teach.run.pray.

Blog Challenge Day 5 What's your elevator pitch? A couple days ago I was listening to a podcast, The Minimalists, and they were discussing that question you get when you first meet someone, what do you do?  They got into a conversation about how people ask you this, most of the time, to start comparing you to them. For example, "Oh, she's a teacher. She doesn't make much money." I've never thought of it that way, and I ask this question all the time. But,  I ask this question because I genuinely want to hear the person's answer.  There are some incredible people doing some amazing things I never thought existed, so I learn from their answer. The Minimalists proceeded to discuss how they thought the wording of this question should be changed to, "What is your passion?" Now, I LOVE that question. Imagine the answers I'd get if I asked that instead. So, "What is your passion?" got me thinking, "What would I say?" I

Blog Challenge Day 3:  (For Day 1 click here . For Day 2 click here .) What do people thank you for? When I first sat down to answer this question, it was difficult for me to write. I heard when people thanked me, but I couldn't name specific events they thanked me for. The deeper I dug and more reflective I became I realized the specific events or things didn't matter as much. What mattered most was the fact that people just appreciated my time.  People thank me for being there and actively listening. People thank me for encouraging and motivating them. People thank me for being a non-judgmental sound board for venting. People thank me for helping them in all sorts of of ways-for taking time from my day to be there for them. People thank me for sharing my story, opinions, ideas, thoughts, and passions-honestly and with rawness. People thank me for stepping outside myself to truly be there for them, not just on a physical level, but on an emotional level and a spiritual le

It was another early morning for me. Monday is boot camp morning. The morning is still dark when I wake up and leave my house. It's dark when I arrive at the park, but the sun begins to rise during our workout, and I have seen some beautiful sunrises on these Monday and Wednesday mornings. Today's sunrise caught my eye as I was leaving the park. I was at the stoplight making a right turn. When I looked to the left to check for oncoming traffic, the sunrise caught my eye. A smile crept across my lips and almost instantly I let out a sigh of relief as if I had just recognized how lucky I was to be alive (and not only because I survived boot camp). How often do we remember to be grateful for the breath of life we take each morning when our alarm rudely awakes us from our peaceful slumber? How often do we wish we could ignore the alarm of life and continue to sleep? I take the sound of my alarm for granted on a daily basis-always wishing for more rest, more time in bed, more ti

It's Wednesday and about ten minutes ago I joined a group of creators (I actually joined last year, but ten minutes ago I completed the blog application to hold myself accountable) and vowed to publish a blog post every Wednesday. And, actually, I have a lot I want to write about, so you readers may hit the jackpot and get several posts this week.  Anyway, this group has a seven day blog challenge, you know, to help me get into the habit of writing everyday rather than sporadically. And, the first prompt is one I've been pondering for about two weeks now, and two Saturdays ago, during an 8 mile run between gasps of air in the muggy ass southern heat, I asked a running buddy her thoughts. So, hold on to the seat of your pants and enjoy. What makes you most angry about the world? That, my friends, is a very loaded question. We could be here all day, but I'll do my best to corral my ranting into a nicely wrapped present (ha, more like an oddly shaped present wrapped in l

July 12, 2017, just two days from now, will mark the one year anniversary of my first published blog post. I remember hitting the publish button for the first time and debating for about 30 minutes if I should also hit the share button. It had been such a long time since my writing had been made public. When I quit working at the newspaper, fresh out of college, I took a hiatus. I would write in my journals occasionally, but somewhere along the bumps of life I lost touch with the creative person inside me. I just didn't want to share ME anymore.  Funny enough, sometime between July 4th and July 17th, Matt and I have no idea the official date, is our "dating anniversary." This month marks seven whole years together. Seven and a half years ago, I was perfectly content with the idea of being single forever, and I didn't so much believe in the union of marriage, however, I did believe in soulmates; I just didn't think I'd be one of the lucky ones to find mine.