Find Your Fresh Friday: Thanksgiving Edition

TGIF!!! Time to Find Your Fresh! With turkey day less than a week away, we will be focusing on all things Thanksgiving today. Here are some suggestions that may inspire you as you look forward to this holiday:

Instead of just making that to-do list, create a realistic action plan that will allow you to get some of those things done. Realistic is the key! Don't set yourself up for failure by overloading your day. Find some fresh focus and get some stuff done!

At the end of the day, choose to focus on all that you accomplished rather than dwelling on what you didn't get done. See yourself as a success! It will give you some fresh motivation for tomorrow.

Do something to get yourself in the holiday mood. Watch a movie, read a story, attend a community event, make your favorite treat. Stir up some fresh joy and enthusiasm for this season.

Look for an opportunity to donate to a charitable cause in your community this week. A group in our community hosts a "Festival of Giving" event with all of the proceeds going to benefit several charities in our area. Perhaps there is something similar in your area. Find a fresh way to give of your time and resources in your neighborhood.

Reframe that thing you are dreading about this season. For example, that difficult person you always end up sitting by during Thanksgiving dinner? It's just another opportunity for you to develop your personal communication skills. Feeling anxious or frustrated about navigating that super busy grocery store? At least you have the means and the ability to shop for your family. Look for something positive in every situation and gain a fresh perspective.

Make a list of everything you are thankful for today. Challenge yourself to consider all of your blessings. Maybe you laughed for the first time in a really long time today. Your car started when you needed to get to work. The washing machine worked when you did that load of laundry. Someone smiled at you while you were shopping. You found a great parking spot. You were able to help another person today. Cultivate a fresh attitude of gratitude.

Whatever you do, take a little time to find your fresh and have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Day Seven- Letting Go of Constant Drama

Life here in the 21^st century is full of extremes. We have extreme sports, extreme makeovers, extreme home makeovers, extreme couponing, and a variety of extreme reality shows with extreme challenges.  We are surrounded by people exhibiting extreme behavior.  Social media feeds this frenzy by giving us a place to truly live our lives out loud. Viral videos feature everything from folks expressing their opinions in crazy rants to all of those over-the-top marriage proposals. Even the stuff of our ordinary daily lives is so often over-exaggerated that we begin to lose our emotional balance. This constant roller coaster of drama is exhausting!

How do we get off of the roller coaster? 

I think we need to start by looking at why we tend to over-dramatize life events. At the heart of this is usually is the desire for attention. Positive attention is the most desirable, but we humans will take negative attention over no attention any day. So we exaggerate a little (or a lot) in order to maximize our return. This might work for a while, but eventually you will lose your credibility. Remember the story of the little boy who cried wolf? Someday if you really do have something going on that deserves a lot of attention, it will be harder to garner that due to your past practices. 

Instead of over-dramatizing the events in our lives, let’s focus on putting them in perspective. An attitude of gratitude goes a long way in helping us with this process. As my mother used to say, “Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill!” Just this last week I had an opportunity to put this into practice. We were having car trouble, again, and the list of repairs was long and expensive.  Initially, I was upset. But then I began to look at it from a different perspective. It is just a car. We weren’t making decisions regarding a treatment plan for a life-threatening illness. We weren’t dealing with a life-changing crisis with one of our children. It is just a car. Whew! What a difference that made for me in dealing with the situation. I am happy to report that God provided, the car is repaired, and life goes on. 

Letting go of the constant drama can free us up to really enjoy our lives. Refuse to be a “drama mama” and embrace all of the good things that God has given you today!

"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts." ~Colossians 3:15a