A productive Sunday

Instead of making a To Do List, in which most things will remain un-done at the end of the day, mocking my dreams of being a productive and useful human being, today I am going to make a list of the things that I DID, that are already DONE, so that I can look over the list and feel (a tiny bit) proud of how I spent the day:

• watered the plants on the deck
• did two loads of laundry, hung things on the clothesline
• put away laundry from earlier in the week
• ran the dishwasher. emptied the dishwasher.
• vacuumed the living room, bedroom, and stairs (one more set of stairs to be done)
• downloaded the Nike+ Training app and did a workout
• scooped the cat litter downstairs
• put out fresh puppy pads 
• signed up for bellydance classes 
• made chick pea salad 
• changed the bedsheets
• made barley 
• some Work work
• another load of laundry
• meditated

Things yet to be done, but kinda have to get done today:

• some Work work
• another load of laundry
• make chick pea salad
• make rice
• make something for dinner and lunch tomorrow?
• change the bedsheets
• organize work clothes for next week
• meditate (I signed up for Oprah & Deepak's latest meditation experience and am a few days behind already oops)

Oh look at that, my still-to-do is almost as long as my done list. So much for boosting my self-esteem!

EDIT: ok, in the four hours after posting this, I got a few more things knocked off the list. A rather productive day overall.

Aaaaahhh....

A beautiful, quiet Saturday morning.

Love it.

I have a bunch of things I want to get done today, probably more than is possible for me to do today, but it doesn't bother me. Just soaking in the lovely stillness.

Have a great day world!

Photo taken by me Sept 2015 at Point No Point Resort on Vancouver Island.

Hello stranger

Hi blog!

Yesterday I attended an amazing course on concussion management taught by Shannon McGuire (Concussion Rehab Works). There was so much good information that I hope to use with my clients! T and I had a road trip to Kitchener-Waterloo for the course, and on the way back we stopped at Home Depot to get some plants for the garden. They didn't have as many veggies as I'd hoped, but we got some herbs and flowers. A trip to Fiesta Farms is in order!

Today I've been doing laundry and slowly cleaning up the kitchen, and procrastinating on doing the work I brought home this weekend. :( I even worked out! Still have not unpacked from Victoria though...

Photo taken at Butchart Gardens in the centre of the Rose Garden (which wasn't fully in bloom yet).

What to wear

I've just started 10 weeks of internships (2 x 5 weeks each). The dress code for the first one is "smart casual", whatever that means. Business casual but less business-y? The second one is in a hospital so I'll probably be wearing scrubs.

The bottom line: I'll be wearing pants.

I wear pants all the time. It's physio - you have to be able to move around, crawl up on beds and plinths, lunge and squat, and even sit on patients (like I did today - don't ask). I mostly wear pants to school, because it's more comfortable when carrying my backpack and all my other stuff.

I have thus decided to wear skirts ALL THE TIME on weekends. I have lots of skirts that I hardly ever wear, and I need to put them into rotation.

There is still the issue of shoes though...

Accomplishments

What am I most proud of?

At age 34, I went back to university (started again, really) and ended up graduating with top marks in my class. The first few courses were hard - I had to remember how to learn the material so that I could reproduce it on a test, which is SO different from the working world. But once I figured out that I could do well and got a taste for high marks,  I was hooked. I wanted to know EVERYTHING (not possible haha). Also, I knew that I needed excellent grades to get into a master's program.

I had focus and motivation.

And I wasn't distracted by all that usual university stuff: making friends and going out. :)

I did have a small group of study buddies, and we would share notes, work together on projects, motivate each other, etc.

The hard work paid off: graduated top of the class, received an academic award, accepted into my first choice of master's programs.

Did I have a positive impact on anyone? I think my family was proud of me. I got the sense that they were surprised/didn't expect me to do it (actually my mom said it straight out) - guess they didn't think very highly of my intelligence! Haters gonna hate, lol. I tried to teach my younger classmates that it's never too late to pursue your dreams; if you're not happy with what you're doing, make a career change. It might not be easy, but hopefully it will lead to you doing something more fulfilling.

What can I learn from this success to help me be successful in the future?

Tough question. The end goal/motivation helped (getting into PT school). Having small successes proved to me that I could achieve really great marks. I did enjoy a bit a competition to do better than someone else, but that wasn't a key motivation factor.

What can I take forward from that experience to help me be more motivated now?

Revival

Oh hello blog.
I am going to revive you, or at least try, for 7 days. (I do know CPR after all!)

I've joined the Start-A-Blog Challenge with Scott Dinsmore from Live Your Legend which should compel me to write a post every day for 7 days. 

Why am I doing this?

PT school is fast and furious, and I'm just trying to keep my head above water. I see the value in self-reflection regarding school and clinical placements, but I need some structure and a forum for it, and it would be valuable for me in other areas of life as well. 

So here we are.

Welcome to 2013

My word for 2013 is: OPENNESS

Open heart, open body, open mind.