Just a Different Kind of Confidence

"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone." -Neale Donald Walsch

The word confidence has roots in Latin and French. From the Latin root "fidere" meaning to trust, the word confidence is certainly a loaded word. It is defined as "belief in oneself and the power of one's abilities."

People often forget that confidence comes in many forms. We cannot simply wrap up a person's qualities in a box, tie it with a bow, and put them in a certain category. It does not work that way at all.

New Beginnings

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." -Seneca

From the Old English beginnan meaning "to open," a beginning is defined as an act or circumstance of entering upon an action or state. Example: "It was the beginning of her life."

The formal definition is as important as the informal. Informally speaking, we tend to think of beginnings as the point in time in which something starts. Beginnings, however, result in an end. We need endings to create new beginnings.

Hopefully I have not confused you yet. Stay with me.

If not now, then when?

When I started this blog in April of 2013, I had big plans for it. I saw it as an opportunity to take a baby step back into something I love: writing. Eventually, however, my timeline and goals pertaining to this blog fell through with my justification that I would do it "someday." 

We always say that "someday" we're going to get something done or accomplish that dream. I am no exception to this. Someday, I am going to write a novel. Someday, I am going to get my graduate degree. Someday, I am going to take a road trip on Route 66.

You get the idea. 

One Zumba dance step at a time...

Since I am still working on my culture posts, I am once again going to write about my life. Today's post will focus on what it means to accept help and how it affects our (perceived) independence.

Since setting up a story-telling format is the easiest way to present personal anecdotes without confusing the content of the blog, I once again present a case study:

A Case Study, or Why I'm Taking Zumba Classes

I like to think that I'm a helpful person. If someone I know is going through a rough patch, I will take them out for coffee and listen to what is going on in their life. If a friend of mine is moving to a new housing residence, I will clear my weekend to help them move boxes. If a colleague is struggling with how to use the copier at the office, I'll take the time to help fix the paper jam.

In Spite of Everything

"It's a wonder I haven't abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them, because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart. I simply can't build my hopes on a foundation of confusion, misery, and death . . . 

I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that this cruelty too shall end, and that peace and tranquility will return once again." -Anne Frank

The news channels never seem to get better. Every time I turn on the news, or read the paper, there's more destruction going on in our world. War. Hatred. Death. Despair. It feels as though it never ends.

Observations I make as I go about my daily routine help me restore my faith in humanity. A young man helps an elderly lady by holding the door open for her. A teenager soothes the cries of a child who appears to be lost. A simple smile exchanged with a stranger. Like Anne states, I think if we try hard enough, we can all believe "that people are truly good at heart."

Believe in Your Values

"I fell in love with her courage, her sincerity and her flaming self respect and it's these things I'd believe in even if the whole world indulged in wild suspicions that she wasn't all that she should be . . . 

I love her and that's the beginning and end of everything." -F. Scott Fitzgerald

Oftentimes I'm criticized for my "old-fashioned ideals." Sometimes, I have had my friends and family laugh at my values and scoff at the things I hold dear.

I'm a girl with old-fashioned values in a very modern world.

In a society that is constantly telling us who we should be, it's hard to keep our own individual values from slipping away. It takes a certain kind of courage to continue to believe in things that are seemingly lost in a sea of characteristics that the world tells us we ought to have.

Some people sacrifice too many of their values for the things the world tells us we "need": money, prosperity, beauty, success, intimacy... the list is never-ending. Rather than take a step back and ask ourselves, do I really need this? so many of us simply jump on the bandwagon of what everyone else is doing. Humanity justifies itself in so many things simply because there are others who have already done it.

What has happened to our ideals?

C'est la vie

C'est la vie - a French saying meaning "such is life." 

Hello fellow internet users and bloggers,

I apologize for the delay since my last post. Life has been busy for me - as a teacher, I've been wrapping up the end of the school year and all that comes with it. I'm moving on now, to a new place and soon, a new position. It's strange sometimes to think of change and how it affects our lives. It is the choices we make as people that affect us. Sometimes it's hard to know if our choices will be for the better, but we can only hope that everything will turn out right in the end.

I struggle with making decisions. I think in some ways, we all do. Someone once said, "The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live." It's true. But oftentimes we don't know where those new doors will lead us.

Snail mail? What's that?

The 21st century and the technologies available to us is amazing. We can communicate so quickly with one another through so many means - calling, texting, emailing, instant messaging, etc. And just think, we have so many devices that can help us with this quick communication - computers, tablets, Blackberries, iPhones... the list goes on and on.

Mary, one of the characters in the all-star film He's Just Not That Into You, sums up this use of technology. She makes a really good point about how the constant use of technology is something that affects our relationships with all people. She says: