Life is a marathon, not a sprint!

“If life’s a bitch isn’t it better to sprint through the crap than taking a leisurely walk?

I used to hear people say that all the time (Life is a marathon, not a sprint) and it used to get on my nerves. Why can’t life be a sprint? Now with a couple of hard-earned lessons from the school of hard-knocks under my belt, I am forced to realize there is some truth in that…

Growth is the law of life. You see it never stops. You reach a goal, that goal creates a new goal which creates new levels which creates new devils. Of course there is also satisfaction and joy somewhere in there however brief.

“Life is a marathon, not a sprint so get comfortable in the fight cause you don’t get to pause that hamster wheel just because you think you’ve made it. Some things take time. You don’t get to rush them. You can simply work your hardest and wait.”

Now this does not mean we shouldn’t try to solve our problems as fast as we can. Some of life puzzles can be solved rapidly if we work hard and smart, it simply means not all things can be solved as fast as we want it. Some things take time no matter how hard we work and how fast we want to go through them. Things like keeping healthy, building strong ties with family and friends, knowing self and finding something one is good at are ongoing challenges and do not stop just because we’ve reached a milestone or have been crowned 30 under 30 (Insert slightly bitter over 40 emoji here).

There’s no guarantee so take time to enjoy the scenery and smell the flowers along the way.

There is no guarantee. Just because you spend every waking moment building your dreams, relationships and health doesn’t mean they’ll last or that you’ll even get to enjoy them. Death happens to us all. Sickness happens to all of us. People change. Which is why it’s important to enjoy life while chasing that goal and make time for living.

I must say it took me a long time to get there as I sincerely thought I could speed up everything. But recent life events have forced me to reconsider.

What about you my dear readers? What do you think? Do you consider life to be a sprint or a marathon? There’s no right or wrong answer. Gros bisoux 🙂

When somebody you love does something truly disgusting.

“The face you make when you’re trying to act like it didn’t happen.”

Last week my niece called me at work in the middle of the afternoon. My heart skipped a bit and my mind automatically went into overdrive: Something terrible must have happened. Did something terrible happened? OMG! Something terrible did happen….(Yeah as you can see I have issues…🙄😂).

Me: “Are you all right?”

Niece: “Yes, of course!”

Me: “Then why are you calling me in the middle of the day at work?”

She never calls me mid-day weekdays. She either calls me early morning while walking her dog Yuki or late at night. Never in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday.”

Niece:” Don’t worry, nobody died! But guess what?”

Me: “What? Spit it out!”

Niece: “Yuki just ate a dead rat.”

Me: “Ewww! Yuki is badass! I am both disgusted and impressed.”

It’s like learning somebody you took for granted cheated. You’re both disgusted and secretly impressed.

Niece: “Don’t say that! I am horrified and traumatized. I’ll never look at her the same ever again”.

(Soft dramatic music playing…😂😌)

Me: “I understand. It’s like overhearing your preteen talk about sex. Something is lost that can never be recovered.”

Niece: “OMG! That’s exactly how I feel!”

Me: ” But where would she find a dead rat though?”

Niece: “We were walking on the beach when we saw the dead rat. Before I knew it she lunges forward, grabs it and run. I tried to stop her but she ran away from me. Can you believe it? The little rascal ran away from me!”

Me: “Makes sense….maybe she didn’t want to share.”

Niece: “Don’t joke with that! I am worried!”

Me: “Sorry. Did you call the vet?”

Niece:” Yeah, she said it’ll pass through her poop or vomit. Plus she has a checkup coming up soon so we’ll see…”

She sounded so disappointed at this point and I am trying hard not to laugh.

Niece: “Can’t believe she did that, I am truly horrified!”

Me: “Very disappointing. After all the money you spent teaching her to be human.”

Niece: “I know…..Well I got to go to work now. Talk to you later?”

Me: “Sure! Let me know how it goes and don’t worry, she’ll be fine!”

Apparently Yuki just got her first taste of crime. Just like most people she did not personally commit the crime, she simply benefited from it 😋. I’ll admit Yuki’s not the only one. After learning she was gonna be all right, I immediately hurried to ask for a pic of the rascal for my next blog🤫🙄.

The thing is we all have felt the same in some way when somebody we love and thought we knew displays an offending behavior revealing a side of themselves we either didn’t know existed or refuse to acknowledge. And in that moment we think we’ll never forgive and forget but we do. Love takes over. Not all the time but sometimes it does.

What about you dear reader? When was the last time somebody you love and trust did something truly disgusting. And it doesn’t have to be a pet! Let me know in the comments and Gros bisoux!

So what if it has already been done before?

“It’s about taking chances, growth and overcoming.“

Last Sunday I had an interesting conversation with dear husband on the subject of doing things that have already been done before. That day, I’d just had one of the most productive afternoon (during which I edited a blog post The challenges of being an introvert. ) and tackled other content related stuff. Naturally, I just couldn’t wait to get home and receive duly praise:

Me: “I had such a productive day today! It felt so good to finally tackle some stuff.”

Dear husband: “I am so proud of you, honey! You’ve got this! You just need to keep going.”

Naturally, with such an overwhelmingly positive reception I proceeded to overextend myself by making grand plans to take over the world in the next 48 hours🙄🤯.

Me: “Thank you honey! I am also planning on posting more often say like twice a week and maybe add some type of style content to the blog. We’ll see!”

DH: Complete silence. The sort of polite and respectful silence you’d give a dying patient making plans for the future. 

Me: “Hello?!! What do you think?”

DH: “You mean like a What I wore today kind of thing? Everybody’s doing that!”

Me: “Well, would you prefer I do a what I did not wear today instead?” I said frustrated.

DH: “Well, I am sorry for interrupting your world domination plans with a dose of reality but somebody’s got to be the voice of reason in all this!”

Me: “Right now, you’re sounding more like the voice of doom!”

DH: “All am saying is you have something good here so tick with it. Don’t chase too many things at once.”

Vexed and irritated, I retrieved into an honorable silence to lick my wounds. 

The man does have a point considering I’ve been known for getting overly excited and then quickly dropping into sudden desperation. BUT on the other hand…

There’s absolutely nothing new under the sun. Most everything have all been done before and done to death. Should that stop you and me from engaging in something we may possibly end up loving? Certainly not! Easier said than done, I know😅.

“Sometimes it’s difficult to be original from the get go and find the right angle from the outside, so we should get into the habit of getting involved in things that interest us and cultivate them with no expectation other than learning and having fun. Detachment from the outcome is key here.”

Last but not least, we must remember that it hasn’t been done until we’ve done it (Insert smug and overbearing emoji here). 

Fun fact: Sex is one thing that has been done and done to death yet this has never stopped anyone from indulging…🤫

What about you, dear readers? Have you gone through a similar thing? How did you handle it? Please share! Gros bisoux and talk soon!🐍😘

The challenges of being an introvert.

“Contrary to most people I don’t go out to meet people, I go out to be alone. My husband thinks it’s troubling. I think it’s a sign of great intelligence🙄.”

Me and dear husband we get along quite well but the longer we’ve been together, the more I realize how different we are on a lot of things. At first look I’d say I am an introvert and my husband is an extrovert. He likes being around people and I am more into pointed interactions (My husband says it’s a nice way of saying “I am antisocial”). Consequently finding a common ground can be quite challenging and makes for very interesting interactions…

Exhibit A: Me getting ready to go out on a Saturday morning.

Dear husband: “You’re going out to meet a friend? Cool!”

Me: “No, not really.”

DH: “Why not? Call a friend or something…”

Me:  “Why? I just want to be alone”.

DH: “Why go out then? Just lock yourself up in the basement and you’ll be all alone”.

Me: “No, I won’t. Because you’ll come knocking and bug me.”

DH: ” I am not sure how I should take this….”

Me: “Plus, unlike you I don’t need people to enjoy myself!”

DH: “Yeah..and that’s the scary part.”

Feeling like an alien, I then proceed to try and justify my behavior.

Me: “Well, I guess it’s a way of being social without having to interact with people…”

DH: “Not sure if you realize it but being social sort of implies having actual interactions with people.”

Exhibit B: Dear husband comes home all excited because he and some friends have planned some kind of couple outing.

Dear husband: “We’ve been invited!”

Me: “But why? Who did that?”

DH: “You’re saying it like somebody committed a crime or something?”

The last time we had that same discussion, he won so I remained silent.

DH: “Ok, you’re clearly not excited about the prospect. How about we invite them here?”

I don’t answer. I look as overwhelmed as a new mom who’s just given birth to quadruplets.

Me: “It’s gonna be worse! We’re gonna have to be nice and let them stay for however long they want…”

DH: “Well, you could try throwing them out…”

Me: “That would be one way of making sure they don’t come back….”

DH: “!!!??????” Clear signs of system failure showing on his face…🤯

I am not gonna lie, being an introvert comes with its own sets of blessings and challenges. I sometimes think I’ll end up as an old insufferable cat lady who spends her time mumbling to herself😂. What about you dear readers? Are you an introvert or an extrovert? What do you find most challenging? Please share! Gros bisoux and talk soon!🐍😋

Happy New Year 2020!!!

Happy New Year to all my readers and followers. I wish all of you success, health and happiness. I thank you for all the likes and follows. You guys are the reason I keep on writing!

I was about to do the usual New Year resolution post when dear husband mentioned that 2020 will be the beginning of a new decade. That  gave me pause and forced me to realize that 10 years have just gone by. Can’t say I am wiser but I am definitely older.

If you think a lot can happen in one year. Think about what can happen in 10. Life can change drastically in 10 years. Let’s see what happened in my case. What are the highlights of the past 10 years:

I met my now husband. You can read all about our first outing here: My first time…First dates and the lies we tell

We Bought a home 

Got married. You can read about the highs and lows here: THE MELTDOWNS

Going on our fifth year together (Surprise! I haven’t killed Mr. foot in mouth!!)

A few thoughts that have been on my mind for the past decade….

Find a career you won’t want to retire from

I think you’re out of your mind if you keep taking jobs that you don’t like because you think it will look good in your resume. Isn’t that a little like saving up sex for your old age?     

Warren Buffet

Considering the way the world is going right now, most of us may have to drop dead before we’re able to retire so the real goal is to find an occupation we can happily drop dead in. The way to do that is to cultivate our interests. Not all of them will necessary lead to something but some of them may surprisingly end up as side hustles.

Not all changes are painful

Sometimes we’ve been so used to the struggle we automatically assume every change is going to be painful. The thing is change is like old age, it comes for everybody no matter how talented you get at avoiding it. When the time comes, the change will find us wherever we are.

Your life may be someone’s dream life so don’t knock it!

I can assure you: Someone somewhere is dreaming of a life just like the one you have right now. Nobody’s truly happy every second of the way no matter how happy they look on Instagram. Nobody’s got it all. Sometimes we look at someone who looks like they have the perfect career, perfect husband topped with perfect children only to learn they left with the neighbor a few years down the road. Somebody whom you think have it all is probably looking at you green with envy thinking the same thing.

Don’t squander time, invest it only in people and things that matter

When you’re winning at something, you’re probably losing at something else. When you’re successful in one area of your life, the time you’re allocating to that specific area of your life is probably taking time away from another area of your life. So don’t squander time, invest it in people and things that truly matter to you. The answer would be to figure out what’s the most important to you and stick to it. How? Personally I try to picture myself on my death bed and think about the main regrets I would have. It really helps me to streamline my wants and aspirations to pull out the ones that really matters. Surprisingly, the answers are not the ones I was expecting.

Things don’t get easy just because you’ve found your passion.

Do what you love but be prepared to find excruciating, backbreaking, limb-shattering hard work hiding behind it.  There is lot of what you hate hiding behind what you love. So the lesson is you can’t escape hard work no matter how much you love what you do.

To this year and many more dear readers! Gros Bisoux and a Happy New Year 2020!