35 Things I've Learned in 35 Years

First of all, I'm on another life-changing book kick. I know. The book is called Organized Simplicity  by Tsh Oxenreider, and it is exactly the book I've needed to read for about a year now. Anyhoo...more on that another time.
I was reading on Tsh's blog and came across this post about the 35 things she's learned in her 35 years.  The list totally made me laugh and also nod my head in agreement. So I thought I'd post my own list of 35.  Which feels a little bit lame since I'm stealing the idea from someone else, but I'm a sucker for a good list, so I'm doing it anyway.

1) Treat others as you would want to be treated.
2) Show compassion.  I love this quote: "Be kinder than necessary for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle." -T.H. Thompson and John Watson
3) A life without coffee is not really a life.
4) God first - family second - career third
5) Legos are a blessing and a curse.
6) Trying to be anyone else other than yourself is exhausting and totally not worth it. And man, have I tried over the years.
7) On the heels of #6, do everything you can to learn about yourself and then find joy in using your own unique gifts and talents in all aspects of life, especially loving and serving others.
8) Surround yourself with people who encourage you and love you for who you are.  Count these people as your true friends, but show kindness to EVERYONE.
9) Live out of a grateful heart (I'm still working on this).
10) When upset or hurt or angry, take at least an hour before talking to anyone else about it (or putting it out on Facebook). Many hurt feelings and misdirected emails and unnecessary rants can be avoided this way.
11) This world is full of hurt and sorrow and disappointment.  Know that this is the reality, but rejoice in the good moments and know that God is present with you through the joy and the pain.
12) The Bible is life's most reliable road map.
13) Read, read, and read some more.
14) When feeling anxious in a social or public-speaking situation, fake it. No one will be able to tell you're nervous unless you let them see it.
15) God's plan is ALWAYS the best one.
16) There is a WORLD of parenting advice out there.  When in doubt, go with your gut.  And also, with your girlfriends. They know you best.
17) Everyone's normal until you get to know them. And then we're all just a little bit crazy together.
18) Pray. Persistently. In other words, PUSH (Pray Until Something Happens)
19) Not everyone you come in contact with is your mission.
20) In college, your plans for the evening will start at 10pm. At 35 this is most likely your bedtime. And this is ok.
21) Work on a 50/50 marriage. It's perfectly acceptable, and even preferable, not to operate out of gender stereotypes.See #22.
22) It's ok not to enjoy cooking as a woman! (It works even better when your man does.)
23) Discern between the mountains and the molehills. Don't lose sleep over the latter.
24) Dancing is almost always a good idea.  Drinking excessively (even when dancing) is pretty much always a bad idea.
25) Live within your means. Debt is bondage.  Do everything you can to live financially free.
26) Having "a place for everything and everything in its place" leads to a much clearer mind and less wasted time (ie: where are those freaking keys????!!!).
27) True peace is found in surrendering your own way and will in favor of God's.
28) Time flies by way too fast.  Enjoy the moment you're in.
29) Don't bother with new furniture when you have children. Particularly boys.
30) Know how much you can handle and then be at peace with that, no matter what anyone says.  You are the only one who can draw your boundaries.
31) Not everyone is going to like you.
32) You're only as old as you feel (this is not always a positive thing, but drink the life out of the age you are anyway).
33) The dishes can wait until tomorrow.
34) Learn to control the screens in your home.  Don't let them control you. (This is another one I'm still working on.)
35) Amazing girlfriends are worth their weight in expensive shoes. It's important to invest in close friendships. (None of my girlfriends actually wear really expensive shoes, least of all me, so I'm not totally sure what I meant by this.  Just that I love my friends a whole lot.)

Words

Words have had an irresistable pull on me from birth (so far as I know.  I draw a bit of a blank on the first three years or so.  And there are also a lot of empty spaces in years 4 through 35 as well.  Anyway....). I had grandparents who would read to me (even the ones who lived hundreds of miles away would send me tapes of them reading books), parents who read to me, a mom who modeled her love for reading and crosswords. Apparently I was so obsessed with words I felt it necessary to smuggle out books from the school library under my dress, a fact that was permanently recorded on my kindergarten report card.  My career as a klepto was short-lived, however, and I moved on to more constructive hobbies, such as learning to read the summer between kindergarten and first grade. And I don't think I've been without a book close by my person since. I would spend hours writing stories (mostly pretty terrible ones, to be honest) while growing up and, to toot my proverbial horn, won the Young Authors competition in third grade for the enthralling tale The Magical Mouse . I have piles of diaries and journals that hold my deepest secrets from my formative years (important things like, you know, the cutest boy in class and what I planned on wearing the next day to catch his eye. Which NEVER happened, first of all, and secondly I had zero style which is moot anyway because what fifth grade boy cares what you're wearing?!).
Words are my constant comfort.  From others' I draw encouragement, knowledge, a sense of camaraderie. They are what I use to work through how I feel and think about anything and everything.  It's criminal the level of release I feel  just by posting a Facebook status that reflects things that are happening in my heart and head. Words are the way I deal.
Sometimes I struggle with this whole having a blog thing.  By its very nature it seems that it should exist for people to read.  Right? I mean, seriously, it has the potential to be so public and all.  And so I get caught up in the comparison game and looking at all of these bloggers who do it for a LIVING, for crap's sake. Or who post something that speaks of my own mind and heart far more succinctly than I could. Or I stress over the fact that mostly what I'm writing seems like complete drivel and who would want to read that anyway? And then the answer comes: me. I write these things for ME.  This is how I process and work through and figure out.  This is my life and the things that I want to remember. And if someone should stumble across these words (or have them shoved down his/her throat by the author) and feel some encouragement or gain some knowledge or maybe even have a little chuckle then that's really just icing on the cake isn't it?  That's what I'm starting to think anyway.
"Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul." ~Anne Lamott