Thinking About an Update

Thursday always marks the end of my academic week, but for the first time in a long time I'm feeling incredibly motivated to actually spend my evening reading for academic purposes. You know that you're feeling better when motivation returns. So I'm writing a quick posting before I dive into my chapters on community organizing. Just took a long soak in the tub, washed my dishes, changed the sheets on my bed, and talked with my grandmother--the week is coming to a good close while gearing up for a great weekend.

I'm feeling grateful for several reasons. I get to spend Saturday morning of this weekend hanging out with a fellow frugally minded, down to earth friend. Saturday afternoon I'll spend getting together with a group of gals from different walks of life that are incredibly driven in what they do. Sunday, I'll finally get my much needed time with my extended family. And yes, that means another weekend of focusing on relationships--something that feeds my soul at times.

I'm also feeling grateful as I found out this week that I DID get into the social work program. I'm grateful also to now see the end of my educational tunnel. And I'm thankful for all the individuals in my life who offered prayers and positive thoughts during the time that I was waiting. I'm hopeful that all the rest of the pieces for this next year will fall into place as well.

I took my vehicle through DEQ today and was thankful it was a quick, easy process. I was also incredibly grateful for the fact that I drive a Honda and that there were no issues with passing emissions testing. I am also thankful for the ride home one of my friends in the program gave me as I'd still been feeling tired in comparison to the norm and wasn't looking forward to the walk this evening.

And I'm grateful for the light bulb moment I had in regards to one of my goals. If you haven't noticed, "taking shorter showers" has been on my current goal list for a very, very long time. I generally take incredibly long showers--think of it as a self-imposed therapy session. However I know how horrible this behavior is for the environment, especially as water becomes an even more pressing issue across the globe. While this might not be a HUGE step, I have come to recognize that if I take a bath (and only fill the bath tub about 1/3 of the way or less) then I am using less water than if I take one of my regularly lengthy showers. While a daily bath probably isn't the most realistic, I figure if I bathe instead of shower in this manner even 3-4x a week then I'm making a huge dent in my water usage. Plus I still get to spend as much time as I want but use less water!

One other thing I've been thinking of lately is that maybe it's time for me to watch Blood Diamond again....because I think I need some help straightening out my priorities again.... Somehow I feel I'm starting to become immune to things NO ONE should ever be immune to......Maybe it was the path I chose to drive to get to DEQ and recognized how prevalent institutional racism and economic disparities are, maybe it's the recent natural disasters and the human suffering, maybe it's just a variety of things, but somehow I need to get back on the track of DOING something about it instead of just thinking about it all......

Enjoy the weekend......Hope it's relaxing, renewing, and spent in building relationship with others or with yourself. Enjoy....