Positive reinforcement…

As I move into the third week of the new year and hopefully the new and improved me, I have noticed that some things work to motivate me and others do not.

Overall, I am not a negative person, I have my sarcastic moments like anyone else.  If someone is being a jerk I might have a few choice words for them but I try to stay on the happy side of things.   I don’t do well with being pushed, I tend to push back even if it’s detrimental to myself, I am that stubborn.   My mother used to make comments about my food choices, clothing choices or any number of things and most of the time I would listen.  If I thought she was pushing me though I would just keep on with what I was doing.  Not a great step in personal growth, I realize, maybe I thought she would stop or that I was somehow exerting my personal independence.  Regardless of my intention, it’s not the smartest reaction but it is what I do and I try to catch it when I can.

It makes sense then that I tend to react better with positive cues.  I am trying to give myself positive reinforcement.  I am working on making some goals for weight loss, if I lose ten pounds then I will get my ear pierced and other little rewards as I get closer to my goal.  In fact, I might look at my other goals and see if I can’t work on rewards for those, as well.  I have a lot to work on but at the same time I think my foundation is  pretty solid.  It’s taken me years to get to this point, it’s not surprising or unexpected that change is not going to happen overnight.

Hope and Faith

I try to use nicknames when I am talking about family and friends as to not involve them too much in my little ramblings.   As anyone reading this already knows, my husband and daughter go by Sully and Boo.  Since I am now involving my friend  in the blog, she needs naming as well.

We discussed, each throwing different ideas out and not really finding anything that we were thrilled with.  We took a break from our FB to chat to get some stuff done and decided that we would think on it and meet back later.  A little later I was folding laundry, the epitome of mindless activities and came up with Hope and Faith.

It fits us, my friend is Faith and I am Hope.  Faith is very active in her church and, appropriately,  faith is very important to her.  When she is down, she relies on her faith to help lift her up again.  I am Hope, and I am full of it… hope, I mean.  I might have times where I feel low but I am always, always full of hope.  I have my sarcastic moments but I am often annoyingly positive, usually annoying Sully who would much rather have a good rant about something.

It should be a fun year, the two of us rambling our way down the roads of change.    🙂