279 (Photo credit: superba_)

Life is not a quick process. Life is gradual. Life takes time. Life does not allow a re-do if your plans go awry or when some new information is revealed. All you do throughout your life is place your bets on the likely options. Then you hope.

In beginning smoking, you’re hoping that the cautionary tales are overblown or won’t apply to you. In your relationships, you hope that you’re both right, or at least that, if you’re not right, then you’re wrong in the same ways and you’ll work well together.

And in the process of planning, acting, and evaluating, it’s funny how similar patterns crop up: the most logical things are the hardest to put into action; the more risk-averse you try to make your life, the riskier your circumstances become; the more you back-up-plan for failure, the more likely you are to fail.

And in learning these lessons, nothing changes. The rules will be the same. If you try to eliminate more risks based off your latest experience, the new risks just pop up elsewhere. Planning a back-up for your back-up is unfeasible and mostly detrimental. Quitting bad habits is still incredibly difficult, by design. Despite knowing that lying awake in worry never fixes the issue, and rather causes harm on the basis of the lying awake itself, we still have sleepless nights. Even though telling your partner about an issue is unconditionally easier within 24 hours than it is a week later (or not at all), we still bottle up our transgressions.

Throughout this, some of the fortunate few ultimately realize that life is gradual, but crashing isn’t. Crashing doesn’t take time. It happens gradually, but you realize it suddenly.

So instead of re-writing the same pattern and trying to control life’s gradual path, and instead of adopting the Zen method of letting go of everything, I’m going to try to make suddenly happen a little bit nicer this time.

I’m going to be honest. I’m going to plan and act. I’m not going to have a back-up plan. Risk is less risky when you accept it than when you try to avoid it. I’m accepting risk.

I’ll let you know next suddenly.

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1. Hit the Stumble button. It’s a great way to expand one’s horizons.
2. Browse Lifehacker.
3. Catch up on The Simple Dollar.
4. Do yoga or pilates.
5. Belly dance.
6. Brainstorm or create something new inspired by music from Pandora or GrooveShark.
7. Make duct tape wallets.
8. Learn something new through MIT’s Open Course Ware.
9. Browse Google for new productivity or organization applications.
10. Review my days, weeks, or months.
11. Catch up on my 101 Things in 1,001 Days list.
12. Daydream about where I want to be in the future.
13. Browse stock photos for inspiration.
14. Work on my scrapbook.
15. Look for a new book to read via reading lists or Amazon user reviews.
16. Search for other blogs in my niche and leave “good job” comments.

What do you do when you are bored, but do not want to actually do work?

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Mine are smoking, caffeine, shopping for office supplies and belly dance gear, and planning. I cannot go without these things. If I do, I go crazy. The first two are terrible for me, and I am actively trying to break myself from them. Shopping is not too bad, because I rarely buy anything and it does not consume too much of my life. I consider window shopping and browsing online a recreational activity and treat it as such: I only do it when everything I need to get done is finished.

Finally, planning is a productive activity taken to the extreme. I have to-do list after to-do list and lists to show where my calendars are. I am completely obsessed with staying organized. As such, I am trying to free myself to the point where I can do things productively but not obsessively. I will let you know when that is done.

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Medication

I maintain my mental health in a number of ways. To be honest, this includes medication, because I am bipolar. It also includes taking fish oil and a multivitamin because I do not have the best diet ever. I have admitted to myself that, for now, I need help keeping healthy. I am okay with this and I would hope my readers would be as well. To me, it is far better to be healthy and happy with help than to be unhealthy and in denial.

Scheduled Posts

I am definitely the opposite of a morning person. Actually, I’m more of a mid-afternoon productive type. But I want to have a post first thing in the morning for my American readers. Because of this, I schedule nearly every post you read on this site.

Jewelry

Yes, even a silver pendant has something to do with my routine. Every time I leave the house, I put on an om necklace I got as a gift for a little over $20 on Amazon. It is a constant reminder throughout the day to remain balanced, polite, and in a good mood.

I Have Friends

I have made friends during my life who have similar goals to my own, who want to remain in touch with their spiritual sides and treat others kindly and respectfully, and who have some ideas for how to go about it. They have helped me immensely.

I Have a Role Model

I have a person in my life who is the epitome of how I want to act, and seeing this person interact with others never fails to inspire me to be a better person.

I also have a new mentor, who I think will provide me with direction in my college and work careers.

Whether it is a necklace or a best friend, there are little things in my life I like to keep around in order to help me stay healthy and sane. What are some of the methods you use to stay balanced?

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• Got straight As in the fall semester
• Defeated depression
• Opened and funded a high-yield savings account
• Made over $200 dollars by writing

Minor Achievements

• In better shape now
• Maintained the One-Year Tightrope for a month and a half without missing an article
• Wrote in a journal every day for two months straight
• Made an excellent, supportive new friend
• May have gotten a steady job as a writer
• Began eating well and exercising regularly
• Implemented a productivity system that works for me
• Learned to brainstorm effectively

Growth

• Learned introductory accounting
• Understood object-oriented PHP
• Began re-learning Spanish
• Meditated somewhat regularly

Failures

• Did not make $1,000 online like I wanted
• Did not get a job like I should have
• Made a B in Biology over the summer
• My GPA is still not to 3.5
• Operated under a very high level of stress

Positives of Failures

• Encouraged to work harder next year
• Know more resources for making money online
• Learned a lot about myself and how far I can be stretched

What I will do the same

• Continue to work smartly
• Continue to plan and review weekly
• Continue to learn and grow every day
• Exercise and eat healthily

What I will do differently

• Be kinder to myself
• Study more often for harder classes
• Begin meditating more often
• Work more toward my 101 in 1,001 goals

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Image via Wikipedia

Tomorrow, along with Black Friday, is the National Day of Listening – a time when it is proper to ask for and share stories about communities, lives, and families. For this holiday, I want to challenge you all to both ask somebody else and answer the following question yourself: how will you be remembered?

The question is not meant to be answered as either objective or subjective, nor is there a right or wrong. The idea here is what a person truly thinks about himself or herself and to analyze that, and change what is desired. As Gandhi said, be the change you want to see.

As for me, I will be remembered as a loyal, close friend who always tried to lend a hand when others were in need. I hope.

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Have you ever heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? It’s a huge area – twice the size of Texas, in fact – filled with garbage. The world’s largest landfill. And it’s in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, which touches most continents on the Earth.

Ever thrown away a diaper? That’s where it goes. Aluminum cans? Yep. Paper and plastic and glass bottles, oh my? Absolutely. Everything gross you decide not to keep in your house ends up either in the ground or in the ocean, and chances are it lands here.

Considering how much garbage the average American family throws away in a day – usually around 1/2 to one full bag – that’s a lot of trash floating around in the world’s largest puddle.

So I started recycling. I got a conscience. Then I stopped, because I moved to a place that didn’t have any recycling program. I moved later and had a roommate who was really into it, but I stopped caring and didn’t begin again until recently, when I went outside.

You see, I had gone out for a cigarette break between classes, and I watched as a woman threw away three plastic bags (my school is beside a grocery store) and one hit a bird. I didn’t think that long about it until a few minutes later, when my business class went to watch a presentation by a woman who has been and is very dedicated to recycling – on the board of the commission in the county, nonetheless – about the act and the landfills around here, and what is and is not recyclable. She showed us her box from purchasing a Swiffer, which was stuffed with plastic and tape. It was a real wake-up call.

So today I went dumpster diving for the first time in my life. A neighbor had forgotten the dumpsters are ours and not just hers, and had stuffed it to the brim with cardboard boxes. This is a no-no for two reasons. First, it’s rude to take up the entire dumpster, especially when trash will not be collected for another few days. Second, that’s a lot of perfectly good cardboard on its way to be stuffed into the ground. So I grabbed a box cutter and went to work. I tore the boxes apart, flattened them, and stuck them into the bed of my stepfather’s truck to take to the recycling center when he goes shopping on Sunday. I did my good deed, and I feel like something has changed.

I was bored the last few days, which is why I started this blog. I now feel like I have something to do. I am going to change the world, and I want help. I assure you: once you begin recycling, you will feel different.

Do you recycle? How do you stay encouraged? Do you have any words for those who do not?

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