Sunday, February 28, 2010

The Bling Factor

The Bling Factor! Bright, shiny, exciting, packed with a punch of WOW! But the thing about the bling factor is it loses its luster, its shine! It can leave you with a sense of not being enough the next time.  It returns you to the routine, the every day, which can seem dull in comparison.

Last Sunday, I posted my Walk of Shame , for my mamavation post, and I honestly can’t believe that its only been a week. SO much has happened.

This week I lost .8 lbs but I gained at least 40 in the wisdom column.  I honored some Beautiful Bloggers with their own Bombshell titles. (See below for today’s bombshells).  I had a guest post over at HowtoMakeMyBlog and an online article, Living Life as a Big Girl Bombshell, over at More.com.  One Fish, Two Fish was about trying fish and about how we learn as kids, then adults.  Where my 40 lb gain was from my personal stretch this week to listen and paying attention to my heart.  My week propelled me into a new galaxy of learning.  That learning is what fuels my motivation faster than any trick I could ever come up with.

10 years ago, I was forced to make a career change, due to a physical problem, after 15 years in a career as a dispatcher.  At the end of the day, that job made me feel good about myself.  I had actually built a lot of my self-esteem around my career.  I was given a year to “retrain” myself.  I had dabbled in college, off and on, fitting it in around work, kids, and honestly, it wasn’t a priority.  Vocational schools did not offer the type of career options I thought I wanted to go into.  So I proposed something out of the norm.  I went back to “traditional” school.  A community college.  I plotted and planned and dissected the college catalog to come up with my plan.  I looked at this as a one time shot.  An opportunity that may never again present itself.  I took 20 units in the Fall and 24 (yes a double load) in the Spring.  I ended that semester with a 4.0 and graduated with two Associate degrees AND a certificate.  I was ELATED!  The big BLING!  But the icing on the cake came when the valedictorian named me as his inspiration because of all that I had overcome to get my degree.

Over the last ten years, I lost a lot of that motivation and BLING as I let life get in the way.  I fell into the dullness of the routine and “Oh, that wasn’t enough.” “It didn’t answer everything.” “It didn’t give me what I thought it would.”  But, isn’t that some of the traps we fall into on our weight, body image pursuits.  Thinking it will make us happy when….

What is important here is why it gave me that original bling factor.  Applying that to my current situation and finding that sense of pride and accomplishment within the routine and sometimes dull tasks.  What lead up to the bling factor was the day to day determination and looking at those tasks as my job.  Showing up to class each day.  Doing my homework to continue to learn.  Participating in discussions and reading.  So, that is the key for me.  Showing up, Doing, and Participating, no matter how small or menial I think the task is.

Becoming the student again means instead of looking at my life with What I don’t have (a Bachelor’s Degree) it is about using what I do have (Experience) in my new pursuits. I am now pursuing a Master’s Degree in ME!

Reading Michael Pollock’s Food Rules this weekend (A coincidence from this week) reminded me of something I knew in my heart.  When I wrote The Bounty is Yours to Reap and Sow about how my garden started changes in my life.  (Rule #62).  So these rules will be my class schedule and I will add movement as part of getting to class.

So to end this long winded post as promised, my Bombshell titles go to Leah at BookieBoo, the Small Step Success Bombshell and Carla at MizFitOnline ,the Sensational SuperHero Bombshell.

What small steps of accomplishment can you refer to so you can bring the Bling Factor of accomplishment to your life this week?  Comment or post about it but send me the link if you post!  I want to read your stories of inspiration!