Volunteering

Recently I've had a couple of opportunities pop up to complete number 8 on my 30 Before 30 List.: Volunteer. 

Last Tuesday night, I attended a volunteer orientation for the Ohio Wildlife Center.  They are a non-profit wild animal rehabilitation and conservation center.  They treat and rehabilitate injured and orphaned wild animals.  They also provide non-lethal animal control and conservation and wildlife education.  I'm planning on training to work on the education side, to learn to handle the animal ambassadors and teaching and doing presentations with them.  The center has brought animals to my workplace several times, and I've wanted to get involved with them for a while now. 

I'm really excited to get to work with animals and help educate the public about our native species, but from what I've learned already, I need to remember a couple of things about the center.  First, these animals are wild animals, not pets.  They don't necessarily love you back like our domesticated animals.  Also, it is important to know exactly how to handle each one.  Especially when working with the raptors, they can hurt you pretty seriously if you're not careful.  It will definitely be an eye opening experience, but I'm looking forward to starting!

I also had the opportunity to volunteer at the Ronald McDonald house here in Columbus, across from Nationwide Children's Hospital.  A group of us from work went to bake goodies for the families.  Between the 8 of us that went, we bagged up over 250 packets of treats!  We had brownies, rice crispy treats, iced cut-out cookies, chocolate chip cookies, S'mores on a stick, and candy Buckeyes!  We had a really good time and got to take a tour of the facility.  It really is an amazing place. 

They are a non-profit organization, operated almost completely on donations.  The house provides a place to stay for the families of seriously ill children.  There are 70 rooms, similar to hotel rooms with private bathrooms, and 10 suites, with a bedroom and separate living space with a kitchen and washer and dryer.  Almost all of the work is done by volunteers, including all of the cleaning, laundry and food preparation.  Supplies are provided by donation, including laundry soap, paper towels, toilet paper, food, toys, clothing, cleaning supplies and anything else you can imagine to run a home or a hotel.  If you have a Ronald McDonald House near you, I encourage you to volunteer or donate supplies, they are always in need!

In Which I Set a Goal For Myself

Obviously fate keeps kicking me in the behind, and I keep ignoring it. 

I keep coming across blog posts that should boost me into high gear, but I keep procrastinating.  And then I feel guilty.  And then I procrastinate some more.

I did finally figure out a name for my new blog, and I've written up a To-Do list for the startup.  But I haven't pulled the trigger to get myself started. 

Am I lazy?  Am I afraid?  Probably a little of both.  I'm just too easily de-motivated.

So tonight I'm going to do it.  I'm going to finally take those first steps; buy the domain name, download WordPress.  Baby steps.  But I've got to keep moving forward, and keep up the writing too. 

P.S. Here's the link to the most recent post that smacked me upside the head.  From "the middle finger project" blog: The Greatest Form of Suffering of All: Inaction.

P.P.S Read the rest of Ashley's stuff on there too, she's pretty awesome!

A Few Thoughts on Regret and Change

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -Mark Twain

I wanted to share this quote because it is one that I heard a long time ago and has always been inspiring to me.  I've always thought that you cannot regret the things you have done, because they have taught you something.  Only the things that you didn't do are regretable.  Thankfully, that is something you can change. 

Growing up, my dad always subscribed to National Geographic.  In fact, he still does.  He has always loved learning about different places and different cultures, but had never been out of the country.  I know that there are so many places that he would love to visit, but he's held back by the fear that it's new, and he's never done it before.  Last month, he joined us on our trip to Roatan.  It really opened his eyes to traveling, and the potentially life-altering consequences (in a good way!) of it.  I hope he catches the bug and joins us on our next trip, or even better, suggests a new place to visit.

I grew up with the idea that change is bad, scary.  Better to just go with the flow, stay safe.  The thing about the fear of change, is that in the long run, change is unavoidable.  No one is ever going to live their life, from beginning to end, without a couple of curve-balls thrown their way.  If you can't roll with the punches, you're going to be in big trouble!

I see this resistance to change at work all the time.  Since I work in a huge corporation that's been around for a while, I work with people who have been with the company for a long time.  Ones who have been in their positions for many years.  Anytime we try to introduce a new process, even if it makes their job easier and more efficient, it's like pulling teeth to try to get them to utilize it.  They're so stuck in the ways that it's "always been done" that they can't see that the new way is faster and easier.  It's terribly frustrating.

I never want to be that person who believes that change is bad.  It's not, it's just different.  I like different, it's way more interesting than the same.

P.S. Back to that quote at the top, thinking about incorporating that into the new and upcoming blog, what do you think?  "Throwing Off the Bowlines" maybe? 

So Who the Heck Am I?

So it appears the first step on this whole personal journey thing, is to figure out who I am, really. 
I've been reading and writing like crazy lately.  I'm completely unsettled.  I'm pretty sure that's a good thing.  Although it can be a little annoying that I can't slow my brain down, there's a part of me that hopes that it doesn't!

I know a few things:

• I need a new home online - a new blog that represents my journey a little bit better.
• I need to keep writing.
• I need to stay motivated.
• I need to love what I'm writing about, so I can do the last two
• I need to figure out how to make at least a little money at it
• I need a NAME!

A few things I don't know:

• I love travel, diving, cooking, gardening, photography, living a simpler life, knitting - can I integrate all/most of these things without it being too much or all over the place?
• A blog name!! 
• Lots of other stuff

Well, I'm getting somewhere, I think.  The one I'm struggling with the most is that blog name one.  I know I need something more general than knit n' diver, because that puts it in too small of a niche, and I don't really talk that much about knitting anymore anyway.  But I don't want to use my real name, nobody will ever find it!  So that's where I'm stuck.  Any suggestions?

The Drive to DO Something

Monday was a bad day.  Mentally and physically. 

I mentioned that I've been doing a lot of soul-searching lately.  I've known for a long time that I'm not the type of person that is cut out for working in a cubicle day after day, plugging away for someone else, just for good pay and benefits.  I mean, that's what I've been doing for the past 12 years since I've been out of high school, but that doesn't mean that I've necessarily been happy about it.  I've done it because that's what I was told I was supposed to do.  Get good grades in school, go to college (preferably for something "worthwhile"), get a full-time job, get good benefits, go to work every day.  You're not supposed to like it, but that's what life is about.  Make more money, buy the bigger house, if you can't afford a nice one, get a fixer-upper and work on that for years at a time, sell it, do it all over again, only with a bigger and slightly more expensive house.  Oh yeah, you're supposed to get married and have kids while doing this too. 

This does not sound appealing to me.  I've rebelled a little against this so called "status quo", but without a whole lot of courage.  I went to college, but studied Fine Art instead of nursing or teaching or business, or whatever else I "should" have.  I got married but haven't had kids yet.  We bought the house, but haven't upgraded, even though we could technically afford something bigger and fancier.

I've always been afraid, it's the only way I've ever known, but lately, something inside me is cracking.  I'm not generally a person who gets depressed, but every day it gets just a little harder to get up and go in to do a job that I have no desire to do, no passion for.  Sure, I do a good job, but with no joy.  I have to do something else. Soon.

So what now?  Where do I go from here?  I've been obsessively reading blogs of passionate individuals, doing what they love to do, and while it inspires me, I'm still terrified. I can't just up and quit my job, we need the benefits, the money, the security.  My husband is self employed, it's stupid to think of not staying here, where I have a good job making good money (I just got another raise) with decent benefits.  I'm at a point where I don't know what I want to do, but I know it's not this.

My husband has always said, that the happiest people do more for others than they do for themselves.  I'll be the first to admit that we don't live by this enough.  But, every time we travel, it gives us more and more perspective on it.  The kindness and generosity of strangers and people who have a fraction of what we have (not just us, everyone) in this country, is incredibly overwhelming and emotional.  Every time we come back from vacation, it feels a little more wrong to keep doing the same thing.
I want to do more, I NEED to do more.  I just don't know where to start.

Inspiration

Love, love, love Sharon Montrose's animal prints!

 I think I want them all!  Look at the baby porcupine!

She makes even the "not-so-cute"* animals look great.

*This does not reference otters, because otters are totally cute! 

Have a great weekend!

Inspiration

While I love to look at photography to be inspired, this is the first time I've linked to any artists.  Hmmm... maybe I'll start...
Anyway, Nick Brandt's work is stunning, just indescribably emotional and moving.

Seriously, go look, I'm speechless.