The Power of Music

Completely switching gears from last week.  Mostly because this has been bouncing around in my head all this week, and also because I'm not sure where I was going with that last week.  I had a point, but I also had a husband and daughter doing some major distracting last week.  I'm not sure I even wrote a coherent sentence with the amount of distraction going on.

So, the power of music.  There was a long period in my life, where, if I got upset at something, or somebody, I would play the angriest music I could find.  The Strand, Korn, Godsmack......  These were the bands I would crank up.  For years and years this is what I did.  And it never really helped except prolong the anger.  I would leave work, crank up the music, and arrive at home furious.  Do a bit of Turbo Jam, and my shoulder would be sore for a day or two from how hard I was punching the air.  But I was still upset about whatever it was.

This year I decided to try a different approach.  I call it my "Just shake it off" playlist.  Anytime something upsets me, I play this playlist instead.  Nine times out ten I'm in a much better mood, and have moved on.  That one time out of ten is usually a case of it being something major that needs to be taken care of, not a situation that's just frustrating, or a person who has there head stuck up their you know what.

My playlist does have songs added to it whenever I find a song that makes me feel happy listening to it.  But at the moment my list is....

Shake It Off, Taylor Swift
Let Go, Alice In Videoland
Red Balloon, Charlie XCX
Try Everything, Shakira
Awesome As I Want To Be, Daniel Ingram
Beautiful Life, Ace of Base
Ex's & Oh's, Elle King
Roundtable Rival, Lindsey Stirling


It's a short list, but I'm usually good halfway through it.

Anyone else out there have a playlist of this nature? What songs make you happy/cheer you up?

Trying to Create Goals

There are so many self help authors out there.  From what I've seen, a similar factor between them is that you need to write your goals down to achieve them. This also seems to come from those successful people that have made it big.  They knew what they wanted, they wrote it down, and they went for it.

But what if you are among the people that don't know what you want?  I think too many people are labeled as "lazy" or "not ambitious" simply because they don't know what they want.  It's easy to make blanket statements like "I want to be successful."  "I want to be rich" "I want to live in a huge house"  "I want to travel".

That's great, but you want to be successful at what?  What are you willing to do to be rich?  With the ever longed for goal of being rich, are you prepared for the fame, and lack of privacy that comes with it?  Or, if it's not a famous kind of rich, the long hours you have to put in at a high pressure job?

Some people are, they are ready and willing.  Great! go for it!

These days the "American Dream" seems to be rich and famous.  I think it used to be owning a bit of your own land and owning yourself.  Not being a "slave" to a monarchy.  Although, that is a whole can of worms I don't think I want to delve into today.

So, back the the question.  What are your goals.  Your main life goals.  I think for some of us the question isn't what are your goals, but what makes you happy?  I think this because sometimes we are looking at life thinking we need to achieve this success.  That unless we are striving for some kind of greatness, we are nothing.  That is a mindset we need to get rid of.  There are so many people who's main goal is to survive, and because they aren't trying to make a million dollars, does not make them less important than the person who has been able to make their million.

And at the same time, sometimes the whole goal setting thing is difficult if we don't know what we want to do.  Sometimes we fall into a career, and sometimes we really wanted it, and then grow out of it after the reality of what the day to day of that job entails.  So, I think, (and I am by no means a professional, and these theories are untested.)  that the first step is to list all the things that you enjoy.  EVERYTHING.  From sunsets to hobbies.  Write everything that you enjoy down.

Forever Working on Fitness

It seems once you start, you can never stop.  Although when it comes to your fitness, and well being, you should never stop.  What I find interesting is that I go through phases of workouts.  When I started, all I did was Pilates.  Mat Pilates.  I loved it!  Then I found some great cardio workouts, then I started weight lifting and dropped the Pilates.  Then it was cardio, cardio, cardio, followed by running and yoga.  At this current moment it's all Yoga.  I tend to get into a workout, then my brain starts to work against me.  Then I try to figure out ways to add all my various workout favorites into the week.

That is usually where I burn out and stop working out regularly for a week or so.  So for years I've been trying to schedule everything I enjoy doing, and still manage to do everything else I need to do, because you know, I am apparently an adult, and have to be responsible. Sometimes that responsibility includes looking at what your workouts are, and figuring out if they really are working for you.  And while I think in some ways the Yoga is helping, I also think that I need to add something more in there.

And I also am finding that I am rambling in this post.  Isn't that just entertaining to you?

So, before I completely loose any focus on this entry, I'll ask anyone who happens to read this.  What do you do to maintain balance between your workouts?  Do you stick with one thing, or do you have a schedule you follow?

Let me know in the comments what your workout routine is.  Does it make you happy?  That is very important, none of this painful I hate life workout stuff.