Evaluate Your Life Day

Today is "Evaluate Your Life Day."

Of course, it's also,

• National Seafood Bisque Day 
• National Seafood Month (October) 
• National Sarcastic Month (October)

I got an email from Richard after he read that with what I consider a brilliant one-liner ....

 

Well clearly I need to spend more of my life eating seafood.

That one made me laugh.  He very succinctly managed to roll all those holidays into one sentence.  Awesome!

 

But back to evaluating your life day.  Or in this case, I'm evaluating MY life.  The days of which seem to be whizzing by at an alarming rate at this point.  As Jean-Luc Picard said in the Star Trek movie, "Generations"...

 

I've become aware that there are fewer days ahead than there are behind.

Time, time, I'm running out of time!!!  There are so many things I would have liked to have done, and not likely to have time to do them all now. 

So it's TIME to pick and choose.  Some of the choices are made for me, as time flows by and things change.  For instance, if I EVALUATE my business, it's in need of a major overhaul.  This year has been a disaster business-wise.

Some of that is my own fault, for making what turned out to be the wrong decision.  I went into business with someone, and that business sucked up just about all my time the first half of the year, and it turned out to be a bad move.  That business is now defunct, and the time spent on it a waste.

Well, maybe not entirely a waste.  I have learned I'm better off working on my own, no matter how much the gurus may tout the wonders of partnerships and mastermind groups.

I have also learned I'm better off trusting my own instincts than listening to most of the stuff those very same gurus spout. 

Further, I have learned that most of what they teach is how to make a quick buck, but not necessarily how to build a long-term business.

So in my evaluating the business part of my life, I have decided I would rather build for the long-term.  I'm in the process of changing my priorities and what I work on.  Briefly, that means I'm paring down the number of websites I have so I can focus on certain subjects.  I am moving more into Kindle books.  I'm adding Squidoo and Pinterest to the mix, and looking for ways to get traffic without relying on Google, the killer of small business sites.

As for the rest of my life, I'm evaluating it too, but I don't want a novella here.  Let's just say of all the things I've done, I'm not sure how many were really worthwhile.  But at least I have two good sons on the credit leger:

 And one really cute granddaughter:

 

Now I've got some other really awesome grandchildren, but I can't take any credit for them!  Ellie is the only one with any of my genes (poor girl!).

But enough of this somewhat public evaulation.... I'm off to do some more evaluating of my life and what to do now on my own! 

Time to see if I can take some of these lemons and make lemonade!

 

 

 

Solitary Misfit

I love my family.  Both sides of my family.  But I don't really fit into the family anywhere.  I'm a solitary misfit.

There are a lot of reasons for that.  Some from outside influences, some from my own personal preferences.

I've been a bit of a loner all my life.  When I was a kid, I was happiest out roaming over our farm, doing things like playing in the creek, riding horses, hunting for fossils, writing poetry or reading a book.  All solitary activities.

We didn't have any really close neighbors where I was constantly playing with other kids, and so for example, never got into playing a neighborhood game of ball.  Not once.  Maybe that's one of the reasons I never got interested in sports, which is another one of the reasons I'm a total misfit in my family.

As I got older I did more in school, at church, and at work, so was fairly active outside the home for some time.  But in the last few years Regional Pain Syndrome and Fibromyalgia put a stop to a lot of that.  And not entirely for physical reasons.  It just got so it wasn't worth the emotional/mental stress of dealing with people who don't understand living with an invisible, long-term illness.

And one thing I have learned, if you aren't active, it doesn't matter how much you did before, you're soon forgotten.

So I just got tired and withdrew from the fray.  Socializing is too difficult.  Communication too one-sided.  Why, for instance, write on this blog when no one reads it?  So for a long time I didn't bother.  Why I am doing so now, I'm not sure, except that it's 2:30am and I can't sleep, and maybe it's good therapy.

Why send cards, letters, or emails to people who aren't really interested?  A waste of my time and theirs.  No need to make people feel obligated to send back a little thank you or whatever so they do 'the right thing.'

And what to write or talk about anyway?  Nope, I don't fit in there either.  Not conversant in sports speak.  Not fond of talking politics, because really people, it usually just causes hard feelings, and no one is going to convince someone on the other side of the fence to change their mind anyway.  Same thing with religion. 

I used to think my x-mother-in-law was a little extreme because she outlawed talk of religion and politics at family gatherings, but more and more I see the merit of her position.

So who in my close or extended family would be interested in talking about being an online entrepreneur, and understand what I was talking about if I discussed SEO, Google algorithms, and the latest Panda or Penguin update?  Or backlinking, the best traffic sources, how to find good outsourcers, optimizing Wordpress, tweaking php files, long tail keywords, the best affiliate programs, webinars, cloaked links, page rank, security plugins, or any of a hundred other things I deal with on a regular basis?

No one, that's who.  It's just not something anyone else cares about or understands.

Well then, how about if we talked about science?  Maybe how SPECT imaging is moving forward the science of explaining how even small damage to your brain can change your behavior, and ways people like Dr. Daniel Amen are finding that will help repair the damage.  Or how a SPECT image relates to the field of neurotheology, and understanding the relationship between spirituality and the brain?

No? Maybe the science behind energy healing?  Or how about the role of supplements in healing/wellness or the latest research on health foods and organic foods?

Something totally different then... Farming? Raising peafowl, turkeys? Caring for a parrot? 

Okay, how about the merits of Kindle publishing vs. Create Space vs PubIt!?  How about the KDP program? 

I could go on and on, but the point should be plain by now.  The stuff I find interesting just isn't the same stuff the rest of my family finds interesting.  Our interests don't mesh, so  I don't fit in.  Not in the slightest.

Solitary.  Misfit.   That's me.

Down on the Farm

It's been a few months since I put anything on here, and no way I can catch up on all that's beeen going on, so I'll just jump in and talk about today!

It's a bit chillier today, and seems more like a fall day.  I guess since it's October, that's to be expected.  But I'm sure we'll have some nice warm days yet.

Earlier in the week a dead tree fell over in the back yard.  I heard a loud thump and at first wondered what it was.  Earthquake? Gunshot? Explosion?  But when I looked out the dining room window, it was immediately obvious what had happened!

It's been dead for some time, and in fact, Jess previously cut part of the top down that looked in danger of falling off.

Today he cut it in big sections.

He picked up some of the smaller pieces, but the big sections are still too big to be moved far.  AT some point he'll have to cut it into smaller ones before he can hope to get it moved out of the yard.

However, that didn't stop him from burning what he *is* able to move.

But then, he always has been a bit of a firebug.

In the meantime, I'm working inside.  About to finish up a bucket of apples I've been slowly getting peeled, cut-up and frozen.

During the week, we all stay busy with other work.  Jess has been swamped with people wanting him to do estimating for them, and I have plenty to do, and even Jonathan is working a lot of hours.

One thing we never have to worry about is time to get bored.