Following Other People's Blogs

I am one of those that enjoys reading a variety of different blogs. In my blog list I have some craft sites, IT sites, general thinking sites and even some writing sites. It is a lot of fun to see how often people post on the various blogs. Some individuals post on an almost daily basis and others seem to post whenever.

For me, what is interesting is those that start a blog and on their first post they state how often they are going to post. I think the best thing is before you can state how often you are going to post is actually get into a routine of posting first. Once your routine is established, then you might think about posting something about when people can expect posts. For me, I know that I have set a goal of posting around 4 times a month, but sometimes all my posts are near the end of the month and other times the posts are spaced out. It all depends on what time I have for writing the posts and when ideas for the posts come to me.

For me, reading other individuals blogs helps inspire me to write my own blog more often, and it is also a great way to see different writing styles. Some blogs always have pictures attached, and other blogs never have a picture attached. I know that this blog doesn't normally have pictures, but when I find that the blog is enhanced by a picture, I will include one.

A blog is a great communication device, and for me, it is also a means of keeping track of my thoughts and making them easily accessible to even me. I know I have looked up something I have written on a blog, and it has helped me explain something to someone else. My blogs are my way of expressing my thoughts to others.

Off to read a couple more blogs today.

What is Really Important

What is important to one person can be unimportant to someone else. Respecting others is what is necessary, and you need to know what is important to them. It could be as simple as knowing not to call after 9pm. Even the little things can have a high value to someone.

For me, what is important is having the opportunity to write when I have the thoughts flying around in my head. To someone else that doesn't think writing is important, won't understand the importance to me.

Understanding those around you and what is important to them can make a big difference. To some people, having tons of friends is important, while others just having a few close friends is important. Knowing and respecting what is important to those around you can make a big difference.

What is really important to me is knowing what is also important to those close to me.

Taking Time For Yourself

It is very important to remember that most people need to take time for themselves. Sometimes this time can be easily achieved, while other times it may need to be schedule. When I say scheduled, I mean booked so that something else cannot take that time away from you.

I have booked sometime in my calendar occasionally to ensure I have time for me. It can be a challenge sometimes to take some time to recharge the personal battery. In some cases, the taking time can be a half an hour here and there, while other times it can be a few hours or even a few days.

For me, taking time for myself has meant taking a bit of sleep time away so that I could have some quite time to myself. I can find that I want to write late at night, and I need to do it then sometimes. If I don't get the thoughts written down, I don't sleep, so I might as well get up and get the thoughts onto paper.

Taking time for yourself, is very important to ensure you are there to help others and even do your own job. Remember, when time starts to go crazy, book a little “me time” for yourself.

One Step At A Time

Almost everyone has a goal that they want to achieve. It could be something small or something that could take years to achieve. Having a goal is great, and knowing how to achieve it is also important. Realizing that there are a number of steps to take to achieve a goal can really help.

In some cases, documenting the various steps can help in achieving the overall goal. Also, if you end up not achieving the overall goal, you can at least see how far you go and even figure out why you didn't achieve the overall goal. For some individuals, they don't write down the steps and just plow ahead and get frustrated when they don't achieve a goal because of a major obstacle. At least by writing down the various steps you might discover the major obstacle before putting a lot of time, energy and maybe even money into something.

For small goals, it isn't always necessary to write down all the steps because there aren't lots of steps. At least clearly thinking the goal through can help.

I have goals that I want to achieve, and some are small while others are larger goals. There are times when I can't achieve a larger goal, but at least having the steps documented, I can see how far I actually got. In some cases, it has taken years to get back to working on a goal and in some cases the steps have changed.

For me, achieving a goal is done one step at a time.

Balancing Work, Personal/Family and School Life

Before anyone can say anything, I admit that I do enjoy taking courses. I finished college and my parents jokingly said I was going to be a professional student, and I can say yes, I am. There is something about the actual learning that I really enjoy. Yes, I get stressed and sometimes frustrated, but I normally enjoy the learning.

So balancing all the different parts of my life can get a little difficult. Running a small business with my husband does mean a schedule that does fluctuate with demands from clients. This means that standard work hours aren't always there. So the balancing of even personal and work sometimes can be a challenge and now add on assignments, exams, and weekly reading for school, and it can be very difficult.

I am one of those individuals that gets frustrated when I feel like I don't have control of my life. I am known to have long to-do-lists, and that is because I break things down on the list, so I can see progress. My to-do-list is sometimes the only way I can manage everything that is going on in my life, and I do put even the smallest things on it sometimes to ensure that I don't miss them.

As I am writing this blog, I am balancing two courses, lots of work and personal and family demands that I need to deal with over the next little while. Knowing that I have done this in the past does help, but there are still days when I want to just give up and hide and not deal with any of the items that I have on my to-do-list.

Balancing work, personal/family and school life can be a challenge, but it can also be very rewarding. Knowing that I can do everything that I need to do and still have some time to relax occasionally does really help. So, before I realize that there is something else that I should be working on today, I am going to do and relax for a bit.

Appointments

Why is it so difficult to know when to call and make an appointment with a doctor. I understand that with specialists that appointments are normally made months ahead. I am talking about making appointments with family physicians.

My father called his doctor two weeks ahead of when he wanted, only to be told, “that's too early to call to make an appointment.” To me if he called then it shouldn't be a problem. He was able to make an appointment but was told “next time just call a week ahead.”

For me, I normally have to call at least a week, if not more, prior to when I want an appointment with my doctor. It is very difficult to make an appointment for the same day. How do you know when you are going to get sick and need to see a doctor.

My husband is the luckiest because if he calls for an appointment, he normally can get an appointment either the same day or the next. He is the luckiest because he has the most flexibility when making an appointment.

I am not saying that you should always be able to get same day appointments for non-urgent appoints. What I am trying to say is, it would be nice if there was a standard for when calling to make normal appointments with family physicians. There should always be a few available if someone needs same day appointments, but it is the follow-up or planned visits I am talking about.

For people that work, it is sometimes important for them to make appointments a couple of weeks in advance, so meetings aren't scheduled and prevent them from getting to see their family physicians. For other people, even just a couple of days in advance is good enough. I think if people have a wider time frame for booking appointments, it would be the best of all worlds.

So, if I want to make my appointment two weeks in advance, please let me also know that there are people that will call within the last couple of days wanting appointments.

Knowing who you are

Lately, I have spent a bit of time thinking about what makes me happy and what doesn't.  It can be very difficult to face some of the things that you have hidden in the back of your mind for way too long, but it does help.

Being able to accept that things aren't always going to work the way you want is important when you want to make yourself happy.  Knowing that you are going to hit some bumps in the road is another thing to accept.  The outcome can be that you are able to face the things that have bothered you in the past and put them back in the past instead of dealing with them continually.

For so many years, I have been a person that put everyone else before me and never did things that I wanted.  Lately I have started to do things for myself and does it ever feel good.  Having the strength to say that I am important has been something I hadn't done in the past.  Now I am saying I am important, and I need to focus some time on things for myself instead of always for someone else.

Knowing what makes you happy can really make a difference on how you deal with things.  I continue to run into situations that get me frustrated and down, but I know I am who I am.  The situations may set me back a little bit, but at least the setback isn't nearly as far back as it was in the past.  I continue to think of the goals that I have and want to achieve in the future, and now I can say the future isn't so far ahead anymore.

New projects are now on the horizon for me, and I think I am finally able to say I am ready to accept these new projects.