Southern Yankee

 Hey friend, You can fall apart around me. You can lose it. You can say things you're not sure if you mean. You can stress out. You can vent. You can verbally process. You can cry. You can let it all out. If you need to be dramatic for a minute, by all means. Be dramatic.  I'm here for it, and I'm here for you.  I'll listen, and I'll lift you up, and if you decide you're open to some advice, I'll give you the best I have, but I'll hold my tongue until you're ready for it. In the meantime, I'll happily be your sounding board.  What is friendship if we can't be a wreck sometimes? What is friendship if we're trying to filter out our pain? What is friendship if we're not there for all of it? Life is weird. Things are hard. And sometimes, stuff just happens and we don't know quite how to deal.  Holding it together all the time is exhausting, and having the perfect response to every situation is impossible. So when you need to let go, y...

 "If you're going to love me, really really love me....you need to love ALL of me. Every facet of me.  The over-thinking me, the deeply feeling emotional me, the worrying over everything that can happen me, the crushed with anxiety me, the spiral down depression me, the normal happy me, the easy going me, the uptight me, the joking & pranking me, the fake smile & the real smile me. The wearing my heart on my sleeve me, the over-trusting me, the undertrusting me, the give more chances than they deserve me, the trying to see the best in everyone me, the strong-willed take no crap me, the broken scarred parts of me, the childlike me, the cleaning frenzy mood me, the let the clean unfolded laundry mountain stay on the couch for 3 days me, the hardly eating during the day me, or the eat everything late at night me. The me that's simple, yet complicated. The over analyzing me, the therapist for everyone me, the hold all my feelings inside me, the me that understands ever...

 “Love is also seeking to understand each other's world.” Have you ever had a friend or someone you were dating and they were completely different than you? The way they were raised, where they grew up at, the kind of family or lack of one. The way they think about things or how they believe. If so you know it's hard to understand sometimes the whys in which they do something. If you really care about the person and they really mean something to you then you will  find a way to understand them. Sometimes that is a hard thing to do especially if they are not good at communicating. Communication is key to any relationship, people are not mind readers. Even if it's a simple emoji. You can do everything to understand that person but sometimes that's not enough. It takes work, patience, understanding, time and most importantly communication. If you truly love someone you stay and find a way into their world and ways to become part of their world so you can understand how to ...

 You can still remember the time when you begged for love. You lost your colors. You settled for the "maybe", the "I'll see if I can" and the "I'm tired". You endured the pain of every no, and over time you started to believe that maybe, just maybe, that's what you deserve. That you should just be grateful for the rare "yes" and just sit in the corner waiting.  It took some time, but when you finally realized that your slowly turning into this broken soul you always feared to be, you tried your best to get up and walk away. Step by step, you dragged your feet, and that's when you learned that one of the most difficult things to do in life is to walk away from things that you've always wanted. But you did it.  You did it because every day seemed like it's raining and you wanted to see the sun again. You did it for the days when you would laugh so hard your stomach would hurt. You did it because you wanted to believe that de...

 DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME  1. Don’t waste your time on someone who don't make time for you. No matter how busy someone is, no matter how hectic their days are, they will make time if they want to. They will make time if they care. 2. Don’t waste your texts on someone who reads and ignores them. Don’t waste them on someone who regularly forgets to return your calls. 3. Don’t waste your time on someone whose actions don’t match with their words. They sweet-talk you one day and act differently the next day. They make promises but never keep to them.  4. Don’t waste your time on someone who gives you mixed signals. Today they make you believe you're their last bus stop. The next day, they make you feel like dying. Love/friendship builds up; love does not cast down.  5. Don’t waste your time on someone who is not sure about you. They tell you they're not sure where the relationship will lead to. So why are you there?   6. Don’t waste your time on someone who doesn’...

 Don't leave anything for later. Later, the coffee gets cold. Later, you lose interest. Later, the day turns into night. Later, people grow up. Later, people grow old. Later, life goes by. Later, you regret not doing something... When you had the chance. Life is a fleeting dance, a delicate balance of moments that unfold before us, never to return in quite the same way again. Regret is a bitter pill to swallow, a weight that bears down upon the soul with the burden of missed chances and unspoken words. So, let us not leave anything for later. Let us seize the moments as they come, with hearts open and arms outstretched to embrace the possibilities that lie before us. For in the end, it is not the things we did that we regret, but the things we left undone, the words left unspoken, the dreams left unfulfilled. ( I didn't write this, someone else did. I'm just sharing it )

 Here’s a fact: You can tell a person countless of times how they made you feel and they still won’t get it if they don’t intend to. You can clearly set your boundaries, emphasize the lines and what it costs if they cross it, but they still won’t see it if they’re not putting an effort to look hard enough.  You can communicate well about how they make you feel everytime they don’t take your No’s seriously and they’ll still forget it. You can be fully honest with them about how you can work it out or how you can meet halfway but they’ll still look past it. You can explain your non-negotiables in detail, try your best to be most considerate so you don’t offend them, but they’ll hold it against you if they’re not ready for a confrontation.  Everytime you try to communicate to people who aren’t ready to face their truths will just lead you to a loop of avoidance and piling up of emotional baggages. Every attempt to communicate will be misinterpreted as starting an argument if...

 My Pastor always says nobody likes change other than a wet baby. I have been going to the same dentist since 1994 and he told when I went a few weeks ago that he is retiring. I was like no....! I don't want to have to find a new dentist but if I want to keep my teeth I better find a new one. I saw a sign once that said only brush the teeth you want to keep to keep. So if you have any suggestion on a dentist, let me know. The next thing to change and for me it's a BIG one is the company I work for since 1997 has been bought. We have been up for sale for a few years and now some company up north has purchased us. Our name is going to go from Good Samaritan to Lake Forest Senior Living Of The Hot Springs Village. Had to fill out a 22 page application and going to be getting new insurance. Needless to say I'm feeling a little stressed and uneasy about this. I know that is just my human side not liking change. I need to go to my Faith side and know that all things work out acco...

 So I have decided I need to push myself if I want to meet my goals. What goals do I have you ask? I would like to have 50 blogs written by my birthday which is July 1st. I am in the process of trying to lose weight and I have a goal of 25 pounds I want to lose. Keeping a better handle on my health (which I will write about another time.) Getting my house in order and keeping it that way. Reaching out to family and friends more. I have a list a mile long so I won't get into that but you catch my draft. It's easy to get in a rut and find excuses but if you want to get things accomplish you need to push yourself and not make excuses. If you want something bad enough you'll find a way and if not you'll find an excuse. So with that being said I'm off to go check off my list of things to do. Y'all enjoy your evening and God Bless 🙏

 Have you ever been so tired that your over tired? Have you ever been so tired that you are not just physically tired but mentally tired? Have you been so tired that you just want to sleep but when you lay down you can't? Have you ever been so tired that you can't feel anything but numb? Well if you haven't been, let me tell you it's not fun. I have officially been up for 24 hours. I definitely should sleep tonight. Y'all have a safe and blessed weekend 😎 God Bless 🙏