Someone’s Always Watching You

I was told today that I was a motivating source to someone who I hadn’t even realized was paying attention to me.  This guy in the gym said that every time that he thought about staying in the bed and not dragging himself to the gym he thought about me and my hard work that I put in at the gym, and the fact that I constantly push myself to do more and to push through even when I don’t feel like it.  He said that I motivated him to push through and come to the gym even if he didn’t feel like it.  I was amazed and shocked because this was a guy who was relatively new to the gym and who I would’ve never known was paying attention to anything that I did.  As he was leaving out the door he said that you never know who might be watching so keep up the good work.  

Aside from feeling flattered I felt confused because I never saw myself as motivation for anyone but I suppose that just as there are those that might not realize how much they motivate me, I too, might be recognized by others.  As someone who is naturally an observer I notice people and their actions all the time.  I find myself continually motivated by these ambitious people (unknown to me personally) that I see striving to be successful in everything they do and who are determined to make their dreams a reality.  

I guess if I’m watching others it’s not so far fetched to think that someone could be watching me.  Hopefully someone is watching this blog, and my writing development through the internet world and recognizes that some day as well.  For whoever is watching (or should I say reading) this blog, I write articles on a multitude of topics, I edit manuscripts for a reasonable fee, I am perfectly fine with my blog being turned into a book, and I am always looking for new clients to work with.  Until tomorrow…Work hard and be diligent because you never know who might be watching you!    

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://writetobe.wordpress.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

http://www.passionatewriterpublishing.com/thediary.htm

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

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What is There to Wait For?

“Waiting is a trap.  There will always be reasons to wait.  The truth is, there are only two things in life, reasons and results, and reasons simply don’t count.”

~Dr. Robert Anthony 

When someone in the gym this morning asked why I didn’t wait for them to go start my running I simply said I’m not waiting for anyone this year.  It got me to thinking about just how much time I have spent (or rather wasted) waiting around for something or someone.  It seems like I was always the one that would wait for people to come along, or come around and who in turn wanted people to wait around for me.  

I guess I must have had some sort of revelation when this year kicked into gear because my attitude became one of not wanting to wait around for anyone anymore, or for anything to just happen.  Not even waiting around for the other shoe to drop as I typically do as well.  How many minutes or hours do people spend just waiting?  I am tired of waiting for other people, or even having people waiting for me to do something that they already know they need to do.  

Now I am not speaking of every single aspect of your life but when it comes to doing something that you know has to get done, don’t sit around waiting, not even for that person that said they were going to be right there alongside you.  I wish I could get back all of the time that I’ve wasted waiting around for something to happen, waiting for someone to get their act together, waiting for someone to give me great opportunities to exercise the talent that I possess, even waiting for inspiration to just strike (as I posted about yesterday).  

The fact of the matter is that I can’t just sit and wait because there isn’t anymore time for that.  Too much time has already gone by.  Now it’s time to get my butt into high gear and get busy making what I want happen and not waiting around letting opportunities just fall through the cracks.  Until tomorrow…Can you count how much time you’ve wasted just waiting around?     

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://writetobe.wordpress.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

http://www.passionatewriterpublishing.com/thediary.htm

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

Taking Care of You

Ms. L reminded me of something tonight; that you can’t take care of everyone else if you don’t first make time to take care of yourself.  I have a hard time doing that.  I had a conversation earlier today with someone about not knowing what to do with myself during the time that my daughter is with her father.  I mean I know how to make use of the time when she’s in school because after dropping her off and going to the gym everyone morning (which is probably the only thing that I really do to take care of me) I am only left with a small amount of time before having to get her from school.  But when she goes away to her dad’s house and spends the night I am left with all of this time and I don’t know what to do with it.  

I mean sure I write and do housework but I don’t really do anything that is solely just for the sake of having fun (or pampering myself).  It’s almost like I forgot how to be me.  I’m just a mom and a writer.  I don’t really know how to be anyone else.  It’s programmed in me and I suppose I have to search and find that something that is just for me, just for my benefit, so that I can feel like I’m being taken care of too (and if I have a little fun along the way that’s good too).  

For anyone out there is feels so caught up in what they do for a living and being someone’s parent, find a way to take care of you this year.  You deserve to feel pampered and you deserve to have fun (fun outside of the kids) too.  It’s time to take care of you so that you can be able to better take care of the ones you love around you.  Until tomorrow…Try putting yourself first every once and a while. 

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://writetobe.wordpress.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

http://www.passionatewriterpublishing.com/thediary.htm

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

No Excuses Allowed (Anymore)

“Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure.” 

~Don Wilder 

I was in the gym this morning and one of the guys in there (who hadn’t been there for about two weeks) strolled in to a barrage of questions from everyone else in the weight room.  In our gym we look after one another and we definitely hold everyone accountable to what they say they want to accomplish by coming there.  So this particular person constantly comes in the gym speaking about how he plans on being more consistent and then he will disappear for about a week.  When he comes back in he talks about all of the things that threw him off of his plan to be consistent and the mistakes that he made in his diet that made him feel too guilty to come back to the gym on a regular basis.  We tell him the same thing time after time.  That it doesn’t matter the mistakes he made in his own plan, or that he got off track.  What matters is that he corrects the mistakes and gets it together.  In one ear and out the other our words go every time.  

Today, for every excuse he gave me, I simply said to him “this is the year for no excuses”.  He responded by saying “but I fell off, I messed up”.  I told him that it doesn’t matter that you ‘fell off’ or that you made mistakes in your own plan, what will make those mistakes matter is if you give those mistakes power by never correcting them.  He asked me “well haven’t you ever made mistakes in your diet and messed up and then felt guilty about it?” and I said ‘sure I mess up in my diet because I’m an emotional eater, and I’ve missed more than one or two days at the gym but I don’t feel guilty about it because I know that I am going to correct it and eventually I do’.  

Now this conversation may just be in reference to going to the gym and maintaining a healthy regimen but the message applies to everyday life as well.  We all make mistakes that we feel guilty about and we sometimes think that we can’t come back from whatever mistake it is but the reality is that we can and using those mistakes then becomes more of an excuse.  Not one person walking this earth is perfect or goes without making one single mistake.  Sometimes what makes the mistakes worse than what they really are is the fact that we keep repeating them and never do what needs to be done to correct them.  

I think that sometimes we should celebrate the fact that we are imperfect beings because it will be those imperfections that strengthen our character and our determination to do the things that we were put here to do.  Those imperfections allow us to realize that while we may fall down, we most certainly have the strength to get back up.  So for the year of 2012, let’s try to take the attitude that we won’t make any excuses, nor will we accept any.  If we make a mistake, don’t let that very mistake be a reason that we don’t correct our actions.  So you fell down, so what.  Sit up, get your bearings together, dust yourself off, and get back up again.  It will only stay a mistake if you don’t do anything to correct it.  Until tomorrow…Rejoice in your imperfections, they are apart of what makes you who you are!

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://writetobe.wordpress.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

http://www.passionatewriterpublishing.com/thediary.htm

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

Where Credit Is Due

“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.”

~Mahatma Gandhi 

I am reminded every morning when I go to the gym to workout that I am a lot stronger than I think I am.  Each day when I do something else that I never thought that I could do or that I said that I would never even try, it reminds me that I sometimes don’t give myself enough credit.  A lot of us tend to do that in general during the course of our everyday lives.  We get it in our heads that we are only as good as the limits that we set for ourselves, not realizing that we often set the bar too low and don’t give ourselves nearly as much credit as we deserve.  

If we think about it, each time we reach an obstacle and find ourselves saying that we can’t handle anything else, not only do we surpass that obstacle but it builds us up stronger for the one that is sure to come after that.  They say that which doesn’t kill you can only make you stronger, and while sometimes I find myself wanting to throw a certain finger up at whoever started that phrase, I find it to be very true.  My struggles have not only made me stronger but made me more ambitious and determined.  I feel that with each road block I face during the course of my journey I am made to be hungrier and more driven to reach my destination.  

Someone at the gym told me that I have been coming to the gym lately with a new drive and as if I was on a mission for the year 2012.  I am on a mission.  I plan on setting that bar increasingly higher for myself and raising my own expectations right along with it.  I am strong enough to achieve anything I desire despite the struggles I have to face along the way.  I am going to stop counting myself out before I even make it to the starting line and start giving myself the credit that I deserve.  Until tomorrow…Ask yourself if you are giving yourself enough credit? 

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://writetobe.wordpress.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

http://www.passionatewriterpublishing.com/thediary.htm

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress