Every now and again, we all need to be reminded that we ARE good enough. Sometimes we get hammered down by the brutal reality of life and it seems that our inner feelings start to lag. We ARE good enough. In fact, we are beyond good enough. We are perfect. That perfection may be different with each of us but we are perfect in our own ways.
With everything that has been happening on the Bayou over the past year, my confidence was beginning to take a beating. Stress from caring for ill family members and for ill and aging pets just about took its toll. I was beginning to doubt my own self-worth. Trust me when I say that is a hard thing to handle. My remedy was to work myself into a frenzy with home renovations and yard work. Then, that too, started to take a toll on this old body. Something had to give. While I could not take a break from the care-giving responsibilities, there had to be some easier way of stress relief other than my tried and true method of hard work. It took the idea of a very dear friend to "plant" a bit of happiness.
One day, this sweet friend mentioned that we should buy ourselves flowers. While it was nice to receive flowers from others occasionally, buying them for ourselves could reconfirm our confidence. I do not buy flowers so, instead, I picked. I picked a bouquet of gardenias and stuck them in a vase. Well, that was done so why did I not feel better? After doing a few chores, I walked back into the living room where the bouquet sat and immediately noticed how nice the room smelled. That was nice. Later, I returned to the room and noticed that the sun beaming through the window was highlighting the blooms. That was nice. Still later as I sat editing photographs, the flowers, once again, caught my attention and I thought of Tina, my sweet friend. Yep, THAT was nice!
Those three things lifted my spirits even without much effort on my part. While I did not buy my flowers, I had followed Tina's advice and had some just for me. I was worth it! The effect was pretty special so, today, I went out and picked another handful of gardenias. If one bouquet lifted the spirits to any extent, perhaps I needed to repeat the process. I think Tina is on to something here, folks. Doing one small thing just for ourselves can make all the difference in the world. It is important to take care of ourselves not only physically but also emotionally. Tina, thanks for the advice! A vase of flowers each week can bring a lot of smiles.
I have a very sweet and talented friend who creates puzzles for her social media friends. I am blessed to have her, not only as a friend but as a family member! Her puzzles give me a much needed break during the day and add a bit of brightness to the world of the internet. While on the pier the other evening, I took several pictures of the sunset. It occurred to me that the sunsets and sunrises that I view on a daily basis could make some of the most gorgeous (albeit difficult!) jigsaw puzzles. I am not sure just how long a puzzle of, say, a thousand pieces would take me to do with the colors in the horizon being exactly the same as in the reflection on the water. Which piece would go where??
The thought of jigsaw puzzles of the past and the ones of today made me giggle. With technology giving us the opportunity to do the puzzles on the computer, we do not have to fret over lost pieces. Back in the day, a jigsaw puzzle of a thousand or so pieces would take over the dining table in a lot of homes. Folks were destined to eat in the kitchen because the "table was occupied"! The tiny cardboard fragments with a bit of the image would be strewn on the edge of the table with the work space taking up the center. Folks would wander through the dining room and invariably just "have" to set a piece in place. The urge to find a fitting part was too strong to pass! It never failed that one or more integral pieces would go missing between the time the box was opened and the puzzle completed. Whether the tiny piece was dropped on the floor and inadvertently swept up with the dust bunnies or kicked under the buffet, there was always the feeling of sheer agony just looking at that gaping hole in the middle of an otherwise gorgeous work of art! That said, there was also usually that one person who just "had" to put in the last piece and who would hide a piece just to have the honor of completing the puzzle. Fretful times for other folks but this was a glorious accomplishment for the sneaky puzzle finisher!
Not too many dining tables hold the brightly colored puzzle pieces these days. Folks do not have time to sit back, relax with family and friends while assembling a puzzle. What used to be a bit of good family entertainment seems to have fallen the wayside. Sad..but at least, thanks to Tina, I can still take a few minutes to click a piece in place on my computer! Hmmm...with that thought, perhaps I should dig in the closet and pull out one of the puzzles from years past. Yep, I still have the ones that the kids and I did back some twenty years ago. Maybe....
