Day 7 #7DaysOfSocialMediaVulnerabilityChallenge2017

What did I learn about myself?: I am easily wooed by the “likes” “Loves” and comments. The dopamine high is real, and when one day I get 89 and the next only 15, I feel the crash of disappointment. My logical brain says it could be a million other factors (the time of the post, the day, or any of the other reasons that I did not appear at the top of my Facebook friends news feed) but the crash is felt none the less.

What feelings did I have?: There have been many moments of self doubt, nervousness and uncertainty as from idea inception to just before hitting post. My commitment to follow through persevered over all other feelings. I am glad that I pre-wrote the first 6 days (Today's post is being written in real time). I manage social media accounts at work and on a few days posting on my personal feed just felt like work, and I was glad that I had pre -developed content to fall back on.

Do I have any next steps?: Not yet, I do have a nice long drive tomorrow so another idea might present itself.

Day 6 #7DaysOfSocialMediaVulnerabilityChallenge2017

I spent so many years with just enough income to be OK. It has only been in the past few years that we have started to have enough that we are in a place to give back. As I shared yesterday I love to plan. This past year we had a charitable giving focus on non profits that were doing positive work in water system clean up and preservation. See my blog post from last year if you want to learn more http://surrealvolunteering.blogspot.com/2017/01/middle-class-donation-2017-guide.html

In 2018 I think our society needs to foster places of honesty and dissent. Telling stories that are not click generators but hold truth. This year I have selected the following four places that we will donate to. 

National Public Radio-  a big player in the media space. . https://www.npr.org/ I listen to them almost daily and while they lean left, I hear voices from both sides and stories that are followed because they are important not because they have funding tied to them.

The Stillwater Current - a small voice in the media space.  http://www.stillwatercurrent.com/ Local independent news is going away. Helping keep locally owned voices is important. I grew up in Minnesota and am excited to support news in my home state.

AIDS quilt: http://www.aidsquilt.org/ AIDS remains taboo across our society while it continues to impact those we love. This project helps raise awareness and helps keep the conversation moving forward.

Fourth this year is going to be helping fund high school art teacher projects via Donors Choose. The first project we will be supporting is this one: https://www.donorschoose.org/project/block-printmaking-art-ernative/2773345/ Art is a path to understanding, conversation and expression. Giving students resources to help explore their thoughts is critical as we see our freedom of expression being questioned.

We have at this point established a few ongoing charities that we support

Goodwill industries – The method of used items to create employment opportunity model gives so many a chance for employment who would otherwise fall through the cracks. We support them through routine donation of used items.

Big Brothers Big Sisters – I have been volunteering with them for over a year and expect to continue that into 2018. I support their various fundraising events (5k’s and restaurant give back nights) 

The United Way -  This is an opportunity to touch many non-profits in a collective community approach. 

The American Red Cross - This cornerstone of the American nonprofit landscape needs our support year round.

Rotary - I am active with the local Rotary, my club has a monthly monetary donation in support of the local food bank, thus through my rotary contributions I will be supporting both Rotary and the Food Bank.

A few things to note about this strategy.

1.    While this sounds like a lot, we break it down where different organizations get donations on different months helping keep to our budget. – I set calendar reminders to help me remember who I have slated to donate to each month (Did I mention I love to plan).

2.    The total that we plane to give across these is less than $2,000.

3.    I attempt to amplify my gift by following social media accounts and sharing twitter updates when I donate.

4.    We rarely if ever give to spontaneous asks such as at the supermarket or our workplace, this helps keep us focused and on budget while we donate to causes that help our society. 

Day 5 #7DaysOfSocialMediaVulnerabilityChallenge2017

I can easily over plan and over think things.

The idea for this #7DaysOfSocialMediaVulnerabilityChallenge2017 was planted by the book ‘Never Eat Alone’ by Keith Ferrazzi.

 I thought about how to take some of his lessons about social connecting and his discussion of social media and turn it into action. I came up with this idea and proceeded to ponder and think about doing this for three days before I decided I wanted to give it a try. 

I than spent the 5 days leading up to the start of this pre-writing each days bit of honesty, worried that I would not have something interesting or properly honest to share for seven days in a row.

Day 4 #7DaysOfSocialMediaVulnerabilityChallenge2017

Today I'm struggling with the balance of having a demanding career, taking care of routine life things (like getting my car registered) and spending time of my spouse who works overnights and weekends so our schedules are not fully in line. Today's balance was to get up at 6 a.m. and have breakfast with my spouse (His dinner). I worked until 5 p.m. but easily had another 2 hours of things to do however decided to put those on the back burner so that I could come home and spend the evening with my spouse opting to completely ignore my car registration putting it off for another day.

Day 3 #7DaysOfSocialMediaVulnerabilityChallenge2017

I meditated today for the second time this week I'm really enjoying from the five to ten-minute guided breathing that you can find when you search meditation videos on You Tube. 

10 min or less is my ideal amount of time, when I was living in India I went (Three times a week) to a 90 min Tibetan reflection teachings, 45 min at the start was always silent meditation and I hated it, felt anything but relaxed. 

I think 10 min of guided breathing based meditation really slows me down and help me keep life in perspective. Especially as perfectly mundane and normal things can become easily over-analyzed by me and start to stress me out. Focusing on breathing allows my mind to stop and reset. Its really been wonderful. 

Day 2 #7DaysOfSocialMediaVulnerabilityChallenge2017

As I've moved further into adulthood I found that it's difficult to build deeper relationship connections with casual acquaintances. This social challenge that we face is widespread and expected as we become a more mobile and urban society. This social reality is part of what prompted me to put myself on the 7-Day to end 2017 social media sharing challenge. Putting myself out of my comfort zone by putting honest parts of me out there for all of you to see.

Day 1 #7DaysOfSocialMediaVulnerabilityChallenge2017

I'm a passionate day hiker nothing makes me happier than getting out and doing 6 to 11 miles on a trail, where I feel relatively alone, guided by a path created years before. When hiking the slight elements of risk exist and my success is ruled by my actions. When hiking alone I can easily get lost in my own thoughts. When lost in thought I pass hours and miles without consciously processing what's happening in the world around me. When I look up the physical space I'm in is lovely and alive and something very few have access to, it’s a moment of bliss unlike anything I can re-create.

7 days of social media vulnerability challenge 2017

As I've navigated my way into a world where social media relationships are built on sharing personal As I've navigated my way into a world where social media relationships are built on sharing personal information I've stayed relatively quiet.

I want to challenge myself; for the next 7 days as I close out 2017 to move into 2018, to every day share with, you, my online connections something personal that's happening in my life.

I am calling this the 7 days of social media vulnerability challenge 2017.
I am nervous and excited to see how the next seven days will impact me and what impacts it might have on those who I am connected with in the social space. I will be posting on Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, Pinterest and Snapchat.


Check back tomorrow for my first post.

Aug 9th events

August 9th 2007 the Dow tanked 300 points in reaction to the subprime mortgage crisis. It was the moment the subprime mortgage entered the global market

August 9 1974 Richard Nixon resigned

1st horse arrived in Hawaii 1880

Michael Brown was shot on Aug 9th 2013

Tower of piza construction started on Aug 9 621

Smokey the bear was born

Nagasaki Japan bombed 1947

Wichita Mountains, Oklahoma

 

While the name is deceiving the Wichita Mountains are filled with wonder and life. What is lacking in height is made up in surprise. After over a year in Lubbock we found ourselves traveling back to St. Louis for a funeral, with no time to prepare flights were unreasonable so we made the drive. On our return trip we stopped for the night in the Lawton OK are, about 30min from the Wichita Mountains. Needing a chance of pace and bit of exercise after several days of driving and eating we were happy to discover this area has great trails that are easy to navigate and designed for short 2 hour hikes.

As this is almost the same distance as Carlsbad NM I would not recommend this as a weekend trip from the Lubbock area unless you are really burnt out on the trails to the west. But I would highly recommend this if you are going on a road trip, I think I could have easily camped and spend several days in this area enjoying the unexpected beauty that makes up the Wichita Mountains.

 

 

As an aside, I have recently been reading quite a bit on Quanah Parker and had hoped while we were so close to get a chance to visit the star house. The man who owns the home is willing to let you see it however you need to time your visit with when he is closing up the restaurant (and that time depends on how many customers) We did not have ½ a day to wait for the restaurant to close so had to pass on this opportunity, if we are ever back I would like to see in person this incredible part of west Texas history.

Its hard to change the world

It’s been just about 15 months since my husband and I decided to chase my dream, to see how far I can push myself and along the way how much of a positive impact I can make.

I’m not going to lie, it’s been a true roller-coaster. Today I am on day 3 of a long holiday weekend and I feel as burnt out as I have ever felt. I am starting to wonder if I might be slipping into a burnout fueled depression. And it’s really no surprise that I am so burnt out, I went into my blog today and in my drafts found halfhearted starts at entries while I was trying to sort out what was going on.

 

 

 

 

From month 7

This has been one of the more terrible weeks of my life.

No one that I know died, but our health has been poor (I write this from the emergency department waiting room).

My dream job has become a nightmare and I am not sure how to move beyond it or even if I want too.

Two weeks ago we were facing the possibility that Ian might not ever be able to work due to a unusual spinal complication.

Now all I want to do is spend a month taking naps and reading books before starting a new less stressful job in Portland. But the journey from here to there is very unclear and our once wise and responsible choices have me now feeling trapped in a job I am deeply distaining in a community that I feel isolated with a silver lining torn to shreds. The husband I love is stuck in a vicious cycle of illness and our beautiful home is financially strapping me to having a somewhat well-paying job.

To make things worse I think I now have the flu and my drive and capacity to care or make strategic moves is all but gone. I spent the vast majority of my day watching fuller house and wishing I had a super-rich sister or friend I could live with until I had things figured out.

 

 

From month 8

 

In 4 hours I have to talk to the rudest person I know and I am dreading every moment until that time.

 

I am trying to keep myself calm and hoping beyond hope that I walk away feeling better not worse as I am on the edge of quitting as things stand but I really want to make it for the stability it will give us

 

 

 

 

 

Through the bad days so much positive progress is being made, in some ways that makes it bearable and in others its worse. If I was completely failing just giving up and moving on would be so much easier.

By absorbing the pain and putting 110% into making it a positive and impactful work I am making huge strides in the positive direction, those externally see the work required and that we are moving full steam towards the goal, with me happily at the helm. But inside I am dying. The challenges while lessening remain great, the sense that I cannot control the outcome grows.

About a month ago I went on a wonderful Central American vacation that has left me wanting to re-configure my life so that I can spend more time traveling and socially connected.  I know deep down that another year in this life is needed. I have grown so much in the past 15 months that another 12 will make me unrecognizable to the person I was. I just need to find a way to keep the passion on fire.

I do not have a solution, more wanted to post to be a gage marker for myself and perhaps find a reader who is fighting a similar fight and hearing yourself in a stranger can provide you with some relief. 

Things I am trying to get the flame burning bright

-          More Sleep

-          More Coffee – the fancy kind

-          More trips to see loved ones

-          More massage appointments

-          More yoga

 

To my future self and to the occasional reader I leave you with this quote from Leroy Hood

 

Weekend in Lubbock Texas

We have been living in Lubbock Texas just shy of a year now and sometime folks say they would like to come visit us. I have been brainstorming on what I would suggest as the best weekend itinerary for a visitor.

Travel Time: Really anytime during the year with the exception of July and August when its unbearably hot.

the weekend that includes the First Friday of the month

Arrive on Friday: Preston Smith International Airport is incredibly easy to fly into. You will need to  rent a car.

Where to stay: Many great choices, a few that I suggest is the Overton by Texas Tech, The MCM Elegante and the Arbor hotel.

Evening Activity and Dinner: The first Friday of every month LHUCA offers an art trail. Starts at 6pm with a free trolly to all the activities.  Check out all the galleries around the LHUCA building than hop the trolly over to Giorgios Pizza for a slice, a salad and of course a sweet tea before jumping back on the trolly for another round of galleries. The event last until 9pm. The art scene in Lubbock is young, exciting and well priced. I would plan on brining home a few new pieces for your collection.

Saturday: Start your morning off right with a coffee at JB's coffee and than head over to Montolongos for breakfast. After breakfast I suggest a stroll around Texas Tech. The university is really the heart of our community and visitors should see it. Lunch at Freshii followed by some custard at Sheridan. For some it might be nap time, others might want to check out Hesters Used Books, visit the silent wings museum, play a round of golf or go jumping at our altitude trampoline park. Your evening plans are to head to Stars and Stripes Drive in for a movie. They have a full kitchen, this is a drive in like you have not seen since 1970.

Sunday: up early, swing by a stripes for some breakfast tacos and hit the road for a two hour drive to Paulo Duro Canyon. You will want to spend several hours hiking and exploring this park, so plan to fly out of Lubbock in the evening.

Come check out the friendliest city in america. We love visitors.

Middle Class Donation 2017 Guide

I wrote several months ago about how we felt it was time for us to start making charitable donations. As we enter into 2017 we have started to think about where we would like to make donations. Charitable giving is a decision that each family needs to make in a way that best fits there beliefs, passions and finances. Below is my guide for how we, and if your so inclined, you, donate in 2017.

We expect that we will continue routine donation of used items to Goodwill, along with keeping up our volunteerism through Big Brothers Big Sisters.

But when it comes to pure financial gifts for us in 2017 we plan to give to

Cornerstone Non-Profits:

- The United Way - In my role it is an unwritten expectation that I will donate to the United Way, who in turn gives a significant amount back to my organization.

- The American Red Cross - This cornerstone of the american non profit landscape needs our support. This year we will be purchasing items that are much needed by our local chapter.

- Rotary - I am active with the local Rotary, my club has a monthly monetary donation in support of the local food bank.


Area of interest: This year I am feeling strongly that we need to do more to help preserve, protect and restore our natural environment. While our donations won't change the world, these organizations are doing work that is making an impact.

- South Coast Habitat Restoration - This California based group has a focused area of habitat that they have several projects they are working on. Check them out here: http://schabitatrestoration.org/?page_id=30

- The 5 Gyres - This organization works around the globe to combat plastic in the ocean. https://www.5gyres.org/

- Oceana - Focused on restoring fish populations in our oceans, this organization has 15 years of experience fighting to keep our oceans alive. http://oceana.org/expeditions