A Minute Reflection

When I am working out and feeling the challenge of pushing myself past my what I consider my physical limits, my mind wanders to what I can be. Am I a fitness fanatic in the making?  Could I be a master of yoga...what are yoga experts called anyway?  Maybe I could get certified and teach other people how to be fit.  I wonder do I allow myself to be all that I want to be in my life. Or do I let myself be shaped by my past ideas of what my identity should be.

The idea of constant self-evaluation and rediscovery of myself is exciting. I get to daydream about what choices I have made that are right for me and what things I want to add to my life to continue to shape my identity. I teach my students that goal setting and self reflection are important activities that sometimes get pushed to the side in the midst of daily life chaos. However, we have to focus on ourselves to develop into the people we want to be. Is there anything you want to change or add to your life?  Maybe one day I will be a dedicated fitness guru....what will you be? Are you working on it today?

ZUMBA!

A Mississippi Blizzard

If you ever want to see a region of happy people acting like children on Christmas morning, regardless of  age, travel South during a rare snow storm!  I am one of those happy people at the moment! But I have to admit that all this snow joy has left me a little sleepy today because I was unable to get much sleep last night. Really, who can sleep when you have, as one friend described it, snow flakes the size of fajita shells falling outside?  When I did finally fall asleep, I had nightmares. I dreamed that the snow had melted in the middle of the night! Thankfully, my nightmares did not come true and I woke up to 10 inches of beautiful snow.

SUPERSNOW SUNDAY

The sleet started yesterday afternoon around three but the preparations started a couple of days ago with the excitement building as we got closer to the predicted time of snowfall. The atmosphere in Krogers yesterday felt like a holiday quickly approaching as people hurried to grab the last few needed items. People were talking about the same thing, planning on cooking the same food, and just had that excited energy that said something big was about to happen. This weekend had the same type of preparation and anticipation as SuperBowl Sunday has, provoking me to playfully name yesterday SuperSnow Sunday.

BREAD AND MILK

We, as Americans, know there are a few items you have to have for SuperBowl Sunday. You must have a hearty dish prepared, usually chili.  A variety of chips and dips are available. Desserts are usually cookies so that you can pick up and eat as you watch the game. And of course, beer is readily available in most homes for the big game. 

We, as Southerners, know what you have to have for SuperSnow Sunday - bread and milk. Yuck.  Why are the two necessary items that quickly disappear off the shelves of any Southern grocery store so bland?  I can think of a lot of other foods I would like to have if I am snowed in.  Sure, bread and milk are fine but those two items alone sound awful.  Can't we have something more exciting?  Even the weatherman asked the viewers to please leave him a gallon of milk and bread, multigrain please! He knew that as he predicted the snow, Southerners were running out the door to grab their bread and milk!

At my house, we got our bread and milk but we also bought a variety of other foods too. We made chili and baked pumpkin bread. We also have a few items available in case the power went out like chocolate and chips.  Afterall, an emergency like a blizzard calls off all diets!  And of course, we made sure to stock up on snow wine. In case you don't know, snow wine is wine you drink when it is snowing outside.  This is the same wine you drink when it is not snowing outside but you just don't get to call it snow wine on those days.

SNOW DAYS, CARDBOARD SLEDS, AND SNOWMEN
                                                                                  

A few other necessary requirements for a Southern snow storm are days off, cardboard sleds, and snowmen.  Our northern friends...bless their hearts....they think we do not know how to drive in the snow.  I am going to let you in on a little Southern secret: we could drive in the snow if we wanted to do so. We just have chosen to not tell our emergency officials this little bit of information. We are smart and gladly accept the free day off from work.  To my yankee friends, you may want to stop bragging about your snow driving skills because you are only hurting yourself by having to go work when you could be home like us!

                                                                                               

As for cardboard sleds and snowmen, you will see us out early in the day (if we ever went inside at all) to take advantage of the rare snow.  We are inventive, using whatever will slide us down a hill as a sled.  Usually we have to use cardboard boxes because like snowplows, sleds just don't exist in the south as we would never use them.  So our children gladly slide their way to a variety of injuries on homemade, unsafe toys! 

I did not get the chance to slide down a hill today but I did spend the morning creating my snowwoman.  I wish it snowed more often because there is something very gratifying about rolling a big ball of snow around.  But then again if snow was a regular occurence, I guess I would not appreciate it as much.  Also, if snow was a common part of our winters, our emergency officials would most likely purchase snowplows. Then we would lose our snow days because we would be driving to work like our northern friends. With all those factors in mind, I will gladly take my rare snow day that shuts the South down for a day or two so we can all play. Happy Snow Day Y'all!

Peas and Resolutions

Traditions mean a lot to us Southerners. They are what bind us together even when jobs and new adventures take us to regions far away from the South.  One tradition that all of us hold onto with a religion-like commitment is the New Year's Day meal.  No matter where you are that day, you scramble to eat your black eyed peas, cabbage, and pork because this is the meal that gets the year off to a lucky, prosperous start.

This New Year's Day, my friends all over the South posted pictures or updated statuses of the requisite meal we were all eating.  The meal closed the miles between friends and family who have moved away and were spending their day in other states like New York and Montana.  There is something comforting about knowing that no matter where we all were, we were all  sharing the same meal that day.


The Search for Peas

This morning I asked my friend how her New Year's Day was with her great aunt who will soon be 94 years old.  She looked at me with an exasperated look and said, "She didn't have black eyed peas!"  As the perfect example of a Southerner, she went on to say that we all know that we have to have black eyed peas, cabbage, and ham for New Year's but her aunt had decided to have just the green side of the meal. She cooked cabbage, turnip greens, and ham.  I have to admit the superstitious side of me made me uncomfortable for her.  I know that it is all silly superstition but the meal is such a part of our culture that I would not want to start my year off without the peas for luck and the cabbage for money!

I laughed and responded that at least she will get a lot of money this year by eating two servings of greens.But my friend needed luck with her money! She ate the overloaded green meal with her aunt but suggested they go to a catfish restaurant for dinner so she could get her black eyed peas before the day was over.  They drive up to the place, only to find it closed.  She tells her aunt she has to find these peas and her aunt suggested another restaurant.  The other restaurant was opened....it was a Mexican restaurant.  Needless to say, they didn't have black eyed peas at La Margarita so my friend faces the beginning of her year without the necessary ingredients.  Maybe she will find a four leaf clover by St. Paddy's day to save her year! 


After the Meal and Champagne Toasts...

One thing that not all us Southerners necessarily do is set resolutions but I love them.  I do not understand why some people don't like them. I love dreaming about the adventures my year might hold. I enjoy envisioning how I can become better and accomplish new goals. To me, people who refuse resolutions are not merely bunking a societal norm for the sake of being different but instead are either afraid of failure or do not understand the benefits of challenge and growth. I set resolutions or goals for myself at least twice a year.  Once on my birthday which I consider to be my own personal new year's and on New Year's Day.

Of course as a career counselor, I teach people how to set goals and work toward them on a daily basis. By setting goals and keeping yourself in check you move from just existing in this life to really living. I set a lot each year. Some are serious while some are fun and frivolous. I write them down and check them often. I have yet to accomplish all of my resolutions but some years I come very close. However, if I had not set them at all then I would not even have come close, right? Like Norman Vincent Peale said, "Reach for the moon, even if you miss, you will fall among the stars." The point is to try and the new year gives us a symbolic reminder to try new things for our lives.

If you are still trying to decide whether or not to resolve to do something, I say do it.  Some different suggestions include fun resolutions like go to a place this year you have never been (on my list). You can do something frivolous like buy more shoes (that one also made my list this year). You may want to be more spiritual by attending church more, taking a religion class, or reading books that inspire your deeper side (yes, on my list). Of course, you can always lose weight and get healthier. One year I tried a year of trying something different every month.  I would record the new experience from that month in my journal. After the year was over, I had fun looking back on my new experiences that had added to my life that year.

This year my mother came up with the idea to set 11 resolutions for 2011. I followed her lead by doing the same thing. I won't list them all right now but if I even accomplish a portion of them then this year will be an exciting year in my life. Happy New Year Y'all!