Standing at the Crossroads by Jess Witkins
It's been a week of life lessons. I'm hoping Gary won't mind my commandeering of his blog to share one of them with you. But should you miss the eloquence of what I imagine to be his soothing baritone voice, you can find him safe and sound at Jenny Hansen's blog. It's another edition of the Life List Club and we're hoping you'll join us on our tales of inspiration and honest mistakes. Share with us your own, we all love hanging out in the comment boxes, so please feel free to chat and know you've got support from us!
This past week I've been on the last of my remaining vacation days for the fiscal calendar. I had hoped the time off would result in incredibly productive writing time. I mean I intended 8 hour days of writing non-stop, complete chapters coming to fruition! Well, if I wanted that to happen, I shouldn't have gone home.
What I should've done is found a little corner in the library and hid out with my laptop, a can of Pringles, a water bottle, and my gloves with rubber on the fingers so I can type and still keep warm when they turn the heat off for the night!
Shhh! I'm doing research!
Instead, my time was otherwise spent with family activities. And you know what, I don't often see my family, so I think it's ok. I attended my 3 year old niece's princess-themed birthday party, Church service with my dad, helped babysit my niece for a day, took mom out for coffee and a movie, and forgive me, used my spare time to take a bath. I LOVE BATHS! And at my house, I live with all boys, so I will not set a TOE in that tub!
Ok, back to the life lessons! I promise I learned more than what a properly clean bathroom looks like. Honestly, I feel like this whole week has been one of those times when life sends you sign after sign after sign alerting you to the direction and path your life is on. First, it was dealing with my newly damaged car and rearranging when I can take it in to the garage to get it fixed, cause I had to drive it home first and it felt like a long 3 hours with no cruise control and all the bigger cars sloshing muddy snow in my windshield. Then it was the pastor's lesson in Church with my Dad, on how can we demonstrate audacious faith in times of difficulty? Then it was watching a toddler for a day, which was fun, but completely wiped me out. And I took the drives around town with my parents as a chance to ask them what the hardest things they had overcome in their lives were. The main message I kept hearing was this: crossroads. Everyone has them, and it's not always easy to know the next step.
Whether it's looking at your finances with eyes of disbelief, or finding yourself craving something more in life but unsure of how to proceed, or teaching a toddler good manners from bad, or hearing for the first time how the harsh realities of a marriage, a parent dying, and an illness can all alter your life. Yes, I was learning a lot.
I haven't yet shaped all these lessons into a resulting answer for my life, but I can feel it coming. I am at a crossroads. I have sat idle too long waiting for life to happen, and pretty soon I'll be making tough, but necessary decisions about the direction my life should head.
Bio: Jess Witkins claims the title Perseverance Expert. She grew up in a small Wisconsin town as the much younger youngest sibling of four, she's witnessed the paranormal, jumped out of a plane, worked in retail, traveled to exotic locations like Italy, Ireland, and Shipshewana, Indiana, and she's eaten bologna and lived to tell about it! She deals with it all and writes about it! Come along on her midwest adventures; Witkins promises to keep it honest and entertaining. Go ahead, SUBSCRIBE, you know you want to.
Follow Jess Witkins on Twitter: @jesswitkins
This past week I've been on the last of my remaining vacation days for the fiscal calendar. I had hoped the time off would result in incredibly productive writing time. I mean I intended 8 hour days of writing non-stop, complete chapters coming to fruition! Well, if I wanted that to happen, I shouldn't have gone home.
What I should've done is found a little corner in the library and hid out with my laptop, a can of Pringles, a water bottle, and my gloves with rubber on the fingers so I can type and still keep warm when they turn the heat off for the night!
Shhh! I'm doing research!
Instead, my time was otherwise spent with family activities. And you know what, I don't often see my family, so I think it's ok. I attended my 3 year old niece's princess-themed birthday party, Church service with my dad, helped babysit my niece for a day, took mom out for coffee and a movie, and forgive me, used my spare time to take a bath. I LOVE BATHS! And at my house, I live with all boys, so I will not set a TOE in that tub!
Ok, back to the life lessons! I promise I learned more than what a properly clean bathroom looks like. Honestly, I feel like this whole week has been one of those times when life sends you sign after sign after sign alerting you to the direction and path your life is on. First, it was dealing with my newly damaged car and rearranging when I can take it in to the garage to get it fixed, cause I had to drive it home first and it felt like a long 3 hours with no cruise control and all the bigger cars sloshing muddy snow in my windshield. Then it was the pastor's lesson in Church with my Dad, on how can we demonstrate audacious faith in times of difficulty? Then it was watching a toddler for a day, which was fun, but completely wiped me out. And I took the drives around town with my parents as a chance to ask them what the hardest things they had overcome in their lives were. The main message I kept hearing was this: crossroads. Everyone has them, and it's not always easy to know the next step.
Whether it's looking at your finances with eyes of disbelief, or finding yourself craving something more in life but unsure of how to proceed, or teaching a toddler good manners from bad, or hearing for the first time how the harsh realities of a marriage, a parent dying, and an illness can all alter your life. Yes, I was learning a lot.
I haven't yet shaped all these lessons into a resulting answer for my life, but I can feel it coming. I am at a crossroads. I have sat idle too long waiting for life to happen, and pretty soon I'll be making tough, but necessary decisions about the direction my life should head.
What have you learned this week? What crossroads are you facing in your life right now? I know this year would be even more difficult for me without the encouraging voices of the LLC members cheering me on. Who's keeping you accountable? Are you like me and realize you need help? Then I'll see you in the comments, friend!
Bio: Jess Witkins claims the title Perseverance Expert. She grew up in a small Wisconsin town as the much younger youngest sibling of four, she's witnessed the paranormal, jumped out of a plane, worked in retail, traveled to exotic locations like Italy, Ireland, and Shipshewana, Indiana, and she's eaten bologna and lived to tell about it! She deals with it all and writes about it! Come along on her midwest adventures; Witkins promises to keep it honest and entertaining. Go ahead, SUBSCRIBE, you know you want to. Follow Jess Witkins on Twitter: @jesswitkins
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