Day: November 22, 2016

The Sandbox Writing Challenge #65 — Changes in the wind…

/ Ravyne Hawke / 5 Comments

For this week’s question, Calen still has us pondering prompts from Philip Simmons’ book Learning to Fall. 

yesterday-i-was-clever-so-i-wanted-to-change-the-world-today-i-am-wise-so-i-am-changing-myself

What have you struggled to change in your own life?

It would probably be easier to list what I haven’t tried to change, but I will give this a shot. Time for a list, I suppose.

My body – I’ve been overweight most of my life and have tried just about every diet out there and nothing seems to work. I will admit, I am a carboholic and I know carbs keep weight on you, especially the bad carbs, not veggies, the good carbs. I love bread. OMG do I ever love it. Cakes, cookies, pies, chocolate, ice cream and donuts too. It does me no good to try to eat those things in moderation. It won’t happen. If any of those are around, I will eat them until they are gone. I am not giving up though. I know that somewhere out there, there is a diet that will work for me.

Self-Worth – I’ve struggle with this since I was a child. I never felt like I was good enough, not to my parents, my siblings, friends or teachers in school. As I grew older, I became careless and reckless, seeking my own worth through the mates I chose – usually jerks, narcissists, and/or abusers. I could never measure up and felt like a burden and failure. I still find myself feeling this way.

My Life with Mental Illness – This has probably been my biggest struggle: how to live with mental illness, all of its harshness and destruction. Unfortunately, this will be a life-long battle and although I’ve made a few changes here and there (my attitude toward it and practicing Mindfulness), I will never completely rid myself of it.

My Attitude – I have issues with some people. I can’t tolerate those who are willfully ignorant. It’s not that they can’t learn and grow; it’s that they don’t want to do so. They are blissfully stuck in whatever dogma they’ve been taught and refuse to change. I’ve had to learn to just accept them as is and decide if I want to be engaged with them or not. Some days, its a losing battle.

Those four are my worst struggles. I could probably go on for an eternity, but many of my issues overlap and I am not in the mood to be redundant today.

 

The Daily Me (Journal) Wishes – 11/22/2016

/ Ravyne Hawke / 4 Comments

Today’s prompt comes from 100 Inspirational Journal Prompts by Melissa Bolton @ The Mogul Mom

I wish everyone had___

I love ‘wishing’ prompts. They allows me to explore the what-ifs and what-could-bes of life. This one is especially endearing because it takes me out of my own head and allows me to explore for others.

So what do I wish everyone had? Respect for their fellow human beings, creatures great and small, and for Mother Earth and her limited resources. Too often these days, I see and read about divisiveness all over the world. The us/them mentality is ripping this entire world apart. It seems that certain people have decided that some humans are lesser-thans and unworthy of respect, love and compassion. Some have also decided that Humans are more important than other species that populate this planet. Creatures are going extinct daily. And Mother Earth is being destroyed so that some wealthy people can continue to line their pockets off Her resources.

I’ve heard often that in our modern technological age, the world has grown smaller, and yet, we’ve never been so disconnected from one another. Selfishness and greed rules the world. You cannot respect others unless you step outside of your own desires and see their hopes, wishes, and needs. You cannot respect other species unless you see how vital their existence is for the survival of this planet. And you cannot respect Mother Earth until you realize that we have this one planet and She has to sustain us all.