else, this should start at home. When you’ve learned it’s value, it becomes a way of life and living simply while enabling others to also live.

Web Activities

verabear Ramblings and Brain farts 6 Comments

I think I have too many. That’s why I spend a minimum of four hours online when I’m home after work. Minimum.

So why, you might ask, have I not been able to post each and every single day? Because I spend too much time going through my feed on Facebook, then tend to Cafe World too. I also go through my mailboxes. Then I click on Adgitize ads and drop EC cards as well. And frankly, sometimes these just feel like too much of a chore.

And I hate that.

I hate that I’ve let all these web activities overwhelm me. I started all of this because I truly enjoyed my time online. I liked reading blogs, and sharing my thoughts on whatever topic the person may be writing about. The idea of having my own venue for telling stories was my primary motivation for setting up my own blogs (share, for example, how I saw the words dip bar and thought of dips as in mayo or honey mustard, when actually it was an exercise contraption!). There are times when I’d be so excited to come home and blog about a really wonderful experience, and I catch myself at really cool places thinking – I have got to mention this on my blog. I read books and see movies and think – I want to write about how these made me feel. I love that.

Why then, do I have days when I just stare blankly at my screen and know not what to write about? There is absolutely no shortage of topics, that I am sure of. But I think it’s the pressure I put on myself to post everyday because I don’t want to miss out on Article points; it’s the pressure of not having enough time to articulate my thoughts because I spent too much time clicking through Adgitize and Entrecard ads.

It wasn’t isn’t supposed to be that way. This isn’t a job.

In many ways and in many different situations and across many aspects of life, we are all confronted by this realization that maybe, just maybe we’ve lost sight of the important stuff.

The good thing about all this? We can step back a little, and refocus.

Quickie

verabear Ramblings and Brain farts 7 Comments

I can’t stay long, I almost crashed on top of my keyboard. Very sleepy indeed.

But I couldn’t go without saying thank you to everyone who has supported my Got Heart Planner Giveaway so far and everyone who’s visited in the past couple of days.  I just don’t have the energy to reply to your comments and checkout your posts. I will though, perhaps tomorrow.

Thanks again and be back soon 🙂

OM-in-training

verabear Ramblings and Brain farts 10 Comments

I’ve had this coming for the past several weeks, and yet it’s only now dawning on me that this really is the next level.

For the longest time, I’ve hesitated applying for higher positions because I’m afraid of not meeting the expectations of those who might trust me enough to actually hire me. I’ve stayed put, thinking it was best to stay away from more responsibilities. When the post opened up though, I was like – this is it. Now or never. I realized that the only way to go up was to do so in the company of people who already knew the extent of what I could offer (and I’m telling you, there really isn’t much). I could never have picked a better group of people to help me as I transition into this new role. I know they will be very understanding of me, and that they will willingly provide me with all the help I’m gonna need to find my way around this new role.

Not sure if any of them read my blog, but I’m going to have to ask for their patience. I will probably have a lot of blunders in the next few weeks, or at the least I will have a lot of questions. I wish there was an online FAQ I could refer to so I wouldn’t have to bother them much but I doubt if there’s one that would address all of my 1001 questions.

Tonight when I report for work, I will be (my boss’) Boden’s OM-in-training.

So help me God.