Just Start

Is there something you would like to do but think you can't?  Have you ever actually tried? Or did you try and not do as well as you had hoped and then just give up?

I remember seeing a painting of a dalmatian in a how-to magazine once that totally fascinated me. I was learning to paint but I didn't think I could ever do anything like that. I came across that old magazine recently and now that painting doesn't look nearly as intimidating as it once did. I've learned some skills.

I didn't use to be able to draw a decent stick figure but I have now been commissioned to draw two pet portraits just because I post what I'm learning on social media. If you want to do something you don't think you can do, take steps to learn how. Start today and just keep going. I know you can do it, whatever it is. It might take training. It might just take practice.  It might take luck or it could be that even your happy accidents lead to the success you weren't even expecting.

Sometimes something you do will lead you to do something else you had not thought of before, or it might even inspire others.  A new cyber friend of mine went out to take pictures of the new snow clinging to the trees.  She was disappointed later when she realized the photos were badly overexposed. We interact on a creativity page and she decided to share those shots after all. She ran them through a filter and was surprised by the truly lovely results. If she had just deleted the pictures without trying something new she would never have discovered how beautiful her mistakes really were.  And today, when I tried to take a specific picture, the angle of the sun was making it next to impossible.   I was inspired by what this lady had done and decided to see if I could turn an over-exposed picture into something beautiful too.  There are no mistakes, there are just opportunities.  

Go create some opportunities for yourself. Whatever it is you ever wanted to do, go take that first step. You may really love where it leads you.

Good Luck, Bad Luck, No Luck at All

Last year about this time, things were not going very well.  But a month or so later, my luck had changed, and things were going extremely well.  Earlier this year I mentioned that Mercury was in retrograde, and that effect has continued, as we just got a shipment that was missing two of the items we ordered. They were not on back order. They were just missing.  Luckily, we were not billed for them, and the company has agreed to send the missing items without charging us the extra shipping charges. 

Other than all the frustrations with the mail, I've had three of the nasty bugs going around since the beginning of January.  And yes, I did have my flu shot, and a pneumonia shot for good measure.  I'm a big believer in the flu shot, but while I got off extremely lucky last year, with not so much as a sniffle, this year I had a stomach flu, a cold and then this latest flu with the nasty cough that just won't quit. I say it's a flu as I had a fever for a couple of days in the beginning.  I have no idea what the difference is between this year and last.

On other fronts I've been quite lucky so far this year.

As I told you,  I won a hundred dollar gift card from Subway, and since then, a book about Joint Health For Life (that likely will tell me not to eat such things) and a big box of tea from the Bigelow Tea Company.  I've never actually heard of them before, but I got very excited when this package came.  I was expecting 16 assorted teas, but what arrived was 6 boxes, each containing 16 teas each.  Two black, three green and three red tea flavours with two of each flavour in each box. 

I've already sampled the Vanilla Peach and the Strawberry teas, both of which were red varieties. They don't come in the normal tea bag, but rather in unique swizzle sticks that you put in the cup of hot water and stir around until you get the strength you like. There could not be a better prize for someone with a nasty cough.  Once I get over this bug, I plan on having a lovely tea party with my friends.

I got an e-mail from a friend out west who says I've always been fortunate, and lucky enough to win a lot of things.  I had just read an article that says you make your own luck by taking advantage of opportunities that present themselves. Well, I win a few things now and then, but that's because I enter a lot of contests. I'm not sure that makes me lucky. It's just the odds. If you enter enough times, you are bound to win something, sooner or later. I think that hundred dollar gift card is likely the most valuable prize I've ever won. 

Still, it's unusual for me to win three things in such a short period of time.  It does help balance out the other things that have been going on in my life since the beginning of the year though. Mercury is supposed to move on and leave me in peace later this week, and really, I can't wait!