self improvement Archives — Thrifty Mommas Tips

Twenty-one Things I Am Proud of in 2020

Paula — Sat, 02 Jan 2021 16:39:40 +0000

So what are you proud of in 2020? What was your greatest accomplishment? What are you proud of in 2020? People keep asking this question. Part of me wants to be a total smart ass when I read the question – I mean 2020 accomplishments at the end of the year were dramatically different than our expectations at the start. Let’s be clear. I got up, got out of bed and kept going in a year full of anxiety and stress. That was enough many days. My 2020 Moments Instead of making it a negative or griping or dismissing the entire year, I keep saying the same thing, which leads me to the number one thing I am proud of in 2020, the past year. I Kept My Teenagers and My Family Alive You know that thing that people do when their kids are infants….how you tiptoed into their rooms at night and peered out over the room in the dark and you held your breath waiting to hear their breath. Were they breathing? There were many variations of this in the past year only they all looked like me checking in to be sure they were in fact still okay. Getting Out of Bed Oh boy there were a lot of days I could have just stayed in bed. There were many days in the first few months especially when I was legitimately concerned about my family and being able to pay the mortgage. But more than that, we headed into the pandemic with a daughter who was in crisis in terms of her mental health. Pandemic plus mental health crisis was a pretty scary place to be. Many weeks I thought I might have also been depressed from the strain and anxiety of the situation. Sustainability Not being able to go places, being home more often meant that we also made more sustainable choices often. Fewer trips to stores meant saving gas and that’s better for the environment. Using up what we had instead of going nuts consuming, was a journey we mostly embraced. I am proud of that. Steps This year, while gyms were closed I walked in my neighbourhood and many days I got my kids out walking with me. When we couldn’t workout we could walk and sometimes workout in the basement too. It’s what worked this year for us. In fact, I wrote a post about celebrating the art of walking. TikTok I started TikTok and it is is pure fun. Check me out over there @inkscrblr. It’s a brand new deal and a choice and I am having fun with it so go visit. It’s a few seconds of time and I am enjoying the video and video editing portion of the channel. Pure and simple. Enduring Remote Learning Oh, make no mistake this was a hot mess. But, we endured it and my oldest adjusted and my youngest passed all of her courses so far. It is not ideal and this entire year continues to shift and change so much I may just dub it there shapeshifter year. But we endured. Tent Camping We bought a tent and we learned how to pitch it and we went camping when it was safe to do so in the summer. And we discovered that we enjoy it, almost more than anything actually. It was our favourite and only travel experience this year. The Writing In 2020, I continued my quest to diversify and published all sorts of parenting during a pandemic content. Several of those pieces appeared on CBC Parents. I’m thrilled to keep that part of my work going. Connecting Connecting with others who have kids with special needs has been crucial this year. In fact, this year, that’s been more important than ever, because we cannot get together in person and we need more support. Learning to Make Bread in a Bread Machine We received a bread maker in early 2020. That was brilliant because we used it weekly for the first five months and then every couple of weeks afterwards. We have made some scrumptious dinners with it and we have also made jam. That’s right the breadmaker makes jam! Not Letting Hate Win Divisive politics in the USA and even here at home in Ontario have made it extremely hard some days to not drown in anger and negativity. Hate is not a thing I hold onto, because it drains you of energy and light. There are days when it feels overwhelming but I am releasing it, right now and I hope that this continues to be the emotion that I feel occasionally and then decide to let go daily. Gave My Site a Facelift It had been years since I switched the look of my site and frankly, I am not sure why I waited so long. The new look works and I like it a lot. Does it still need a few tweaks? Sure, but this is a vast improvement and a new skill that I have mastered…changing themes in WordPress. Increased Traffic and Pageviews While it was a weird year at a lot of points, it was also a period in which people were looking online for a lot of things and reading more. So, happily, traffic grew. Also, I like to think my investment in SEO and content has been paying off. Photography and Editing At the start of the pandemic I wasn’t motivated by much. When I travel I take photos, but there was no travel so why bother? Well, I ended up getting a new phone and I feel like that gave me a better outlook on improving my photography. Pretty sure it shows on Instagram and here, at least a bit. Reading During the pandemic I have had more time to read and a few of the books I have picked up have been powerful and memorable. Two of the best ones I read this year were The Road by Cormac McCarthy and The Kiterunner by Khaled Hussaini. Regretfully, I didn’t really tally the number of books that I read in 2020, but I gained a lot from the words and the style of every book. Adjusting to Virtual Workouts Not my favourite way to work out by a stretch, but I am again doing a wider range of workouts and that’s fine. There’s merit in changing it up once every so often. Boot camp to yoga and even dance fit style. It’s all good. Found a Few New Trails We explored a bit more of our city this year and there was a lot to enjoy about that. Finding some new trails, choosing to finally explore Sifton Bog instead of driving by it (a thing we have done for the last five years!) Kept Paying the Mortgage OH BOY. This is not intended as a slight in any way to anyone who stopped paying the mortgage. Please understand that at the start of the first lockdown we were genuinely worried about being able to pay the mortgage. In fact, we had no clue if Jim would be able to continue his job, if it was essential or not. In the early days before CERB was even mentioned, we were worried. I made the inquiries at the bank and called our financial planner and thankfully we were able to keep paying the mortgage. I’m grateful for that. Baking My daughter has done some incredible baking this past year and I am grateful for her scrumptious experiments. She nailed making an apple pie with lattice and her glazed apple bread was fantastic. But her homemade pizzas are my favourite. One of the things I am pretty proud of in 2020 is her kitchen skills. The Meals It’s been many years since we have eaten this varied a diet actually. Having to plan ahead has helped us to determine what we are making ahead of time and frankly also we have enjoyed using Hello Fresh a bit. It pushed us out of our comfort zone. Standing UP Wait, what do I mean by that? Well, after all that this year has thrown at us I am still standing up. We all are. If you are too then give yourself a big hug, kudos, mad props. We made it and that speaks to our resilience. Growth Happened Anyways While the year behind us was full of worry and so much chaos at times, it also had a lot of lessons and moments of beauty too. Growth happened despite the pandemic and maybe at times because of the pandemic. And we kept going. That’s what I am most proud of in 2020.

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The Year of Clarity and Positivity

Paula — Mon, 13 Jan 2020 10:45:31 +0000

What are your plans and goals this year? Lately, my daughters and some of my friends have been talking about plans for 2020, the year of clarity. 2020 vision equals clarity. Get it? I really like that metaphor for the new year and the new decade. Perhaps, this decade will be one of clarity. One daughter has a goal to drink more water and frankly that’s clearly a goal I am all about. I think that’s a great ongoing goal for me, but I am already doing well there, so it’s not really my resolution. That same daughter, who has anxiety disorder, has a goal to be less hard on herself. I love that she’s given this some serious thought. My Year of Clarity Was Slow to Start January is inevitably a time for fresh starts, new beginnings and more. This year, the weather has been a hot mess, so my goal of skiing ALL THE DAYS, has been put on hold. Of course, that is just a hopeful sort of goal that I can work towards, but not control because of weather and other obligations and even health. It’s more like a dream than a goal and I will work on making it happen, because I love to ski. By the time you read this, we will all be used to a new year and a new decade. Hopefully, all of the Christmas decorations and presents are put away by now. I confess it took us until this past weekend to get everything away. So much for being super organized and clean slates. But, if I am taking a page out of my daughter’s book this year, then I need to also go a bit easier on myself and simply accept that we got busy. Better late than never is my family philosophy often. Clarity Has Been Slow in Coming This Year Some years it takes me longer than others to arrive at a word of the year. In fact, I kind of wait for a word to make sense for me and this year it didn’t until this past week. This year, the clarity has been slow. Maybe New Year’s resolutions are more your cup of tea. Maybe, like me, you choose a ‘Word of the Year’ to guide your vision or philosophical approach to the months ahead. Last year my ‘Word of the Year’ was Reach as in Stretch and work towards building new business relationships and streams of income. My 2019 Goals In 2019, I set a goal of getting more bylines in traditional magazines again, in addition to the online content and social media consulting business plus content marketing business, because diversifying was part of my vision and it was how I interpreted Reach. So, I did. That was a SMART goal for me that worked. You know SMART goals, right? Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely. Bylines and pitching outlets seems time consuming, but it is necessary in my business. This is an area where I do have clarity and positivity. My Past Words of the Year Grow and Travel are words I have chosen in other years. A couple of years ago MOVE was the word and I committed to that, going to the gym 5 days a week and skiing or swimming all the days possible. This has worked for me every single year, except for that one year when I chose Mindfulness. Turns out being mindful on a daily basis IS extremely challenging. I might need to revisit that one at some point, but definitely not this year. In 2020, my word of the year is Positivity and Clarity. Clarity is focus despite the other events and details that threaten to cloud your vision. I choose clarity and positivity. Will 2020 be Your Year of Clarity? Being positive when the world around you is negative is a strength and an art. I struggle at times, but I am a silver lining kind of person. There has to be a reason, or something positive, about every situation. That’s not being Pollyanna at all. It’s more about strength and survival and being able to carry on when the world seems to be uncaring, or indifferent, or hard. So, this year I am actively choosing positivity, even when health care and schools are failing my special needs child, when my email inbox is filled with terrible belligerent offers asking me to write for free I will work to stay positive while telling them what they are doing wrong. When my teens are being a big pain in the butt with their teenage mood swings and occasional inability to see other people’s viewpoints, I will also be positive, because it is a phase. And most especially, when I feel overwhelmed by bills that can’t be paid fast enough. Positivity. What do you believe in or measure every year? Is there a moment at the start of the year where you say to yourself: This year I resolve to read more? Or This Year I Will Drink More Water? Word of the Year or Resolution? Whatever your thing – Word of the Year, Vision Board, Resolution – when the intention is about self improvement and even sometimes making the world a better place, then I am all about that. I wish you success and clarity this year and this decade ahead.

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Self-Improvement for the New Year with DK Canada

Paula — Mon, 14 Jan 2019 11:31:21 +0000

This post was sponsored by DK Canada. Self-improvement is always on the top of everyone’s list when the new year rolls around. Whether we’re trying to lead a more healthy lifestyle, balance work and home life, or just broaden our horizons, self-improvement always takes the front spot in our minds this time of year. It’s no different for me and my family. This year, we’re improving ourselves with my favourite publisher, DK Canada. Three Self-Improvement Books for My Family Travel and learning always top my family’s list of ways to improve ourselves, and the books I recently received from DK Canada help us out on those fronts. 15-Minute Japanese My sister-in-law is Japanese, and my oldest daughter is very interested in learning the language. In fact, over the past decade, she’s actually picked up several phrases. She picks up language fast and always has done so. Now at 17, she’s fluent in French and English and chipping away at Japanese. That’s why I got her 15-Minute Japanese. With it, she’ll be able to start actually learning the language that she’s always been so fascinated by. Who knows – maybe the rest of us will pick it up too. From the DK Website: With this fun, user-friendly, and uniquely visual Japanese language course, you can teach yourself Japanese in just 12 weeks. ….What? Cool. DK’s 15 Minute Japanese–now relaunching with a new free audio app–is the perfect course for busy people who want to learn Japanese fast. Twelve themed chapters are broken down into easy-to-follow 15-minute daily lessons, spanning a range of practical themes, including socializing, doing business, food and drink, travel, and shopping. Each lesson combines vocabulary and grammar essentials with attractive full-color photographs, making it quick, easy, and fun to learn new Japanese vocabulary. There is no writing or homework–you simply use the cover flaps to hide the answers to exercises and test yourself as you learn. Each chapter ends with a review module, so you can track your progress and identify any areas where you need further practice. The free audio app enables you to hear Japanese words and phrases spoken by native speakers. You can also record yourself, compare with native speakers, and re-record as desired. Use the app alongside the book’s easy-to-use pronunciation guides to perfect your pronunciation, and to practice Japanese conversation in real-life situations. 5 Language Visual Dictionary I got myself the 5 Language Visual Dictionary. I studied a lot of languages over the years, but I never became fluent in any of them. That doesn’t mean I lost my passion for languages, though. Since I plan to visit Europe this year, I’m eager to start using my new book. From the DK Website: 5 Language Visual Dictionary is a user friendly and intuitive reference for adults learning English, French, German, Spanish, or Italian. The only language dictionary of its kind, 5 Language Visual Dictionary makes language learning accessible by using photographs to put everyday words into context. Its thematic organization of 10,000 terms accompanied by more than 1,600 annotated color photographs and illustrations puts the perfect translation at your fingertips. Additional feature panels include abstract nouns and verbs, as well as useful phrases you can use in conversation. Whether you are a student, tourist, or business traveler, 5 Language Visual Dictionary is your comprehensive guide to learning English, French, German, Spanish, or Italian. DK Life Stories: Anne Frank Finally, I got my youngest daughter DK Life Stories: Anne Frank. We’re all fascinated by the story of this courageous young girl, but my daughter is especially moved by Anne’s life and her diary. She was so excited when she heard she was receiving this book. From the DK Website: In this biography, discover the incredible story of Anne Frank, the courageous young writer who hid from the Nazis during World War II. Anne Frank’s diary is read by children and adults worldwide. It tells two stories: one of an extraordinary young girl living in hiding during one of the most fearsome times in history, and one of a relatable young girl facing the same questions and troubles that kids come up against today. Learn how both sides of this puzzle made up the person who is Anne Frank. Meet her family and friends, explore “The Annex” where they hid, and see her story put in historical context alongside information about World War II and the Holocaust, and Hitler and Nazi Germany. Books are a Great Path to Self-Improvement I’m a lover of books, both for pleasure and self-improvement. The best scenario is when a book combines both of those elements. That’s what books from DK Canada do for my family. With 15-Minute Japanese, 5 Language Visual Dictionary, and DK Life Stories: Anne Frank, my family and I are well on our way to a year focused on self-improvement with some fun and interesting books that will help us broaden our horizons. Enter for a chance to win a copy of DK Life Stories: Anne Frank. Good Luck! If you do not win you can still save on these books – Indigo sale on until January 20th: https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/sale/deals-of-the-week/books/dk/ Entry-Form

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