Life by the Sea

Transcending Procrastination – You Can’t Finish What You Don’t Start

April 18, 2012 5 Comments

You have to take that first step Internally committing to something is one thing. Publicly committing to something is entirely different for now there’s a heightened sense of accountability. Your actions are measured, tallied. Your inaction noticed for the void of activity it occupies. Your ideas, your dreams, your goals are now in the public forum – no longer locked away in the confines of your mind. They take on their own life, own identity and are now tangible. What no one could see is now in the limelight. It is now hanging over your head like a visible thought bubble… …mine is written in 12pt Calibri font and says “I want to be a writer“. Comfort zone be damned In an effort to get my creativity kick-started I dove into a workshop with the amazingly talented, brilliantly authentic, witty and charming Donna Morrissey this past weekend. It filled […]

Confessions, Dreams

Dream Paralysis – It’s Not Who You Are That Holds You Back

April 3, 2012 15 Comments

What do you want to be when you grow up? If you could do anything in the world instead of the job you are doing right now, and had the funds to do it, what would you do? What would you be? Is it the same thing you wanted to be when asked the same question in your childhood? If it is, why haven’t you made that a reality? What is holding you back? What steps would you need to take to make that happen for you? Sometimes you don’t end up where you thought you would I was asked this question this morning. I wanted to be a fashion designer, a teacher and a marine biologist. My life has taken many twists and turns – I am none of these. While parts of these careers still appeal to me, I’m oddly okay with the outcome. So, what would […]

Holidays, Mental Health, Social Media

April’s Cruel Day – Why Your Fake Pregnancy Announcement Hurts

March 30, 2012 9 Comments

Fools rush in April 1st. The day that pranksters rejoice at the opportunity to be a tad mischievous and are absolved of all punishment under the guise of April Fool’s Day. The goal is to fool an unwitting victim into believing something or trick them into taking some sort of action you’ve encouraged them to. My Dad loved playing tricks on us Growing up in my household, we would be awoken by my father with the news that there had been a big snow storm overnight and that school was cancelled. Much rejoicing followed until we rushed to the window to see how much snow we’d be able to go out and play in with a day off from school – only to see bare ground. Somehow in the year between we always seemed to forget his go-to prank. Whatever the hoax might be, it is meant to be received […]

Books, Memories

Literary Aficionado – How What We Read Shapes Us

March 6, 2012 8 Comments

I’ve always loved the written word As I child I was a voracious reader. Scholastic Canada book orders were like the Sears Christmas Wish Book for me, only they came much more frequently. I remember taking the book order home and pouring over it for hours – circling all the selections I wanted. I was very fortunate that my parents encouraged my interest in reading and nurtured my love of books by supplying endless reading material. I remember being over the moon excited when my elementary school teacher brought the Scholastic box into our classroom and placed it on her desk. I’d sit in eager anticipation as she ripped the packing tape covering the narrow gap between the cardboard box’s flaps. She’d open one flap, then the other until finally it was open. I swear blinding beams of light sprung forth, up and out of that box. A reading Mecca. […]

Goals, Social Media

Intrinsic Extroversion – Reaching Out By Reaching In

February 28, 2012 6 Comments

It’s all in the genes Many of you have only met me in the last few years and most likely it has been through social media – forums, facebook, twitter, etc. Truth is I’ve been participating in social media in its most archaic forms since I was a child and that was initially fostered by my father. I get my geeky genes from him. After all, my dad’s idea of heaven is was Radio Shack. What a ham! My dad became an amateur radio operator (also known as ham radio) in 1956. He’d talk to people from around the world while sitting in his bedroom, all through the use of technology. (Incidentally, I’m am amateur radio operator too – callsign VE1TAM). When I was a young child I remember going down into our basement to his ham shack (what amateur radio operator’s call their room of radio gear). He had […]