Category: Life Style

The real me # 6 -Again?

Rory is the host of The Really you

A Guy Called Bloke Banner The Really You JPEG

The Really You!

Season 1 – Game 06

Question Fun Directory

So I thought that one I answered last week was the sixth one. But here’s another #6! I guess I didn’t count properly.

What relaxes you more – a hot shower or a hot bath?

With my artificial knees, I don’t take the risk of slipping in the bathtub. So it is always a shower. Besides I like my warm/hot showers. It also saves on time and water.

If you are looking for immediate satisfaction in the stimulation department, what is your go-to? [Answer how you see fit]

Food brings instant satisfaction. When tired, getting into my own bed is also relaxing. A good book or a stolen piece of chocolate would do the trick too.

What exercise do you take on a fairly regular basis?

I have written about it so often that I think everyone now knows that I like to walk. I won’t say that I love walking, that would be stretching the truth a bit far. But I am now addicted to walking. If I don’t get my 12000- 13000 steps daily, I feel bad. Like I have been naughty. So I contrive one way or the other to walk.

My Fitbit helps me in keeping a track of my steps, calories burned and heart rate, etc. It is a good help towards maintaining my health.

#Keepitalive

#AboutMe

MLMM- Tale Weaver – # 250 – Cup of Coffee – 21st November

Michael is the host of Tale Weaver.

IMG_0259

Taking a cup of coffee I walked carefully as not to spill it anywhere. As usual I had filled it to the brim. My OCD kicking in as always. Things have to be a certain way for me. Not in everything but somethings have to be done in a way that I like them to be.

Carefully I placed the cup of coffee on the table and grabbed my iPad to check on my blog. So engrossed I became in the blog that I forgot all about my coffee. It sat there getting cold. As I looked up I saw now almost chilled coffee and thought about getting up to get a fresh cup. But then the blog called me again and I just downed the cold coffee in one long gulp.

Putting my cup down I wondered for a moment that I was so particular about getting my coffee just the way I like it and then practically ruined it by neglecting it. Is this true for our life too?

We get so worked up about the things we want in life, how we want them and when we want them. But once we get them, we often ignore the hard-won prize! It is there. It is done, accomplished. Now we look something else to see our sights upon. When will enough be enough? When will we stop and enjoy all that we have worked hard for? Or we will spend all our lives in quests after quests, just living for the next goal?

As someone wise said to stop and smell the roses. We should take a break and enjoy what we have achieved in life. We should re-assess the goals we have set for our life so that we don’t die with the regret that we didn’t get to enjoy all that we had worked so hard for.

Take a break and have a hot cup of coffee!

The Prompt;

This week create a story in which the word ‘cup’ features. What associations do you have with it?

#Keepitalive

#TaleWeaver

Working on us # 24- Managing Your Mental health during Holidays

Beckie is hosting this series to create awareness about mental health,

Working On Us

Hello, All! Welcome back to “Working on Us” – A series that represents people with mental health illnesses/disorders. 

Topic: Managing Good Mental Health During The Holiday Season:

Question Prompt:

1. Do you have a stable relationship with your family and/or friends during the hustle and bustle of the holiday season?  If your answer is (YES), please give us an example of what the holidays are like with family and/or friends?  If you answered (NO), Please explain to us why not?

2. Do the holidays trigger certain memories of people, places, and things?

3. Do you have a favorite holiday, if so which one and why?  (Note: This does not have to be based on the current holidays coming up either).

4. If you stress out during the holidays, what is the best way that you handle stressors?

5. Do holidays tend to make you melancholy?  If so why? and how do you go about dealing with the depression that takes place?

6. This is a question that anyone can answer if they feel so inclined… Do you think that the holidays are shoved down our throats every year a little quicker with each passing year?  (Meaning, Halloween finished October 31st, and Christmas stuff was on the shelves October 15th), Does this trigger an emotion in you too early?

7. Does your family/friends show understanding and compassion during a moment that might be hard to handle on your own?

8. Do you even bother celebrating the holidays with family/friends?  If you answered this question (NO), what is it that you do during the holiday?  (If you answer, I try to sleep through it… It’s a fair answer).

9. Do you avoid holiday music and TV specials during this time?

Prompt #2

If you don’t feel comfortable answering these questions, you can write a narrative of your favorite holiday memory and the worse, but please explain why?

Rules:

• Write your own post and create a pingback to the original post here.

• There are no right or wrong answers.  Write in any format you see fit.  (Answer’s, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, poem, short prose…anything, and/or narrative).

• You can do one or all prompts.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I really admire how Beckie is promoting mental health awareness and has opened up a discussion on many taboo subjects.

Holidays are always tough for most people, for those who are and those who aren’t suffering from any mental illness.

Holidays mean getting together of family.

Family members are often at odds with each other.

Family members who haven’t met each other for a long time.

And lastly, family members who have expectations from others, which are not likely to be met.

This is a recipe for stress if not outright disaster.

In the past, I would always invite my family and my husband’s family on holidays to have dinner together. But though I have an okay relationship with my brother and his family, the siblings of my husband were not so congenial. The dinner itself would be stressful but the gathering of so many people would invariably result in ruffled feathers of one or more people. There would be perceived slights to which either the older generation or their children would react. This went on until my father and my husband’s parents were alive. They expected us to host this dinner annually. After their passing away I gradually tapered off this tradition and now we just get together with our kids, with no pressure on them to come if they are busy elsewhere. Life has become so much easier this way!

The problem with family is that we expect too much. And too many people means too many egos. So I have fixed this problem by making the meal totally informal and just close family invited.

As for the commercialization of holidays and celebrations, this is such a sore point for me, as I am sure it is for a lot of us. They literally shove the days down our throats and want to make money by selling us stuff that we neither want nor need.

Someone, please make them stop!!!

I hope that in this narrative, I have answered most of the questions of prompt # 1.

Thanks, Beckie for another good topic.

#Keepitalive

#WorkingOnUs

How physical activity helps us in living our best lives

Wendi of simplyWendi has started a new series of questions;

How to live our best lives

kettle bell beside adidas pair of shoes

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

 Wendi says;

Welcome friends and thank you very much for stopping by today.  This week my question has to do with physical activity.  This is a tough area for many people with chronic illness since there are some that respond poorly to exercise.  No matter what illness label you hold, fatigue is always a side effect making exercise something that takes a lot will power to overcome the desire to climb back into bed.

We read, watch, and are told that exercise is an important part of a healthy lifestyle which can lead to guilt and disappointment when we cannot participate in the physical activities that we were once able to enjoy.

So, this week’s question is;

What physical movement do you participate in? 

I have written about this before but since I feel very strongly about this topic, I will share my views again.

I have an autoimmune disease that affects my joints. It’s a type of rheumatoid disease known as “ Sero-Negative Rheumatoid Arthritis” It has affected my knees to the extent that I had to get knee replacement surgery on both of my knees in my early fifties. Lucky for me that I was diagnosed and the prescribed treatment has agreed with my system and there is a regression of the disease. So now I am taking my meds regularly and am following a regimen to keep my joints healthy.

After my surgery, my doctor had given me strict instructions to walk. No running, no treadmill, just walking. His advice was to walk at least half an hour in the morning and half an hour in the evening. Or a mile at both ends of the day. He also advised me to keep my weight in the average range for my height. That would, he told me, would make the artificial joints last longer.

As most of you know, my weight has not cooperated with me, yo-yoing back and forth. But I keep on trying. But one thing that I have held on to is my daily walk. I walk every day, winter or summer, rain or shine. I have made things simple for myself. No special time, place or grear for my walk required. I walk whenever I have had my breakfast, and I walk inside my house. Littraly inside. There is a longish passage where I walk making numerous round trips. My Fitbit tracks the time, distance and steps I have taken. It also helpfully tells me the calories I have burned. I repeat this walk three times a day. The total time is from 100 to 120 minutes. I walk around 4-5 miles with 12000- 13000 steps a day. Since I break it into three segments, I sit down if I am tiring too much and resume the walk after a short rest.

The advantages of this system are;

I can walk even if it is raining outside or too hot.

I can be as early ( a midnight walk like last night) or as late as I want ( noon time walk in Summers)

There is no fixed time, so I can accommodate my other chores or activities around my walk.

There is no hassle to putting on walking/ running shoes, special gear or driving out to a walking track etc.

This system works for me. I fell better after walking, much more energetic and happy. We all have our limitations and should find the activity that suits our physical health. Taking care of our physical health ensures that the coming years are kind to us.

My advice is to find what works for you. Push yourself to the extent where you can tolerate the activity without pain. Pain is a red light. Stop at pain.

#Keepitalive

Five a Day — Putting My Feet in the Dirt

A reblog from ~M of putting my feet in the dirt. Such a good way to face each day. I loved it so much.

Do these 5 things daily!

I recently came up with an idea for a way that my family and I could improve our lives and also help others in the process. I call it “Five a Day.” I feel like so often, we try to do so much at once to make positive changes in our lives, and then we […]

via Five a Day — Putting My Feet in the DirtI

#Keepitalive

To live our very best lives- How to manage a bad day.

Wendi of Simply Chronically Ill has asked a question.

brown and white bear plush toy

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

So, without further ado, here is the first question:  How do you handle your very bad days?

Here is my response;

As you have said, Wendi, we all have our good and bad days. That’s life!

Even if one is not suffering from any illness ( but who doesn’t) we still have days when things go haywire. Nothing falls into place or goes according to the plan. What do I do when I am having a bad ( to put it mildly) day?

I have the following steps to combat this sort of situation;

1. I give myself the permission to be unwell. It is human to be sick or ill from time to time. We should go easy on ourselves and take it slow. Relax, take the meds we need and pamper yourself too. After all if we aren’t kind to ourselves, who will be.

2. We are responsible for maintaining our health and keeping ourselves happy as well. Don’t look to family, spouse or children to provide you with care during an illness. Be strong for yourself. Take your meds on time. Take the supplements and get rest. Don’t wear the martyr’s mantel and try to do everything for others when you are unwell. People can take care of themselves if we can’t do it for them.

3. Always, and I stress it, always do something only for yourself. If not every day, then at least once or twice a week. This helps lifts our morale and gives the much needed “me” time.

4. Keep yourself busy. If you’re not well, then try to keep your mind busy by reading some book you love, watch a movie or tv series. Or just meditate and listen to music.

So here are a few suggestion that can make a bad day, menagable.

If you want to answer Wendi’s question, head to her site about.

We all benefit from our shared experiences.

#keepitalive

Weekend Writing Prompt #122- Museum

Museums are fascinating places. They are like a capsule of time period preserved with remnants of history, so that people who visit them can experience what that particular era of time was like.

To borrow the words of Lois Lowry;

…That’s why we have the Museum, Matty, to remind us of how we came, and why: to start fresh, and begin a new place from what we had learned and carried from the old.

(From;Messenger)
A museum of history, technology, art or space, all hold equal fascination for the visitors. These are not only interesting but also informative. Taking the children to a museum is best use of the time. It often infuriates me that we would rather visit amusement parks than a museum which holds the key to not only the past but to the future too. We should dedicate a few hours enrich our lives.

Word count; 147+ 1 ( Prompt word)

Word Prompt

Museum

Challenge

The challenge is simple: each week you will be given an exact number of words you can use to write a poem or piece of prose.  You can use any format or style you like; go wherever your inspiration takes you. 

In response to;

Your daily word Prompt;

Remnant

FOWC;

Borrow

RDP;

Infuriate

And

Weekend Writing Prompt #122- Museum

#keepitalive

#WeekendWritingPrompt

#FOWC

#RDP

BrewNSpew Cafe – August 26, 2019- Graffiti Artist

“When the writing’s on the wall, the pages will be forgotten.”
― Anthony T. Hincks 

Presenting the week’s challenge – You may use the words and/or the image for this week’s prompt.

Word prompt – graffiti – (noun) – usually unauthorized writing or drawing on a public surface.

37625-Eye-Graffiti

prompt image – August 26, 2019

~*~*~

Life like and life sized images

They evoke a plethora of emotions

From wonder to awareness they make us feel

A sense of dread sometimes and awakening at others

Larger than life is their art and so are these artists

They express the emotions of the people at large

Painting the pictures we usually shy away from

These geniuses are nothing like the ordinary

~*~*~

A few examples of the 3-D Graffiti artist, Julian Beever. A truly remarkable artist!

In response to;

BrewNSpew Café- Graffiti

#Keepitalive

#brewnspewcafe

Writing Prompt #33 – Favorite Books


Sarah Elizabeth Moore

My summer reading list is…
All the books which have discovered recently. I read a very diverse range of genres and authors. I love mystery, magic and adventure too. Mostly I like my books to be entertaining and emotionally satisfying. A good conclusion and a seem-less storyline are something which makes for enjoyable reading.

Another favorite genre is historical fiction and romances. So when I discovered Mary Stewart, a British author who wrote historical fiction I was tempted enough to order a trilogy written by her on King Arthur. I am hoping this will a good read.

 Another great find is Louise Penny, a Canadian English author. She writes crime fiction and is a wonderful writer. Very well developed stories with good thrilling plot lines. I have read eleven of her book and there are two more on my list. Her latest will be on sale at the end of this month.

Lisa Keeble’s book, From His Perspective is also awaiting reading.

Another all time favorite is Nora Roberts, and her alter ego J D Robb.

Who are your favorite writers?

Do you find time to read when you are busy in life or blogging?

Please share your thoughts and feedback in your comments.

In response to;

Writing Prompt #33

#keepitalive

#ilovebooks

Working on Us Week # 10- Social Media

Beckie of Beckie’s Mental Mess

has given her weekly Prompt post;

She says;

Week #10’s Topic comes from Michelle (Tigerchelle78) of, “Borderline and Beyond”  If you haven’t read Michelle’s bog, please make a point in doing so.  I admire her courage and strength and she brought up a great topic for this week.

~💚~

Week #10 Topic:  Social Media Affects

 

Prompt #1 Questions:  (If certain questions do not apply, just write n/a).

1. Does social media affect your overall mental health?  If so, please describe how it does affect you?

Not now. Initially when I joined Facebook ten years ago and connected with my friends from school it would bother me if they didn’t respond to a comment or were unkind. Then gradually I was over it and now I am rarely on Facebook anymore.

2. How does it make you feel when you see family/friends posting pictures of them living their life happily?

It makes me happy for them but not envious. I am happy seeing them happy. What one sees on the social media is not the absolute truth!

3. Do the following people make you feel inadequate in any way due to your mental health?  

NA

4. What has been your overall experience with social media?  And, what sites do you follow?

I am on Facebook, Twitter and instagram. But I rarely use them. I made separate account for my blog but I only share my blog posts there and don’t visit these sites much.

5. Have you considered not being on social media?  

Many times!

6. If you have quit social media sites, has it improved your mental health and stability?

Using them less has has made life more serene. One can avoid the pointless discussions and controversies.

7. Has social media ever triggered you in a negative way?  Explain how?

No!

 

Prompt #2  We are all familiar with “Selfies”  Describe for us, what is the first thing you think of when you see your family/friends keep sending and/or posting selfies?

Frankly, I find it a bit silly and childish when someone is posting Snapchat and selfies all the time on social media or are sharing them with me. Not to be judgmental but I won’t do that ever. There are some occasions which call for a selfie but not all day, everyday!

~💚~

Rules:

• Write your own post and create a pingback to the original post here.

• There are no right or wrong answers.  Write in any format you see fit.  (Answer’s, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, poem, short prose…anything).

• You can do one or all prompts.

• You have from August 7th. through to August 13th. to submit your entries.

• Please reblog the original post in order to spread more awareness.

• ( If you the blogger have a suggestion/question you want to ask in the future weeks, please submit them in the comment section of this post).

• Let’s see if we can get some men involved in this weeks prompts, your viewpoint/feelings are validated here too!

• Plus, as an added bonus, whoever responds to the following prompts will automatically be reblogged to promote your blog site!

~💚~

~💚~

Remember to create a pingback to this original post after you write your own post.  Also, you can choose one or all the prompts.  I really look forward to your responses.  Or, maybe I should say “We” all look forward to one another’s responses.

 

In response to;

Beckie’s Mental Mess

Working on Us

#keepitalive

#workingonus

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