Author Archives: lydias

Here is this week’s list of comic strips, essays, and other tidbits from my favourite corners of the web.

Clean Room, Clean Mind. I’ve never done this, but now I want to start. The last panel was my biggest reason for wanting to give this a try.

Free Spirits and Happiness via LisaShambrook. The Swedish tale the author talks about was my favourite part of this post. I’d never heard it before, but it was a good one. The picture above reminds me of this link a little for reasons I can’t fully explain.

Make America Bake Again. Baking is actually one of the ways I’m planning to spend my time this upcoming winter. It’s nice to see that other people are interested in it as well.

How I Found Joy in Negativity via SarahBrentyn‬. What a fantastic and refreshing post.

When I was 16. Who someone is when they’re a teenager isn’t always the same kind of person they are years later. I’m willing to admit that my opinions and ideas have changed a lot since I since graduated from high school. Is anyone else willing to admit the same?

From What A Black Woman Wishes Her Adoptive White Parents Knew:

This is my adoptive family, my kin. A loud, passionate, stubborn mixture of people who don’t look anything alike.

From A Plea for Poetry via guineapig66:

I write this both as a poet and as a lover of poetry. Give it a chance. No one demands any more that you learn a long poem, stanza by stanza, threatening detention or a rap on the knuckles if you fail. You have the option to choose what to read, what to enjoy.

What have you been reading?

Photo by Unsplash.

This is a guest post from Steve Johnson. You can read his previous guest post for my blog here. 

Is Your Work Life Out of Balance?

There can be no question that the workplace admires and looks up to those who work harder. However, there is such a thing as working too hard (and doing so intentionally). A workaholic would be someone who had taken their level of work to a point where it was actually unhealthy and damaging to other aspects of their life. If you are concerned that you might be doing just that then you might want to examine your day-to-day life and see which aspects of your workday are creating imbalance.
A professional had this to say about the matter:

Many of us believe that the best way to get more work done is to work more hours. But the reality is that we’re more productive when we build in intermittent periods of renewal during our day.

-Stephanie Marston, a motivational speaker, best-selling author and a stress and resiliency expert.

How to Tell if Your Work Life is Out of Balance: Signs and Symptoms

There is such a fine line between working hard and being industrious that it can be tricky to expertly mark out exactly when one has taken their work life over the limit. Listed below are a couple signs that you can watch out for. If you see yourself doing several of the following then it’s time to reconsider your day-to-day schedule and just how you prioritize and balance work against the rest of your life:

1.     You keep putting yourself in a position where you are “overbooked.”

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a normal, average work week contains forty work hours. There’s nothing wrong with doing more than that from time to time, but working excessively high hours week after week showcases that your work life is out of balance.

2.     You’ve gotten out of shape.

No job should make a person unhealthy. If you’ve noticed bad eating habits, excessive time sitting at the desk, not enough time devoted to exercise, not enough breaks being taken, then work has likely become too high of a priority for you.

3.     You’re bent on perfection.

Your work life might be out of balance if you are constantly nervous, anxious, or worrying about attaining perfection. You will actually have a higher likelihood of missing your target or flubbing a project if you are too nervous or anxious about it.

4.     You simply work too much.

Some who prioritize work over other life activities do so by simply working too many hours a week. The real key is to make one’s targets and achieve good production in less hours, not just work more hours. According to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report released last year, more than 25 million Americans — 20.5 percent of the total workforce — reported they worked at least 49 hours a week in 1999. Eleven million of those said they worked more than 59 hours a week. This tendency to work too much is especially prevalent in the U.S.

5.     You’re working around the clock.

Leave work at work. If you’re bringing your work home with you then that’s a clear sign that work has overtaken the rest of your life. When you’re home it’s time to concentrate on other activities. When you’re at work then you can concentrate on work with zeal and passion. In order to get through your daily tasks more quickly, seek help from your coworkers. Perhaps you can team up to tackle projects together. That way you can all achieve goals faster, share the responsibility, and engage in rewarding teamwork. You might also find that a coworker has some free time at work and would welcome another easy task or two. When you all work together, you can leave the office feeling good about what you’ve accomplished.

6.     You do not have a social life.

People who work too much also tend to distance themselves from those who they care about the most. Work becomes such an important part of their life that they sacrifice other things that are important so they can work more. If this is occurring for you then this is a sure sign that work has begun to take too high a priority in your life.
There is no doubt that working hard, being productive, and achieving your goals and targets are all good ambitions. However, there are extremes to this as there is with anything else. If you think work has taken over your life, then it is time to double back and reassess your priorities.
This is not a difficult thing to do. All you needs to do is re-organize how you spend your time.  When work is taking over simply spend less time working. Say “No” more often. Don’t spend as much time at the workplace. Don’t take your work home with you. Spend more time with friends, family members, and loved ones. Spend more time on your hobbies. Get more exercise. Create more hobbies. Get out and about in the city or countryside for some rest and relaxation. With a healthier and happier heart and mind you will find that you can achieve everything you want to achieve at work without having to go over the top with it.

Projet de fin d’études – 4e année Animation 3D – Automne from LISAA on Vimeo.

Why do the seasons change? How does it happen?

We know the answers to these questions from a scientific perspective. This short film looks at them from a more imaginative approach.

I once read a children’s story about a supernatural artist who affected the weather every day by drawing beautiful pictures of clouds that then came to life here on Earth. It’s fun to assume that he works at this same shop. Perhaps his desk is off in the corner, just beyond the reach of the camera.

A personal ritual is something you do to release stress or calm yourself down. Let me give you an example of one of mine so that you can better visualize what it looks like.

I’ve talked about my love of rabbits on this blog several times in the past, but I don’t think I’ve ever told you about Bunday in detail.

Bunday happens when I take a few minutes to look at all of the rabbit pictures, gifs, and videos that I’ve stumbled across lately. The name of this ritual, as I’m sure you’ve already guessed, is a combination of the words bunny and day. I wasn’t the person who came up with it, but I like it all the same.

This is something I’ve been doing for several years now. There isn’t any specific day of the week when this ritual happens. It could happen two or three times one week and then maybe not again for a few weeks after that.

Why do I do it? Well, there are a few different answers to that question. One, I love rabbits. Two, it’s incredibly fun. Three, our world is full of ugly, terrible, and frightening things. I think there’s something to be said for occasionally taking a break from the news and focusing on something that uplifts you.

It’s kind of like pausing to rest when you’re carrying a heavy box to somewhere far away. Catching your breath and stretching your sore muscles before picking up that load again can make the difference between injuring yourself and feeling perfectly fine the next day.

Taking long walks outdoors is something else I like to do when I’m feeling overwhelmed or simply want to relax. What I especially like about Bunday, though, is that it can be done on days when the weather is bad, I’m pressed for time, or I’m sick.

I’d say that everyone needs at least one personal ritual in their lives, although how that looks in your life might not be the same as how it is for me.

For example, one of my relatives loves to cook and bake. She is happiest when she’s in the middle of some grand experiment in the kitchen. What is really cool about this is that she’s actually parlayed this into a part-time home business. Not only does she get to release stress, she sometimes gets paid to do it as well!

Someone else I know keeps up with a few dozen different TV shows throughout the year. It’s gotten to the point now where he can predict all of the plot twists for a show that he’s never seen before because he knows so much about how storytelling works on the small screen. He also can tell you about many of the different shows that specific actors worked on decades ago because his memories of their past projects are so strong.

If you already have a personal ritual of some kind that brings joy to your life, I’d love to know what it is, how it started, and how long you’ve been doing it.

If you don’t have one yet, why not give it a try? You might discover that you really like it!

Here is this week’s list of comic strips, essays, and other tidbits from my favourite corners of the web.

The Good Stuff. What a humorous introduction to autumn.

We Remember 9/11 via RADnursing‬. This post is a few weeks old now, but it was so good that I couldn’t resist sharing it with you anyway.

Pre-1800 Antiques. This made me chuckle.

Alchemy: Science or Magic? via AprilMunday. I’d heard of alchemy before, but this post went into much greater detail about it than I’d ever read before.

Coming Out As Gay In Elementary School. Incredible. This never would have happened when I was in elementary school. People kept this stuff pretty quiet even through high school, although that was probably less common in bigger cities back then. I’m so glad the world has changed for the better.

How to Buy Artwork From Your Family or Friends Without Being a Dick via PeevishPenman. This also applies to any other skill that someone might have.

What have you been reading?

Today’s post is a little off the beaten path, but it’s about something important.

The Canadian government has released a survey about self-care products and what kinds of restrictions you would like to see them put on how stuff like supplements, skin care products, and over-the-counter remedies for diseases like the common cold are advertised to the public.

They are currently thinking about changing the rules so that products are no longer allowed to make health claims that are not supported by real scientific research. Products that had a higher risk of harming people would be subject to a more strict set of rules. Other stuff that was less dangerous or that didn’t claim to improve your health would be given more leeway. The link that I shared above included several examples of this.

You do not have to be Canadian in order to fill this survey out. It is open to anyone who is willing to thoughtfully answer a few questions. The survey is open until October 24. It took me about 10 minutes to fill out, but I typed a lot.

Why does this all matter to me? Because I was once duped.

Years ago I bought a bottle of cough syrup on a day when I had a bad cold and felt absolutely miserable. It wasn’t until I’d taken several doses of that medicine that I read all of the fine print on it and realized that I’d accidentally picked up a homeopathic treatment. While the effectiveness of regular cough syrup is still up for debate, I never would have bought something that didn’t have any actual medicine in it at all.

Consumers deserve better than this. I hope you agree and that you’ll fill out the survey sometime in the next month.

What assumptions do you make when you look at this picture? Let your imagination run wild. I’d love to hear what you can come up with.

In the meantime, here’s is what I came up with:

The sepia tone makes me think that it all happened a very long time ago.

The spires look like something that would be added to the home of a wealthy family. You don’t normally see two of them placed so closely together, although the rest of the architecture reminds me of stuff I’ve seen on buildings from the 1800s.

The trees make me assume the property is rural and possibly quite isolated. I’m imagining a quiet and possibly lonely childhood in a house that was built to look after a much bigger family. Maybe this is a memory from someone who lost one or more relatives at a young age, or maybe the family has dwindled in size since the home was originally built generations ago.

The fact that the subject is looking at the home from what I assume is a spot in the woods is also interesting. Was there a small family graveyard out there that they liked to visit? Did they simply enjoy spending time in nature? Were they not allowed to remain indoors on nice days? Did they grow up to be an architect or an environmentalist thanks to their early experiences?

I’d like to think that they’ve finally been able to return to their childhood home and look at it with fresh eyes after a long and fulfilling life. Everything is smaller and slightly more worn down than they remember, but the spires are still as eye-catching as ever.

For a moment, they feel like a small child again in the best possible way.

A few months ago I blogged about how I learned to enjoy exercise after a lifetime of not-so-great experiences with it.

Today I thought I’d talk about weightlifting in particular.

My first brush with this type of exercise happened many years ago when someone I know was diagnosed with a disease that seriously affected her everyday life. She eventually recovered, but there was a time when she was too weak to do normal things like carry a bag of groceries. One of the many treatments her doctor recommended to her was lifting very small weights to build her strength up again. She started at one pound per weight and worked her way up from there.

I played around with the idea of weightlifting myself for years before I settled into a routine with it.

What made me start doing it regularly was a cardio routine I was using a few years ago that incorporated a few incredibly easy weightlifting moves in with it. I loved every other part of the video, so I started lifting cans of beans when I got to that part of the routine. At the time, I didn’t have a proper pair of hand weights. I figured something was better than nothing.

Once I had a pair of actual weights, that workout grew harder. My muscles would ache for a day or so afterwards, but I kept going. When that workout became too easy for me, I found new ones that were more challenging.

What surprised me the most about this process was how other things in my life changed. Soon I could carry heavier bags and boxes around without needing to take breaks on the way to my destination. The laundry basket started feeling lighter. Once I’d moved up to the next size of weights, even things like opening a stubborn jar of pickles was easier.

Originally I’d started exercising more to lose a little weight, tone up, improve my health, and gain some energy. Those things happened, but they didn’t turn out to be my motivation to keep going.

I like the feeling of accomplished I get when I graduate to a heavy set of weights. The ones I recently moved up to are making my muscles ache now, but I know that at some point in the future they will begin to feel as light as the set that I just outgrew.

I also like the satisfaction of learning a new workout. What used to be tricky is now something I can do in my sleep in many cases.

Some of the exercises I do involve balancing on one leg while lifting weights, so my balance has improved as well. The muscles in my legs and core are stronger and more used to keeping me upright than they used to be.

There is something incredibly cool about slowly seeing all of the results of your hard work like this.

If any of you are weightlifters, I’d love to know what your experiences with it have been!

Here is this week’s list of comic strips, photo essays, and other tidbits from my favourite corners of the web.

Understanding Migrating Geese. This made me chuckle.

5 Ways Strength Training Boosts Female Power and Confidence via colleen_m_story‬. My experience with weight training has been absolutely wonderful. There are so many physical, social, and emotional benefits to this kind of exercise. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

World War II – Surviving the Hunger Winter of 1944.What a story. I wish I could say more about it, but I don’t want to give anything away.

When Every Angle Edges Up via AustinDetails‬. These snapshots were gorgeous. They made me want to go out and take some pictures myself!

When Kids Don’t Adopt Their Parents’ Beliefs. I don’t know Charles Duffie or his family, but this article makes me think that we’d get along well if we lived in the same neighbourhood. These are the kind of people that I gravitate towards.

To 10 Things That Murphy’s Law Taught Me via andre1begin‬. Situations that I’ve personally experienced on this list: 8, 6, and 1.

What have you been reading?

How I feel.

If we were in the same room right now and you didn’t know me exceptionally well, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell that my seasonal allergies have left me feeling a little grouchy today.

I’m pretty good at keeping this stuff under wraps.At most, you might wonder why I was suddenly even quieter than I usually am.

It’s bubbling under the surface, though.

As much as I enjoy the sight of flowers, bushes, and trees in full bloom, their pollen isn’t something my immune system agrees with.

I am beyond ready for autumn to truly begin now so I can stop sneezing. After a few nights of below-freezing temperatures, my sinuses and I will be good until spring.

This isn’t something that I generally spend a lot of time dwelling on, but today I’m itchy, annoyed, and uncomfortable.

Let’s talk about it.

What irritates you?

How do you handle these kinds of days?

Do you downplay them?

Do you only discuss the stuff that irritates you with certain people or at particular times?

Do you think you’re good at hiding it when you’re out of sorts?