Lightening Online

I was just thinking about looking for a funny clip on YouTube when the following email came into my inbox from my SIL. It fitted my plans for Smiley Saturday this week perfectly.

MEN ARE JUST HAPPIER PEOPLE………

NICKNAMES

You may have seen mention around the Blogosphere of the passing of the world’s oldest blogger, Olive Riley. Olive’s words, through her blog, have inspired many people.

Admittedly, she did have some help with her blogging - by someone almost 70.

I get so inspired by those in the “grandparent” generation getting into new technology. I’m sure there are many who could run rings around me when it comes to technology. But then you get others that really don’t want to have anything to do with all things computer related.

My own grandfather is another one who has inspired me. He bought his first computer in his 80s. Before that he already had an email account set up that he used at the local library. He usually had to get the library staff to help him, but he wasn’t beyond asking for help and learning something new.

When my parents were studying at theological college, there was a lady there with a similar story. Already in her 70s, she was working her way towards her degree. Everyone commented on how inspirational she was.

Last night at netball training I was encouraged by a lecture the coach of another grade was giving her team. Our coach cancelled our training due to many of the team (including herself) being away. 3 of us ended up going to training anyway so we happened to be with this other grade when the coach was giving her team a lecture.

The theme of her lecture? You’re never to old to learn.

The reason for her lecture was that she was unhappy with the attitude of some members of her team. We’d been working through a drill earlier in the night which focused on practising our passes and she didn’t feel they were really paying enough attention to what was being said and shown.

Her main point was that it doesn’t matter how much we think we know or how old we are, there is always something we can learn.

To be honest, 90% of the time at netball I feel like a complete idiot (the other 10% of the time I’m so close to death I don’t care LOL).

When someone says “throw a lob”, everyone goes ahead and does it.

Me? I’m thinking….”what’s a lob, how do I throw it, when would I use it, I wish I didn’t have 2 hands, 2 feet AND a body to try and co-ordinate at the same time as throwing or catching a ball”.

To be honest it is REALLY easy to feel very discouraged, like a complete idiot and wonder why on earth I’m putting myself through this? Especially on the days when it just doesn’t feel like I’m having fun.

So even though I was a “ring in” (ie not part of her team) and she wasn’t really talking to me, it was a lecture that I found very inspirational. A reminder and an encouragement that we never know too much or get too old to learn.

On days when I’m thinking “what on earth am I doing trying to learn netball at 34?”, I need to remind myself that “I’m never too old to learn”. In a way I think being open to learning something new every day is the secret to “staying young”. And the secret to getting the most out of life.

Olive Riley leaves behind her a legacy that says “you’re never too old to learn”.

Is there something you’ve been putting off? Something that you’d like to learn how to do? Perhaps now would be the perfect time. How amazing would it be if we all chose to learn something new, in honor of Olive Riley, the world’s oldest blogger.

I haven’t blogged much about my Life Coaching in recent weeks. We’re taking a brief recess while I try to allow my body time to adjust to all the med changes it’s going through. I’m very PASSIONATE about the Life Coaching process but I’m also a believer in the fact that there is a time and a place for all things.

One of the things I have been working on as part of the Life Coaching process is a Visual Board of what I would like my life to be like in a year’s time. Some of you may recall that I really struggled with writing what I would like my life to be like in 5 years time.

The Life Coaching process has been really helping me to discover what I DO want for my life. While I think a longer time frame is good to think about, using the time from of “my life in a year’s time” was a good stepping stone for me.

I approached the task by simply making a few notes about things I wanted to change about my life now. Working through some values worksheets provided by Danielle (my life coach) helped me to systematically work through what things were/are REALLY important to me.

I was working through this process back in May and June and decided to choose my 35th birthday (July 2nd 2009) as a significant date for my “life in one year’s time” goals. In my mind it kind of marks a “theoretical half-way point” in my life and is also the time in which we expect to be heading off on our 3-month caravanning trip (a dream Farmboy and I have had since we first got married. Actually, it was MY dream but I rubbed off on him).

Danielle suggested that if I were a visual person, I might benefit from making a “vision board”. The concept really got me excited and while the process itself took a little longer than anticipated (I had a few little hang-ups that she helped me work through along the way that were causing me to procrastinate on putting the board together), it was HEAPS of fun and I feel really positive about my current direction in life.

It’s been finished for over a month now but I’m finally getting around to showing it to you. This is what it looks like (you can click on it for a slightly larger image):

I LOVE looking at it. It holds pride of place on a cupboard door in our office (where I spend quite a bit of my time).

Some of the main features include:

• Family time
• Me time
• Home grown food
• Caravan - holidaying, trip
• Healthy & Fit
• Healthy BMI
• Decluttered Living Spaces
• Feeling Positive
• Feeling Good About Myself

All of these things are important to me and feature as a focus in what I’m trying to achieve in my life.

I’ve found it interesting that the more I work through this process, the lower earning money seems to be on my list of “priorities”. It’s not that it no longer exists, I’m just realising it’s much less important to me than I thought it was. And I suspect that once I get these other areas sorted out, that might just fall into place a little more as well. Or at least I’ll be more ready to focus on it. Maybe. We’ll see.

It will be interesting to see how things go and how close my life matches my vision board in another 12 months.

What about you? Anyone else ever made themselves a vision board of some description? Did you find it helpful?

 Image via WikipediaThere are a couple of small “housekeeping” matters I wanted to fill you in on. It seems easier to simply put together a post detailing the bits and pieces I really want to say. Apologies for the “boring” nature of this post. Some days the “boring” stuff just needs to be said.

COMMENT MODERATION

Some of you will have come across a message when you try to post a comment which indicates you’ve used a word from my spam filter in your comment which may result in it going to moderation.

Unfortunately, spammers don’t limit themselves to nonsense or objectional words in their spam comments and so some regular words are also in there.

If you click on the button “yes, post my comment”, it will go through. INCLUDING the word my filter has picked up.

If your comment doesn’t appear (and it’s not your first comment - 1st comments ALWAYS go to comment moderation) you can use the contact form listed in the tabs in my header to let me know.

I apologise for the inconvenience but this seems to be the least intrusive way of dealing with spam right now.

PARTIAL RSS FEEDS

There is a temptation to set your blog to partial RSS feeds in an attempt to force readers to click through to your blog. Some people do this for advertising dollars (or cents), some to help their statistics and some because they think people will comment more if they are forced to visit their site.

I don’t want to rant and rave about this one because what you choose to do is your choice. It’s your blog.

Here’s my problem. Some blogs I really like choose to only publish partial feeds. And I just don’t have the time to click through to every blog that I read. So when it comes to making hard choices about which blogs I will and won’t read, those with partial feeds are the first to go.

Publishing a full feed might reduce your visitor statistics in the short term but it will increase your loyal readership in the long term.

Like I said, it’s your choice whether or not you publish a full or partial feed. And it’s my choice how I choose to spend my time. Sadly, those who only publish partial feeds are the blogs that tend to get culled from my reader when I need to cut back on how many blogs I read.

BLOGROLL

My blogroll is a combination of blogs I enjoy reading and my way of thanking readers of this blog. I read a LOT of blogs and try to, at the very least, occasionally visit the blogs of those who comment here.

I do apologise that there are not enough hours in my day to regularly read the blog of every single one of my readers but I do try to do what I can as time allows.

I got the impression from some of the responses to my recent “blogroll call” that some people are reluctant to even contemplate my wanting to put their blog on my blogroll.

Unless you regularly publish objectionable material, I AM happy to include you on my blogroll. My not reading or commenting on your blog is less a reflection on what I think of it and more a reflection on my time limits.

So if you’re reading this and you’re yet to put your hand up to be included on my blogroll, I hope you’ll feel more comfortable doing so now.

ADVERTISING

My apologies for anyone who has had annoying little boxes (that supposedly are NOT pop ups but are very close to it) appear on their screen. It’s taken me by surprise and I’m in the process of looking into that. I think it’s a new thing BlogHer are trialling. To be honest, they don’t pay me enough to be that annoying. Hopefully I can get it sorted out sooner rather than later.

THINK THAT’S ALL

HELLO???? Are you still awake??? Thanks for bearing with me. I hope that’s helped to clarify a few things but if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to say so.

P.S. I KNEW I’d forget something. If you have a blogger blog that uses a pop up window for your comments, I cannot comment right now. Don’t ask me WHY but the pop up window won’t open fully enough for me to comment. I’m REALLY sorry. I have NO IDEA what is going on or WHY this is happening.

Image via WikipediaI have just come through my next phase of weaning off Effexor. The bump as I decreased my dosage was a little bit of a smaller bump this time.

Thankfully.

I’m now down to 37.5mg which is what is generally used for getting people onto and off of Effexor. It was the dose I started on a few years back.

Here is a bit of an overview of my experiences so far:

225mg - 150mg

A reasonably low key change. I had about a week where I wasn’t quite feeling “myself” but nothing too significant.

150mg-75mg

This was the most noticable in terms of side effects with day 2 being the absolute worst. Overall I would say that the first 3 days are the worst and within the space of a week, I was actually feeling BETTER than before the dosage decrease.

75mg-37.5mg

I noticed a small amount of headiness for the first 3 days. I’ve also been fairly emotional since this decrease and I’m finding it difficult to determine if this is due to what has been happening around me or the dosage decrease.

My advice to anyone who is going through weaning off Effexor:

• Listen to your doctor. If you feel you can’t trust your doctor, find one you can. DON’T try to go it alone. I have read some horrible accounts of people withdrawing from Effexor cold turkey.
• DON’T panic. Some of the stuff I’ve read on the internet is down right SCARY. So far, any side effects I’ve had have been TEMPORARY.
• DO be kind to yourself. Your body is going through significant adjustments and it may need time and rest.
• DON’T try and make any significant decisions while you’re going through this process.
• DO find someone you can trust to support you through the process.

From what I’ve read, the bump from something (no matter how small) to nothing is the biggest bump. But I’ve come this far and I’m hopeful the final bump will be manageable. I’ll be on this dose for a few more weeks yet. That gives my body time to fully adjust and gives me a break from the withdrawal process.

Overall I seem to be coping pretty well and it is nice to be able to really FEEL again. I feel more like myself than I have in quite a number of years. Obviously, if my body wasn’t ready for this, things would be different.

(Sidenote: The word Effexor gets picked up by my spam filter when you try to leave a comment.  If you get a message about moderation, don’t panic.  If you click on ” Yes, post my comment”, your comment should go through fine.  The automoted spam bots can’t read that message and therefore don’t know to click on “yes, post my comment”).

Interestingly enough, Zemanta has suggested a couple of my own posts as possible related articles for this one. That makes life easier than having to go looking for them myself.