What app eats up most of your screen time — and do you even feel bad about it?
The app that gets me most when I do venture on is Tik Tok. I have found so many talented artists on there. I also get hooked on all the tarot card readers. All the gypsies and crystal ball readers. I love seeing the way people dress to character too.
Do I feel bad about it? No and yes. I love scrolling with my coffee in the morning watching all the pet reels and and craft videos for new ideas to keep me busy! However, I do find if I spend too much time on my app it can affect my mood. I feel sluggish and not energized. It leaves me in an unmotivated grumpy mood.
I have to set a time limit on my screen time now. No longer than an hour. Time flies when you mindlessly scrolling through reels. Just a flip on the screen and your mind goes to another place. Doing that for a long period of time can really make your brain go haywire, to much to process second after second. Which in return shapes your mindset for the day.
If you could erase one trend from history, what would it be?
The one thing I would absolutely erase is the pants the boys/men wear that hang down their *@s! That is the most disrespectful and unnecessary trend.
What happened to dressing up. Not a 3 piece suit but a nice shirt, even a T-shirt, tucked in with a belt and a nice pair of shorts or pants/jeans. If you don’t like to have a belt or tuck in then wear a shirt that is fitting and flattering.
Gone are the days we dressed for the airport, a dinner, or going to grammas house.
Clothes don’t have to be label brands, you can shop at cheaper stores and still fit the part of a well dressed person. Its how you put the pieces together. What impression do you want to give people or employers?
First impressions are lasting impressions. If you want respect, dress for it. If you want success, dress for it.
Noone wants to see what underwear you’re wearing. How uncomfortable!
After all, if you look good, you feel good. Dress with style and make the right impression.
Do you think we’re shaped more by our experiences or by who we are?
Are we shaped by experiences or who we are? Both.
Some heavy experiences in life shape our future and who we become for sure. Sets our nervous system. Fight or flight. PTSD, traumatic stress leaves scars, some to never repair. Shapes what we think and who or what we become as adults.
Certain experiences shape who we become. Whether for good or bad.
We as humans learn through watching. Learned behavior which shapes who we are.
My son being abused by his father verbally and physically left deep scars and who he is today at 33 years young. His anger is still present and his words at times are valgur. I’ve tried for years to help him but to no avail it’s embedded in him. Without therapy it will continue. I often wondered if I could have left the marriage sooner maybe my son wouldn’t be as scared. I’m happy to report he is an amazing father and doesn’t mistreat his boys or wife. The trigger is there and the switch can flip at anytime. Hopefully with support and our endless talks he will settle. His experiences definitely affected who he became.
My life experiences definitely shaped who I became. I became the change. The one who broke the chain of abuse and alcoholism. I became the black sheep of my family speaking the truth and not being blind to who certain people were. Speaking the truth left me somewhat alone but I knew what I was doing was helping my scars and becoming who I was born to be. It left me strong and capable of overcoming.
I’m now helping my daughter with her trauma and addiction for everything that has shaped her into the young 30 year old she is. She is now in therapy and it’s going well. She is slowly becoming the sweet girl she was before all the experiences she has been through. I will continue to break the chain and circle of alcoholism and abuse in our family.
I knew before having children, I was going to be everything to them and help shape their life as best I could. To be successful, to love with all their heart and be a good person. To be there for them always, to not abuse them like I was abused as a child, and to not live a life of domestic violence. I would never let that happen. Unfortunately I did end up back in the violence and alcoholism but I never let it change me inside. It may have changed who I was for a short time but I came out on top and used those experiences to help me today with my own kids.
Although the past desicions and home life had a part in who I would have been I used those experiences to my advantage today. I use them to share on here and with my kids. To show them we can do better. Its up to you to decide what you do with what comes along.
Will you concour or let those experiences determine or shape who you were born to be?
I believe everyone is a lifelong learner. We learn new things everyday, even if we don’t realize we are. Its also not just about education. Its life lessons, relationships.
I do love learning and continuing my education and skills. It keeps my brain healthy and my boredom at bay.
My latest adventure into learning was sharpening my interior design skills and perfecting home staging. The course taught me a lot and educated me on what avenue I could work towards. I’m thinking of a Staging Consultant. I don’t have the space to hold furniture, art and lights, and tons of decor etc. I don’t have containers for sellers to store their furniture when replacing it with our staging furniture. There is so much involved that I never took into account.
While in the course I got discouraged because it entailed so much more than I thought but I continued and heard of the consulting.
Learning is never a waste of time even if you never use what you’ve learned.
What’s a chapter of your life you’d title “The Hard Years” — and what got you through it?
My hardest years from 1998 – 2009. Staying in a marriage that was abusive towards me and my son. Eventually getting out. The years I drank to escape. The years I felt so alone. The years I wished I wasn’t here. The years of escape drinking.
My kids got me through those years. My son 11 and daughter 8. I had to be strong for them.
When I decided to end the marriage, 2004, it wasn’t easy. I was a stay at home mom. That was my career. I did work here and there and eventually started my own cleaning company. I didn’t have money to up and leave.
My ex had a problem paying me support. Not because we didn’t have the money. We did. We were very successful and owned a business that he eventually destroyed. He refused to buy food for us, my car was repoed and he stopped paying the mortgage and the utilities.
My mom was in my life and had helped me with the mortgage until it sold. Her and my stepfather lent us a vehicle and somehow I was able to put food on the table.
Once our home sold, me and the kids packed up and moved closer to my mom. We left our dream home behind to never return to that part of life. As we drove away in the moving truck I was sad but happy. I was sad that it ended the way it did after 12 years together, but I was happy to have escaped, finally.
I knew we could make it just the 3 of us and I was looking forward to the future.
I was still fighting with my ex and eventually gave up on his support. Emotionally I couldn’t fight anymore. I was exhausted.
The money from selling our home wasn’t going to last and I had to start my cleaning company again in the area we moved but knew it wouldn’t be enough without my exs help. So, I put my head down and walked into the welfare office and applied.
How on earth did we get here? We had money, we had everything at such a young age. The big house, the cars, the underground pool and all the toys and there I was walking in too ask for help from the government.
It was temporary I always told myself and no one needs to know. As soon as I made enough money to support us 3 I would get off welfare. The anger grew. The feeling of complete failure grew.
We lived on it for a year and I was back on my feet. I, we didn’t need my exs help. We can do this, and we did.
I tried to protect my kids from their father and his drunk abusive ways but the courts didn’t help. I eventually gave up on that too and decided to let my kids figure out how bad their father is and why we couldn’t stay. Why I was trying to keep them from him.
He never did pay one cent of support on his own efforts, but because I filed with the FRO – Family Responsibility Office, anytime my ex got a tax return my support was deducted or was deducted from his pay. So he stopped doing his taxes! Got a job that paid cash or just didn’t work. It was okay tho because I wasn’t stuck anymore, I was happy, I had my kids and that’s all I needed. We didn’t have a lot of money but we had each other.
I made our rental home nice and we had fun. My kids are my life and I would and did do everything and anything to make us happy and content.
The kids do have a relationship with their father. Not ideal but he’s in their life. He has helped them as they got older and of course doesn’t have to go through me to give money to get to them. So warped how some think.
Everything we went through was worth the finish line to get us too where we are now. We are happy, humble and stronger than we gave ourselves credit for. It left scars, deep deep scars especially for my son but together we made something so unimaginable into something worth fighting for. Peace and happiness.
I’m not really into comics or superheroes. I guess maybe being a woman I don’t share any liking to that.
When I read the prompt, I thought of vigilantes. When someone takes the law into their own hands because they feel they are doing justice. Hummm, no one in my opinion, has the right to put the law into their hands to have justice. Although we, as humans can sometimes identify with their actions and agree. Some should be removed from society and never return.
Let’s face it, most times we intervene, we come out being the villain.
What a question! I’ve lived a life of chaos pretty much for 40 years until I got sober and could pull myself from the cause of the continued chaos. Was it good for me? No. Not constant chaos so you don’t know which way is up. Chaos makes our minds function very differently. Everything feels rushed, no time to realize what’s actually going on. You can’t focus, sleep, or live a functioning life in constant chaos.
My mind never rested, it was going constantly. My emotions were on high and I could never completely settle. I had night terrors since I was a child and was continously anxious. Expecting the drop.
Now I have very little chaos and some may say it’s a boring life keeping to myself and having a small group of friends. Family members or friends who bring a certain chaos to my life are at a distance. I absolutely love our quiet life. I am calm and can think clearly without all the other rukess circling around.
Some chaos I guess can stir up a bit of excitement and let us appreciate our quiet life that much more, but too much of anything is never good.
There will always be a bit of chaos no matter what we do to stop it. There will always be bumps ahead but it’s how we handle the chaos when we are faced with it. Calm cool and collected.
So when life is going smooth expect a little splash of chaos to show up and get a little crazy. Let it ruffle your hair and put us in high gear knowing that it will soon pass. When it’s over we sit and let out a deep breath and really appreciate where we are when times are quiet.
I don’t have one favorite blogger. I enjoy every blogger who takes the time to write and free them selves of what is taking up space in their minds. I enjoy knowing and reading the other views people have, not just one. I enjoy the creativity and style of certain bloggers but wouldn’t call them favorite.
Keep blogging, keep sharing, keep the lines of communication open.
What’s the best way to deal with negative thoughts?
Those intrusive thoughts and self sabotage. We’ve covered this ground before. One little thing can trigger the whirlwind of negativity in your mind. Sometimes lasting only for a few minutes other times it can crumble us.
I use to drown my negative thoughts with alcohol. NOT a good idea! I would be miserable and walk around angry all day and take it out on people around me.
My husband is a great supporter and knows just by looking at me that I’m off. He immediately senses it and asks what’s wrong, if I’m having a bad day or hormones going haywire. I try to say, no, I’m fine or nothing because I hate the attention or pity. Then to realize when I do talk about it I feel a lot better. Took a long time to learn that. I harbored feelings which lead to drinking and being very unhappy inside.
Ive learned to sit with the feelings, analyze and just think. I’m a deep thinker and really try to understand why I feel the way I do at the moment. Sometimes I chat to myself and tell myself that I’m being ridiculous and to snap out of it! Get up and get shit done. Stop the pity party.
I’ve also tried breath work. Deep breath in hold for 6 seconds and let out a big breath and continue with saying release. Release all the negative thoughts with that big breath out. Believe me, it works!
One of the best ways I get rid of negative thoughts is to pray.
I ask you lord to be released of these negative thoughts and cover me in your light. Take what does not serve me and fill me with purity, good thoughts and love.
Thoughts come and go like a dark cloud. Let it pass over and know, this too shall pass.
Being Me Sober 