Picture of the Week - 1/7/2021

 Happy 2021

Today I am focused on a few things that I thought I'd share - in no particular order.  

1) Blinders

There is continued unrest happening all around the country.  (For future me reading this many years from now, there are protests and distrust a growing push for more division in areas that I never would have expected.)  And I am pretty focused on securing my blinders and keeping my head down.  This doesn't mean I support it.  It doesn't mean I condone it.  It means I'm choosing my happiness above a need to "be in the know" and certainly above any kind of thought that I need other people to feel the way I do.  My sons' coach posted last night about how much he loves his "bubble" - of family, community, school, team.  I am with him on this.  We have it pretty damn good in our bubble and (at least for now) that's where my focus is.  The rest...  outside my blinders.

2) Pause

My word for the year is Pause.  It took me a while to get to this word.  In the last couple of years I've chosen Joy and Gratitude and - honestly - I feel that the focus I gave these words changed who I am.  Maybe I was gonna change anyway.  Maybe not.  Either way, I'm hoping the choice of this word will have a similar impact.  I want to get better at responding - not reacting.  I especially need this reminder with my boys - and at work if I'm being honest.  I want to remember to stop, to think, and to pray instead of feeling the need to immediately react.

3) My relationships

There are people who regularly pour into me and I want to get better at pouring back into these people first.  I am going to try hard this year to accept the gifts of friendship and love without questioning motivation - and to worry less about the dull relationship spots because life is too short to focus too much on people who don't love me back.  I am particularly focused on my relationships with my boys - especially that one who will be leaving us in 6 short months - and with God.  (It is not lost on me that my relationship with my spouse comes easy 95% of the time and I consider it one of the biggest blessings in my life.)

4) Mindset control 

Not like any kind of sci-fi thing, but more like the "this isn't a good thing for me to dwell on/worry about, so stop".  I've been on this mission for a while now because it is true that you have to train your brain to see positivity.  It's actually been studied many times that you can be happier just by practicing gratitude.  That's powerful.  So I will continue to be mindful of how I'm feeling and what I can do to be intentionally happier.  (This makes it sound like somehow I'm unhappy or something - which is far from true.  It's more that I don't think this is a "task" that can be called "complete" and will probably be on my list of focus areas for the rest of my life because I choose Happy.)

5) Birds

A strange one, to be sure, but something that I am having a lot of fun with - and also happens to support several of the items above.  We have a bird feeder in our backyard.  We started filling it regularly back when the pandemic hit - so we've been through 3 full seasons now.  My parents gifted me a bird bath for my birthday and that has made our backyard an even bigger target destination.  If you have ever been here, you may remember that our backyard backs up to a wetlands area.  So we have lots of nature back there - big trees and stuff to create habitat for birds of all kinds.  We have hawks, a super cool woodpecker with a bright red head, a paid of bonded morning doves, a couple of giant blue jays, and bunch of brown birds I can't identify without a Georgia bird book.  My favorite though is a big, extended family of cardinals.  We started with a few and they apparently had a REALLY productive year.  We now have about 10 males and an equal - at least - number of females.  They hang out in a big flock all together and it's so cool.  I love these birds.  I can see them from where I work and they are a huge source of conference-call distraction.  I can't tell you the number of times that I look out there and see a flurry of activity and can't help but smile.  It's really cool!  I actually just bought another, bigger feeder.  We are going to be the hot spot for birds in Forsyth County!

This picture doesn't do my birds justice at all...  but I thought it would be a nice reminder of what I spent a year looking at while working from the house.  (No talk of going back to office, so who knows... if/when that will happen.)

I'd love to hear what you are focused on this year - and if you are ever here, ask to see my birds.  :)

This weekend Spencer and Quinn are wrestling in a Duals tournament and then next week we are diving into the Region tournament.  Hard to believe the season only has 5 weeks left.  Last weekend we won another tournament, but they went "no spectators" so we didn't get to see.  I think we should be able to go watch from here on out.