Friday, September 16, 2011

Gold Star Theory

Some days are hard. Really hard. It's difficult to find the motivation or energy to do much of anything. I'm running on about half a tank of gas and have twice as many things to do. By twice as many things I mean keeping up with my regular life, fighting cancer, doctor's appointments, fighting insurance, trying to update my blog, etc...

So I came up with a new theory of living: celebrating the small achievements. When I get something simple done, be it taking a shower or putting away my laundry, I give myself a proverbial "gold star". Well, to be honest, they've been less proverbial lately and more literally since the purchase of reward stickers. So for instance, today I got stars for showering, packing my stuff up, trying on wedding dresses, surviving the car ride to Charlottesville, and traversing the city to show my future mother-in-law my thus far wedding plans. The hardest star to earn was the one for surviving the car ride - it's sometimes the easiest tasks are the hardest. I thought I was going to boot for 90% of the car ride, but I digress...

Some might call it lowering my expectations, but I prefer to think of it as raising the reward bar. It really surprises me how happy my gold star stickers make me feel. Or when my friends and family agree or suggest I deserve a sticker (mostly my mom, who now gets her own stickers). So gold star for blog posting today. Or at least silver star for trying to be coherent after such a long day.


P.S. I love Charlottesville. Being here feels like home. And special thanks to Laura for coming to DC to do wedding planning. :)

1 comment:

  1. I hope you didn't forget to give yourself a gold star for updating your blog! XOXO Glad to hear you didn't boot in the car. Here's a childhood memory I have of you - you were probably only like 3 years old, and we had been outside blowing bubbles. I think you were blowing bubbles in reverse - sucking IN the bubbles. We made a short trip to my mom's work for some reason, and you were so car/bubble sick and I swear you were burping bubbles. I can still picture the look of misery on your poor face... is it wrong that it makes me giggle? C'mon now, if Holly sucked in bubbles it would make you giggle... lol XOXOXO

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