The Life Makeover Plan

 

Any time a big life changing event happens to me (like breaking up with someone), I often do a lot of reflecting.

 

This is probably one of the biggest changes I have experienced. Within a week I started college, and have become a single parent living on my own! That's a lot to take in. But I noticed that being in school has helped me to feel hopeful, inspired and even distracted enough to get through the day.

 

As I looked around my emptier apartment after dinner I started to feel sad, and began reminiscing on all the good times Nick and I shared throughout our life together. Knowing that those times are long gone, and there's nothing I can do about it, I decided I had to do something to get through this time in my life.

 

Clearly the site of my apartment was triggering these emotions. It's a big unorganized mess right now. So I dove in and rearranged some furniture. And let me tell you, moving a queen sized bed and a desk by myself was hard work! And it's over 30 Celsius (feels like 40!) outside right now (which is really weird for this time of year)! But it made me feel better.

 

And so I decided that my apartment needs a complete makeover.

 

But like I always do, I started thinking and looking even deeper into my problems. Not only is my apartment a mess, but my life is a big mess, too.

 

There are so many things in my life that have been making me unhappy for so long that I got used to it and it just became the norm. Like my weight gain, and my not so pretty wardrobe. I've been slacking in the parenting department, too. And I never go out with my friends any more. Not to mention, my finances are a disaster!

 

That is why I decided I need a complete life makeover.

 

Now, some people are probably thinking "Don't take on too much!" Which is good advice, but I know myself pretty well now and if I don't keep myself busy I will fall into a horrible, deep depression. Which is kind of how my life got into such a big mess in the first place! I haven't had a job or been in school for almost a year now. Being a stay at home mom has never felt right for me, either. And besides, it's just me and Sid now. I might as well pay a little more attention to myself!

 

And so I looked through all of the different areas of my life and chose 6 that really needed some attention.

 

Those 6 areas are:

1. Health
2. Parenthood
3. Relationships with friends and family
4. Home
5. Money
6. School

Each month I will write out one goal for each area of my life that needs work. I'll aim to achieve those goals of course, but I know that sometimes things just can't get done. In which case, that goal can get bumped into the next month or maybe I'll try something different and get back to it later. That happens sometimes, you feel like you're ready to do something and then later on realize you weren't.

 

For the rest of September my goals are:

 

1. Health: Pick up exercise bike from my aunt's house and go on it for 15 minutes a day. Not a long time, but enough time to get me started. Any longer than that and I might not even bother!

 

2. Parenthood: Work on our evening routine. You know, supper, tidy up, bath time, story, bed, etc.

 

3. Relationships: Start making plans with friends again.

 

4. Home: Rearrange furniture and organize belongings in bedroom and living room.

 

5. Money: Send out resumes for a part time job, for no more than 12 hours a week (I don't want to exhaust myself). Pretty sure I will need all the money I can get at this point! AND work out a monthly budget to help keep spending under control.

 

6. School: School is just on here so it doesn't get neglected. Basically, show up every day on time, hand in homework on time.

 

That's my plan for the next 20 days. If everything goes over smoothly, hopefully I will have built a few new good habits and accomplished some stuff, and can add 6 more goals for October!

 

What areas could you work on in your life?

 

Thanks,
Cole

Day 2 - Blog Every Day in May

This is What I Know

Picture I drew in 2012

Today's challenge is to educate my readers on something I know a lot about, but the truth is I don't really know a whole lot about any one particular subject. I don't even consider myself very good at any one particular subject either.

The truth is, I can't concentrate on one subject for very long without getting bored. My mind is all over the place all the time. Even as I'm writing this, in the back of my mind I'm considering what I'm going to write for tomorrow's post, how I'm going to set up my apartment and what I want to make for dinner.

The only thing I know a lot about is me and my life up until now. Mostly because I lived it, but partially because I've been documenting it through journals and pictures for many years. 

Do you want to know what I know? 

That life can be really sucky at times, or in my case a lot of the time, but it's freaking amazing to be alive. And that whenever you're feeling sucky, you should use that energy to create something. 

Go for a walk and bring your camera and just start taking picture after picture of everything you see. Sit down and draw whatever you want; whether it's the landscape in front of you, your shoe or a silly image kicking around in your head. 

Write a poem, a song, a story, or just write down whatever is in your head. 

Pull our your sewing machine, crochet hook, paints, paper and glue, or even just a notebook and create something! 

Anything! 

Because through this process you will find out awesome things about yourself. Even if you don't consider yourself a very creative or artistic person you can still benefit from doing this.

And most of all, never ever be afraid of failing. Failing is also an amazing experience, as long as you can learn from it.

So yeah, not exactly what this challenge was meant for, but it's what I know a lot about at this point in my life.

What do you know a lot about?

Thanks,
Cole

This Past Week

A Quick Update:

Life has gotten busy for me the past few days.

WORK:

Thanks to the fundraisers that the PCF Team on Etsy put together for my family and I, I had plenty of orders to mail out!

I would love to be able to work strictly from home, but I need more money so I've been looking for a job. Looking for a job has proven to be extremely difficult. I can’t even tell you how many jobs I have applied to over the past few months. Every day I send out any where between 1 and 5 resumes. And now I have finally started getting job interviews! Only 2 so far, but if I don’t get either one of these jobs at least I know that it’s finally hiring season again!

SCHOOL:

Even applying for college funding hasn’t been easy. I know that getting funding is definitely a lot easier than working to pay back student loans, but I had the impression that all I would do is send in some paperwork and it would be done. Apparently not. I have to send in a lot of paperwork, and it’s been taking up a lot of my time over the past few days. Now I have to make a trip up to their office (maybe even a few more later on). I am really happy that I get funding though! A free education?! Who wouldn’t be!

STRESS:

This whole mortgage thing has me stressed, too. Still don’t know what is going on for sure yet, seeing as they haven’t called us back.

HAPPY:

On a positive note, I’ve been drawing and painting again. I have even started a new blog called Amity Arts & Crafts, but it isn’t up and running quite yet.

Nick and I have been going on a lot of walks/hikes, too. I think at this point we’ve been on about half the trails in Cambridge. We like to bring our sketchbooks and cameras with us. The one day we sketched the river. I’ve always enjoyed drawing, but I‘ve never been very good at sketching. I‘m a perfectionist when it comes to drawing, so sketching a rough picture of a landscape was difficult. It‘s been a good experience though. 

If you're stressed out, grab a pencil and sketch book and go for a walk in the woods. I highly recommend it. 

How’s your life been going?

Thanks,
Cole

Life, Expectations and Appreciating What You Have

Live in the moment, appreciate what you have and just roll with it.

Life is weird. It never turns out how you expect it to.

I never, ever, ever, ever, ever, never thought that one day I would be 22 years old, with a five year old daughter, engaged to one of the hottest guys at my high school, living in my parents basement and trying to get into college for Journalism.

What I Thought Back Then

• When I was 16 I was contemplating becoming asexual. I thought men (boys) were all pigs. I never had a serious boyfriend and didn’t want one. I was actually very upset that I wasn’t a lesbian and could not make myself become one. Finding men attractive upset me even more (there went my asexual plan). And I certainly never believed in marriage.
• I also never thought I would have children. I never took babysitting gigs. I didn’t swoon over babies. I wouldn’t even hold a baby. To be honest, Sidney’s diaper was the first one I had ever changed and I am embarrassed to admit I had to page the nurse in to help me (and it was a pee diaper). 
• I never really put any thought into what I wanted to do with my life. I kind of pictured myself being a novelist, or an artist but didn’t think it would be possible (I had really low self-esteem). I never even really considered post-secondary school.
• As far as my living situation went, I really enjoyed the idea of having my own cute studio apartment in a big city, just me and my cat. Which is the complete opposite of what I want now.

What I Got

I have to say though, I am so happy with how things have turned out!

• I’ve fallen in love, and felt true heartbreak (what a rollercoaster of emotions!). 
• Having a child has made me a much better person, truly. She gives me hope, motivation and opens my eyes to all the beauty in the world. Something I could never see before. 
• And living in a big city? Forget it! I want a hobby farm with a greenhouse and chickens. Although, I might prefer having my own place over living in my parent’s basement at the moment. BUT I am truly grateful for my mom’s generosity and support, and that we have a place to live. 
• As far as post-secondary schools goes, it’s like this thing that I just have to do. I don’t know why but I so desperately want to receive my diploma and check it off my goal list. I love writing, I love writing articles and opinion pieces - it only makes sense to take journalism. And who knows, I might write a novel one day yet!

It’s crazy how much things can change over the years. It’s also exciting, because routine kind of drives me insane.

Where will I be in a year from now? Two years? Five years? No one knows and I don’t even want to. I love knowing that I don’t know and won’t know until it happens.

You just gotta roll. (Yeah I took that from Hotel Transylvania. Great movie, but like I mentioned before - getting kind of sick of it.)

Has your life turned out how you expected?

Thanks,