Blog Share: Anxiety, Dreams & Passions

Heading in to the weekend I have a few inspirational reads to share from other bloggers on the subjects of anxiety and pursuing your dreams and passions. Please enjoy, and if you like what you see stop by their blogs and leave a comment.

Unwritten - Lisa of Swirls and Swings

"During my last round of counselling, I was taken aback when I realized that I was comfortable making myself miserable. It is not that I enjoy being worried, self-critical and defensive, but these things are so familiar to me. They are patterns that have become so much a part of who I am that when we talked about leaving them behind, I got quite emotional. Feelings of fear and grief swelled up inside of me. Change these things? How could I? It would be like letting a part of myself die! And who would I be without them?"

Second Star On The Right, Straight On ‘Til Morning - Emily of Emily Jane

"I know what those dreams are now, and they involve great risk. Throwing everything that’s comfortable and routine up into the air and taking a big giant leap into unfamiliar territory. They involve following a rocky path without streetlights or signposts along the way, with no guarantee of a destination; no guarantee that at the end of it all, the dreams will come true. But I suppose that’s where having faith in the Universe comes in. And you know what? It hasn’t let me down once."

Build a Life Raft - Janelle of re:find joy

"If this is something that could be a reality for you, there's no better time than now. Figure out just what you need to do to be ready when that glorious moment arrives! Maybe you only have a small amount to do and your life raft is a little animal floatie or you have a lot to tackle and you need a giant sailing ship. Regardless of how much is left to be done, you can do it!"

Image source: Dan McKay

Your Dreams Miss You

"Your Dreams Miss You"; an eloquent line for a sleeping pill advertisement, but I took it in a different way.

Do you have a dream that you've pushed to the back of your mind to recall 'someday'? I know that I do; I need only look right here to see one of my dreams being neglected.

The reality is that someday never comes, unless we make it so.

Stop and consider this. What if you never took any steps in the direction of your dreams? What if you never even tried?

"A life lived in fear is a life half lived." - Strictly Ballroom

You have to make the choice of what day will be someday. Make a goal, decide on your priorities, and act.

For me, this blog post is a step in the direction of one of my dreams. What action have you taken today?

Image source: surfzone

Stylish Blogger Award

I am continuing to struggle to find a balanced life between working full time and having a family (let alone any kind of life of my own!). I had thought I would be adjusted long before now! Right now my main priority is trying to get my sleep sorted as I am just not getting enough of it, and it's fairly essential that I do.

So for now, here's a little something light for you all. Recently two of my readers gave me the Stylish Blogger Award. I was so touched and flattered! The award comes with a few 'rules', so here goes.

All stylish bloggers must pass on the award:

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award

It was awarded to me by both Kelly of Ever Kelly and Katerina of Happy Mummy's Blog. Please stop by and visit with them. :)

2. Share 7 things about yourself (this was so hard to come up with!)

• I dream of being a musical one-hit wonder
• I grew up within 15 minutes drive of the ocean and yet I can only doggie-paddle
• I also dream of running a bed and breakfast in the country
• I had chicken pox when I was 12 and am covered in scars from it
• I type at over 100 words per minute
• My hair used to be so long that I could sit on it, I had it cut when I was 18
• As a youngster I used to take rolls and rolls of photographs and would spend all of my pocket money on getting them developed and buying more!

3. Award recently discovered great bloggers

http://befrankwithyou.blogspot.com/

This lovely lady has actually hung out with me in real life (I know, it's shocking). She's supremely crunchy and enthusiastic about sharing her crunchiness. I'm really enjoying reading her perspective on things parenting and pregnancy related. Also, her name is Amy, so you must know she is awesome.

http://www.refindjoy.com/

Janelle is a fellow Blogging Your Way student. I was immediately drawn to the idea of 're:findjoy'. I will admit her blog has sadly been sitting on my metaphorical blog shelf, gathering dust until I can find a spare moment, but I am hoping to dig in soon and read all that she has to offer. Her message is positive and encouraging. I pursue happiness in my life and I think joy goes hand-in-hand with that.

http://entertogetwell.blogspot.com/

The blog of my dear chiropractor, Danella. This lovely lady saved me from disability during my last pregnancy and has been gently nudging me towards overall wellness ever since. I sure was proud to tell her I'd joined the gym this new year! She probably breathed a silent sigh of relief!

4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award!

I will do this shortly!

I hope you all enjoyed learning a few new things about me, and hopefully checked out some of the blogs above. :)

If you are reading this through my blog you will notice I've added something new to the sidebar - a little weightloss tracker. So even if I'm not blogging about it all the time you can see how I'm doing by checking the number there. I will be sharing my experience of the first month of doing the gym thing shortly.

I'm Wasting My Time Here

Many of my regular daily activities can be stress-relieving, but are a huge waste of our greatest resource - time.

I think you know exactly what I'm talking about. Television, Internet... not all aspects of the two are a waste of time but more often than not I'll realise that I've spent the last few hours watching shows I don't care about, browsing sites I have little interest in, and otherwise tuning out from the real world.

I believe that escapism has it's place. I love a good movie and I love to read. I read every night before I go to sleep. One of the things I enjoy most of all is being able to lose myself in a good book or story.

This past year my reading time has been quite limited so I made the decision to start reading more consciously. If I'm not feeling captivated or interested in a story after a few chapters, I don't finish it. I will never be able to read all the books in the world, probably not even all of the books that I mean to get to someday. So why waste my time on a book that I'm not connecting with?

Now if only I could get that attitude to carry over to my Television and Internet usage.

I've been back at work for two days now. I'm far from having my new routine figured out, but the reality is that I only have about 5 hours of awake non-work time to myself now, and that is including the time the kids are still awake. So somewhere in there I have to figure out how in the world I'm going to keep up with one of the things I enjoy the most - blogging, and thus writing!

The answer is quite simple. Reduce the number of garbage e-mails I read by unsubscribing from everything I don't need. Don't get distracted by browsing from site to site. Turn off the television. Write write write!

Now here is something that I hope will help me stay in touch with my creative writing inspiration, a Christmas present that is on it's way to me from my Mum, via Etsy.

GetSassed on Etsy

It should easily fit in my purse without taking up too much room and has just a touch of my favorite color purple. I hope to take advantage of times such as when I'm stuck on the bus going to and from work, and to be able to jot down ideas as they come to me. Yup, one of these days I'll probably end up writing about the regular characters that I see on the bus such as... 80's hair guy.

In the meantime I will continue to unsubscribe from nearly every miscellaneous e-mail that appears in my Inbox, think twice about what tv shows I watch or record, and try to remember that there is a whole lot more to the world than mindless, pointless, escapism.

Reverb 10: What do you do each day that doesn't contribute to your writing — and can you eliminate it?

One Word for 2010 and 2011

Metamorphosis; a striking change in appearance or character or circumstances

I can't view myself as an outsider so I don't know how different I seem or appear, yet this year has probably been the most changing year of my life.

When it becomes more difficult to suffer than to change... you will change.
Robert Anthony

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.
E.E. Cummings

It is more difficult to hide who you are, then to be who you are. I'm imperfect. I hold myself up to an unattainable high standard. I feel dreadful guilt over all of my short comings. I'm often so crippled by anxiety and depression that some days I don't know how I'm going to make it to the next.

Having said all of that, I'm doing a heck of a lot better now than I was months ago! It's difficult to explain how I can say the above, and still say I'm in a fairly good place. Maybe it is that I have good coping mechanisms in place now, I recognise that many of above feelings are fleeting, and I know how to get myself out of that place.

Confidence; belief in yourself and your abilities.
a state of confident hopefulness that events will be favourable

For 2011, I want to become even more certain of the person that I am, to be myself without fear of judgement. Moving closer to who I really am and away from who I feel I need to be. I also want to have more confidence in the outcome of things, to spend less time worrying about the things I can't control. Events will be favourable!

What would be your words for 2010 and 2011?

Image source: Son of Groucho

Thanks to Belladorable for blogging about Reverb10.

If you haven't heard of Reverb 10, stop by right away and check out their writing prompts. Reverb 10 provides a new writing prompt for every day of December to help you reflecton this year & manifest what's next.

Working Mother

My maternity leave is up and I am headed back to work tomorrow.

Realistically I may not be able to keep up with posting as often as I have been. A few months ago I tried writing every day, which takes some effort but is achievable. I think the more realistic goal for me at this time is about three times a week. As a blog reader I find that it is easier to keep up with a blog that is updated about that often and not every single day, but then again I read way too many blogs to keep on top of them all!

Writing is something I find great enjoyment in, it’s a wonderful way to express myself. Sometimes it feels silly to call it creative when I’m not physically making something, but I find that this is creative expression for me. I want to reassure you that writing here is a priority to me, although of course my family takes higher priority.

I am not stopping. I will continue to bring you my widely varied content and hopefully it’ll be a smooth adjustment for all of us!

If I could ask for a little feedback, what are the topics you are most interested in continuing to read about here?

Thank you so much for reading Journey Mum!

Image source: Rhys Alton

Back to Blogging

It might not be December 21st, but as far as Winnipeg is concerned I think it's safe to say that Winter is here.

I don't mind the start of winter, every fresh snow fall is beautiful as it looks so white and soft and fluffy. It's once the wind sets in and I actually have to be outside in it that I begin to question my choice almost 7 years ago to move to such a cold and snowy place.

The positive part is that I'm enjoying more frequent cups of hot chocolate and snuggling under blankets.

I'm also really excited to be back to blogging! The blog move was a little complicated and I had a few moments of panic but everything should be up and running again now. The biggest difference that you will probably notice as a reader is the new comment system, so please feel to leave a comment and test it out! If you come across any problems please let me know.

The other big change around here is that we decided to go ahead with our bathroom remodel, so the house has been in upheaval for going on two weeks now. I'll be sharing some before and during pictures with you soon, the after is still awhile away.

Stay warm!

Making a change

I've decided to move Journey Mum to wordpress. This might not mean anything to those of you who aren't fellow bloggers, but basically it means that the blog might be unavailable for a few days, and then it will be back and better than ever.

Thank you and hang in there, I'll be back soon!

Blogging Milestone - 100 posts

Image Source: D. Sharon Pruitt

Here we are at my 100th blog post. This blog has gone through a lot of changes since I first started writing it, as have I. From 4 posts in 2008, to 3 in 2009, and this post will make 93 for 2010 so far, it took awhile for things to get going but my blog is one of favorite things now.

When I started out I had no idea that I would be blogging about the things I write about now. I still don't consider myself to be any kind of authority on decorating, or decluttering, or motherhood. What I am is an ordinary woman going through my every day, learning as I go.

My blog really began to pick up steam when I started looking at my days differently. Instead of the rinse and repeat of caring for the girls, struggling to get on top of the mess, failing to find time to do what I wanted to do for me, I slowly pulled out the moments of brightness and pleasure from inside of all of that monotony. Then a wonderful thing happened. The more I focused on those moments, the more I experienced them. My life transformed from feeling like it was groundhog day every day, to a life I actively participated and found enjoyment in.

One of the things that initially held me back from blogging was my fear of what the people who know me in the offline world would think of what I had to say. Looking back, that was a pretty silly fear. So far I haven't received a negative remark, in fact I am always surprised when people tell me how much they enjoy and look forward to reading my blog. Surprised and very pleased!

I'm not saying my life is perfect. In many ways it's not. I still have dark moments every single day where I wonder how I am going to get through some struggle or anxiety in my life. But I also have a greater respect for the blessings and abundance in my life.

To celebrate reaching 100 posts I thought we'd take a look back at the five posts that attracted the most views from you, my readers.

Something New - Fashion Tees

A Room of Her Own

Where I Blog

The Girls Bedroom/Nursery Reveal

Storage Solutions - Hidden Shelving

I'm so pleased with how far I've come and I'm excited to see where I will be when I get to my 200th post. Thank you for continuing to read (and hopefully enjoy) everything I share here.

I was featured!

I was so excited to see earlier this week that my post on the girls nursery/bedroom was featured over at Sugar Bee - Craft Edition! This is the first time that I've been featured on another blog. Very exciting!

My Dad and Step-Mum are visiting until Wednesday so I will probably continue to be absent until then. We've been doing lots of sight seeing and been keeping very busy. Desana is having lots of fun!

Blog Share: Faux fireplace, Roses in the bathroom and more!

Today I have a big thank you to all my wonderful readers - that's you! I have 20 official followers that show up on my blog, and I know that in addition to that many of you read via e-mail or just pop over when you see an update on facebook. Thank you all for finding me interesting enough to keep coming back for more!

In the spirit of sharing I thought I might give something new a try. Some of the blogs that I read do a weekend round-up where they share some of the interesting things they have come across throughout the past week. I have noticed that I tend to share the things that really wow me with some of my friends, so why not share with you too?

I know it's not the weekend, but here are a few of the neat things I've come across over the past week.

Janet at The Decorating Diaries made this gorgeous book page fireplace insert.

Image Source: The Decorating Diaries

You wouldn't know it to look at the 'style' of my house, but I am deeply in love with the shabby chic style, so the faux mantlepiece with all its decor is so appealing to me. Maybe someday I'll have a woman cave that I can put something like this in.

Connie of Hartwood Roses finished her basement bathroom renovation.

Imagine source: Hartwood Roses

I wish my one and only bathroom was that beautiful, let alone having something like that in the basement!

Kim of A girl and a glue gun shared how to make this AWESOME menu board, bonus being that if you aren't crafty she can custom make one for you!

Imagine source: A girl and a glue gun

Boy do I ever need to get back into meal planning...

Rachel of Small Notebook has a great article on Decluttering with your Spouse.

Be patient with each other’s stuff. When I see my little piles of stuff, I don’t see clutter — I see my works in progress, my mementos and souveniers, and my collections of inspiration. If Doug decluttered my stuff for me, I would be worried he would give or throw away something that mattered. He feels the same way. Even though our tendency is to want to clean out each other’s stuff, it’s better to spend more time focusing on our own.

Now there's a blog I'd like to read from top to bottom. The bits I've read are about decluttering and organisation (hmm.. sounds familiar), but she has the ability of getting straight to the point, which I, do not!

That's all for now. Hopefully I'll be back with some more later. We've had a crazy busy long weekend over here and my house is in such a major state of disarray (but the end result will make it so worth it!).

New Advertisor: Shining Stones

I'm so excited to share my news with you! Last week I saw that one of my favorite bloggers, Ellie of One Crafty Mother, was looking for places to advertise her etsy jewellery store. My inner critic was sure it would be a waste of time to nominate myself, but I decided there was no harm in trying. To my great excitement Ellie responded with a lovely e-mail and let me know that she was indeed interested in advertising on my blog. Hooray! So now I've made back a little bit of the money that I've invested in my blog over the past two months, and I get to share with you the gorgeous jewellery of Shining Stones.

Here are a few of my favorite pieces.

Personalized bracelet (customisable) - $34

I love this bracelet for both the colors and the message. Gratitude is a significant word for me this year. What a nice little reminder to wear as you go about your day!

Mother's Bracelet (customisable) - $52

Somehow this bracelet is both chunky, yet elegant. Plus it's purple, you can't go wrong with purple!

Starfish Pendant Necklace - $12

I love the simplicity of this necklace and the message Ellie includes with the listing which is the Parable of the Starfish. "It will make a difference to that one." What a powerful message!

Luscious Green Quartz Earrings - $18

I have been trying lately to make an effort to wear something more than my regular old earrings. It's amazing how a little splash of color can bring some light in to your day! Ellie has some gorgeous purple earrings but I thought I better show you some different colors so you don't get the impression she's purple obsessed. Ahem.

Little Love Nest Ring - $18

My heart seriously goes pitter-patter for this ring. Isn't it the sweetest little thing you've ever seen? There are also some similar styled necklaces!

I am sure you won't be able to resist stopping by Shining Stones to check out these and many more beautiful pieces. As an added bonus to the pure gorgeousness of the jewellery, the shipping is also FREE to ANYWHERE!!! Who could resist that?

If you are looking for an inspiring read, check out One Crafty Mother where Ellie blogs about her life as a mother, artist, writer and recovering alcoholic. She's fabulous.

Calling all guest bloggers

I want to start featuring a variety of guest bloggers, at the rate of maybe one guest post a week. I'd even be happy to put together a post written by one of my many readers who are not bloggers (you know who you are). You could just e-mail it to me with any applicable photos and I could put it together and post it here.

I think that everyone has something worth saying. Do you have something you want to say?

If you've been thinking about blogging, this could be a good way to dip your toes in the pool. Have a good think about it and send me an e-mail.

Oh, and if you already have a blog and like what you've seen here, I'd love to be a guest blogger for you!  E-mail me!

I like... 31 Days

October is going to be a great month for blog readers and I just had to share. It's a little funny for me to say this since it hasn't even started yet, but I LOVE the concept behind this! A lot of you have probably already heard about this, but if not I'm telling you about it now. Eight lovely lady bloggers have all made a commitment to blog for the 31 days of October about a specific topic. I think that there is probably a little something for everyone in this group.  

• 31 Days to Stress-Free Entertaining from Sandy at The Reluctant Entertainer
• 31 Days to a Better Photo from Darcy at Life With My 3 Boybarians
• 31 Days to More with Less from Jen at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
• 31 Days of Autumn Bliss from Melissa at The Inspired Room
• 31 Days of Living Simply from Emily at Remodeling This Life
• 31 Days to an Inspired Table from Kendra at My First Kitchen
• 31 Days to a Less Messy Nest from The Nester at Nesting Place
• 31 Days of Grace from Emily at Chatting at the Sky

Although I will probably check out all of the above I am most interested in:

  

You can read more about this over at the Nesting Place.

Which blogs do you think you will be checking out?

Blog Button

For those of my readers who are fellow bloggers I thought I would draw your attention to a new addition to my blog sidebar, a blog button! Please feel free to stick it on your blog if you'd like to share my blog with your readers.

As well as being a permanent feature of my sidebar I'm embedding it in this post for you to be able to see it right away.  Here it is!

<a href="http://www.journeymum.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1047.photobucket.com/albums/b480/journeymum/journeymum_120x120.jpg" border="0" alt="Journey Mum" /></a>

Thank you for continuing to support and read my blog, your comments mean so much to me.

Blogging Your Way E-Course

Image source: JohnONolan

Tomorrow is the first day of the Blogging Your Way e-course that I signed myself up for. I'm excited. I don't know if the class content is completely up my alley in terms of the kind of blog I seem to be writing, but I am sure there will be various elements that are applicable to me. I am hoping to maybe come away with one or two blogging friends. I don't really have any yet and feel like the stranger on the outside making pitiful attempts to get to know or fit in with the crowd (a feeling which is all too familiar!).

I am feeling excited and inspired. I have that little buzz of energy that as a child used to proceed a big day like Christmas, or as an adult, the little indication that change is in the air. Good change. I feel like my New Year can start on any day, and maybe this will be the year when... whatever it is I've been wanting will come to be.

"In our current world where stimulated ideas, new opportunities and innovative minds are so openly welcomed, oftentimes the biggest thing standing in the way is ourselves." - On Fearing Change: When It's Time to Take a Leap of Faith

It's not like the things I want out of life are unrealistic goals. I do not want to be an astronaut (actually the idea of going in to space petrifies me - THERE IS NO OXYGEN!!!), and despite sometimes feeling that at 26 I've missed the opportunity to do something big with my life, that is apparently not true. I say apparently because it still feels like it is true. I know there are people out there who are twice my age and still making big changes. It's that paralyzing fear that always holds me back, that internal DANGER! DANGER! alarm that goes off when I contemplate stepping outside my comfort zone. My inner critic who likes to warn me over and over again, "You could fail."

Perhaps my inner critic is even more worried that I could succeed.

Where I Blog

Most of the blogs I read I have been introduced to by my Mum, or found them through a blog she has shown me. Mum is like my own personal shopper - for blogs. So one way or another she probably introduced Centsational Girl to me. I saw her invitation to a Where Do You Blog? party and figured why not join in? I've actually never participated in any kind of group blog event so this is a first.

At this point I have to say thank you to Shawna for being braver than me and fiddling with my camera settings yesterday. Whatever you did, the pictures are certainly looking better and brighter with colors more true to life!

I wish I had somewhere incredibly gorgeous to show you but it's pretty basic.

I spend probably, and this is no exaggeration, 90% of my time while on the computer with one kid or the other climbing all over me. Freya is still at the age where she is nursing quite frequently, so more often than not I'm snuggled in to my corner of the couch, babe in one arm and blogging or browsing with the other. I am literally doing that right now.

Back before I had a toddler who figured out how to climb over the back of the couch or pull down baby gates, the desk in the background was mine. Now it's basically storage only. I keep handy the things I need most often, the external hard drive for my laptop is hooked up most of the time, usually the camera sits next to it when unused and the pile of stuff I'm working on or need to look at is behind that. Right now there is the magazine I'm currently going through and cutting stuff out of for my illustrated discovery journal, a blank but beautifully illustrated notebook, a cookbook filled with lots of Australian recipes that I haven't had in over 6 years now, a hand written recipe and household advice book by my great grandmother, and a little box of old jewelry that I am going to get my Mum to tell me the story of each piece. Several of those items will end up being the subject of blog posts.

The reason this place works best for me is that it is comfortable, where the kids play most of the time, where the tv is so I can monitor what Desana watches or watch something with Matt. It just helps me to not feel isolated or stuck while nursing.

Someday I hope to have this kind of table that you can find the plans for over at Ana-White.com

A few weeks ago I saw this advertised on kijiji for over $400 used. The seller said they bought it for over $800.

Image source: Pottery barn - Bedford project table set

On Ana's site she has it listed under the $20-$50 price range and said she based it on a table that was priced at almost $1200. Someone commented saying they spent about $130 making theirs. Either way, that is no where near retail price!

So why don't you wander over to Centsational Girl's blog party and check out some of the literally hundreds of different blogger's places. If you've wandered over here from there, say hi and I hope you stick around awhile!

Returning

Image Source: D. Sharon Pruitt

Life got very busy. I actually started working about a month after my last post when my daugher was six months old. Now I'm expecting baby #2 so I am thinking about things again and wanting a place to express those things, and to bring together all the research I do for this pregnancy.

I reread all my old blog posts (yes, all overwhelming four of them!) and I notice that I will need to do an updated cloth diaper post based on my experiences over the last nearly 18 months with cloth diapering. We are still using them but with a few little changes. Note to self to make that post!

I'm due in January 2010 and am currently about six and a half months pregnant. I'm planning on going the same route as last time, with a few small exceptions. I'm lucky enough to have the same midwife, planning another homebirth and waterbirth as an option. The differences are that this time around I've also hired a Doula and have been seeing a chiropractor for the last two months.

The pregnancy this time around has been fairly difficult, but that's improved a lot since I started seeing the chiropractor. The alignment of my pelvis and spine combined to give me contractions that put me off work and on bedrest for a week at 18 weeks. Very painful and distressing, but it was a relief to find the cause and be able to work on treating it. Now I just have to take it fairly easy and listen carefully to my body so I don't overdo it, or I have pain again.

This time around the morning sickness started earlier at 4-5 weeks and lasted until 19-20 weeks! I just keep reminding myself that it's worth it in the end, but incredibly difficult while you're going through it.
It's hard to find the time to do the reading I did during the last pregnancy. I have about three hours at home every day where I'm actually awake, and those hours are taken up with evening routines, making dinner, spending time with my daughter, trying to catch up on housework and chores, watching tv. It goes by very quickly. I still don't know how working mother's do it all, and I've been one for well over a year!