07.20.2017 Five Minute Friday Free Write: Collect Today I am linking up withFive Minute Friday to do something I haven't done in an extremely long time: Free Write for 5 Minute Friday. I have always loved 5 Minute Friday. It gets those writing juices flowing--no editing or worrying about writing the perfect piece. Just raw writing--flowing non-stop--for five minutes. Just set your timer for 5 minutes and see how far you get once the alarm goes off. Seeing where your mind takes you and enjoying others' posts linked to the blog. Today for 5 Minute Friday, the topic of the Free Write is COLLECT. Feel free to do your own 5 minute free-write or check out the other community members' free writes! Click below to read them:
GO.
Lately I've been collecting dreams.
Dreams that I've never dared to dream before.
Dreams that will allow me to
---live without fear.
---live without debt.
---live comfortably with chronic migraines.
---live without choosing only one natural healing appointment each month.
---build myself up.
---become stronger.
---become more confident.
---believe that I can do anything.
---push through anxiety.
---love my tribe hard.
---travel to places that I have only dreamed of.
---support and give-back to my family.
---inspire health and wellness.
---help others.
---change the world.
These dreams
---inspire me.
---move me.
---push me.
---build me up.
---are mine to hold.
These dreams will one day be my reality.
STOP.
Thank you for reading! If you write a 5 Minute Free-Write on the topic "COLLECT," please add it in the comments below! I'd LOVE to read it!
It's a new year, I'm one year older, and I'm ready to keep on working on my peace of mind, my happiness, and managing my OCD and anxiety this year. I hope everyone had a fabulous holiday season! Cheers to the New Year!
Today is my first post of the #2014bloggerchallenge! The topic of today's post is to post a picture or a quote that helps to motivate me in my life. I had a bumpy few weeks not too long ago with my OCD and anxiety and wrote about how much music motivates me to keep on keeping on, to help me get my emotions out when I need to, and to remember that I'm not alone. I also hope the ideas in this post will help to motivate me to keep up with my art journal resolution for 2014!! Two things that really motivate me are inspirational quotes and pictures. I love a good quote that can cheer me up when I'm down or keep my mind in check when I'm having a bad anxiety day. Anything to help me remember I'm doing what I can in life to be the best me helps make me feel like my goals for myself are always in reach. I also love looking at pictures. Pictures can say so much--words and stories and feelings can create so much emotion inside of you. That can really help you get through something when you need it most. Here are a few quotes and pictures that inspire me in different ways:
Quotes
In My Life:
The biggest thing lately that has helped me to calm my OCD and anxiety is to remind myself to step back from a difficult situation, from daily life, from a huge to-do list, etc., and JUST BREATHE. Sometimes life starts moving a little too quickly and my anxiety and my OCD loop just creep up on me. Taking a moment to stop what I'm doing and breathe allows me a second to get the distance I need from a situation or a thought to gain perspective and gain control back of my emotions or of my thoughts.
This has been the first thought in my mind when I feel my anxiety coming on: breathe first and then figure out what to do.
Sometimes I forget about the many things that I've done in my life, and how there have been a lot of challenges that I've gotten through and overcome. I had no idea that I could make it through some of them, but I did. I'm here and I'm still going. I need to remind myself of this more often.
This is one of the biggest keys to controlling my OCD and anxiety. When life presents itself with a situation that makes me anxious or anxiety strikes without warning, I have to remember to use what I know to get it all under control. It's not trying to figure out where my anxiety is coming from or why it happened; I need to do my best to control it and keep myself calm. I've been doing really well with this. It's great to remind myself that it works!!
I love this one! It is a great reminder of why I created this blog!!
As a Teacher:
From Iqbal by Francesco D'Adamo. This is an amazing fictional account based on the true-life story of a child slave (Iqbal) in Pakistan. This part of the book where one of the characters learns to read is so inspiring to me as a teacher. It just reminds me how much I LOVE my job!!
from page 78:
Pictures
These pictures of my husband and my puppies motivate me to keep doing the things that make me happy and working on my OCD and anxiety, even though it isn't always easy. Ever since I started working so hard on my anxiety and doing the things that make me happy again, I've completely been a happier person. I've been calmer, more easy going (not that I wasn't before, but I didn't feel like myself). And I do feel more life myself. These pictures remind me why I'm doing this--I want to be happy, and I feel so much better. I don't want to go back to the way I was feeling.
Video
And finally, a short video of me and my sister that makes me smile and inspires me every time I watch it! When my dad was sick with brain cancer, he would always sing the song, "Dancing in the Moonlight" to me and my sisters and my mom. He got so excited every time he sang it; he would dance in his hospital bed, pretend to dance with my mom, and get so excited when he sang it. He was always so cheerful, even though he was so sick. When he passed away, we had "Dancing in the Moonlight" put on his gravestone with a picture of him and my mom and three roses engraved next to it symbolizing us, his three daughters. We hear "Dancing in the Moonlight" played in random places whenever we needed a pick-me-up. We feel like my dad is talking to us and telling us he's here watching over us. I love hearing this song. Here's a time Rachael and I caught it on tape. I love watching this video back. It makes me smile and inspires me to stay happy!
This makes me teary-eyed every time I watch it. There are amazing words and emotions attached to this poem and reading for me. It inspires me to keep on keepin' on!
Neil Hilborn, performing during Individual Finals at the 2013 Rustbelt Regional Poetry Slam.
It's funny how sometimes words come to some of us better through the medium of writing. This has always been true for me. I've always written poems, short stories, journals, and the beginnings of books that never quite got finished. I started writing in junior high school. I still have many of my poems that I wrote in high school and most of the writing I have done from then through today. Looking back, it's funny to think that I realized sometime long ago that I had OCD, but had never specifically been told so. I knew I was different and my mind thought differently. I think I didn't really know how to go about changing it. I knew my mind was sometimes irrational, but I didn't know how to stop it. I wrote this poem during my college years:
Hysteria
An army of killer ants march past my window.
I rush to the door to check the lock,
check the lock,
check the lock.
Must be my obsessive compulsive mind coming out to check the weather.
Wonder how those ants got to be so big?
Must be the coconut-flavored water?
Or maybe the acid rain?
Or maybe a trial study of a new muscle-enhancing drug gone completely and utterly wrong?
For some things, there are no logical explanations.
I remember sitting in my geography class my sophomore year at Miami University in Ohio, starring out the window and writing this poem. I had been stressed out a lot since college started, and I think my anxiety had really taken hold since freshmen year. I knew I had trouble coping, but I don't know if I could or did really understand my OCD completely then.
I always could write more about something than I actually understood in my own head, if that makes any sense. Words just seemed to come to me when I wrote. I wrote this at a time when my life was not making sense, but I didn't know why.
Today I'm glad I know the "why." And I'm also glad that I understand that my OCD and anxiety don't really make sense and that I do just have to work through them. They are not always logical, and that's okay! It's just the nature of the beast. Here's to things that don't make sense and just accepting that some things never will. Letting go of understanding has helped me to move on in huge ways. Here's to moving on :)
