It’s time for the next installment of “Friday Questions,” where I work my way through the Community Questions portion of the Real Talk Radio podcast. There were some great questions in this round!
1) When was the last time you tried something new and what was it?
Recently, when I started walking 10,000 steps daily. I’ve had to slow down on this goal because of the sacrum pain I’m experiencing whenever I attempt a 10k steps day, but I’m hoping some chiropractic adjustments to my lower spine will allow me to get back to my walking once again. I love it so much, and it is so good for my mental health.
2) If you could take a semester-long course in any subject, what would it be?
How to Write a Romance Novel? Haha, that would be super helpful as I go about finally finishing this damn romance I’ve been writing for years and years. I struggle a lot with plotting out a romance novel because there’s a specific way it needs to be done, and taking a course about writing romance would be great!
3) What is the biggest challenge or obstacle you’ve dealt with in the past year?
Losing Dutch. It’s been eight months now, and sometimes, I still think I’ll come home to him waiting for me at the door. Or laying on my bed when I come out of the shower. It’s been so hard to lose him because he was my best buddy for so many years, and he became even more important to me over these last few years as it was just me and him, living together. I relive the day we put him down often, and the emotions and grief and sadness feel unbearable sometimes. But I’ve been getting through it, moving forward, even taking steps to welcome some new pets into my life. And I have my mom’s dog, Chip, who has helped immensely with the healing process.
4) What’s one thing you can do today that you weren’t capable of a year ago?
I’m more confident in the decisions I make at work. I feel very capable in my role and I know what I’m doing, and I’m able to lead meetings and handle crises that come up with a skillfulness I didn’t have just a year ago. As someone who has never felt very confident in a work setting, I really love the assertiveness I’ve gained in my role.
5) What’s something you hope to be able to do a year from now that you’re not yet capable of or very good at?
I’d love to be able to open up to people more easily. I am very closed off to my feelings IRL, even though it seems I can word vomit like the best when it comes to my blog and online persona. But IRL, I find it very hard to open up and talk about the stuff that is bothering me. I mean, damn, even some of my best friends don’t know everything I’ve gone through with my dad, and that’s because it’s just hard for me to be vulnerable when I’m face-to-face with a person. It’s easier to wear my sarcasm shield and keep people at arm’s length.
What semester-long course would you take?
I lost one of my boys to cancer back in February and it’s still painful for me, too, even though we had a year to prepare. Prior to this, we had to put our oldest pup down at the tender age of 8. It was six months before I could talk about her without crying. Hang in there. It’ll get easier.
By the way, I love your optimism and empathy. I face a lot of the same mental health and self-esteem issues but I react very differently.
I love question posts like these! I think losing a pet would be so tough to bounce back from. I can’t imagine losing Oscar and we haven’t had her nearly as long as you had Dutch. She’s at Phil’s mom’s house for 2 weeks as we were gone this weekend and we are the odd cat people that don’t like to leave her alone! The house seems so ‘quiet’ without her even though she doesn’t make much noise!
Man, it’s hard to think of a course I would want to take because my MBA + the CFA kind of turned me off from school/learning. How sad is that? If I had to choose something, I’d like to take Spanish classes. Paul will learn Spanish at his Spanish immersion daycare so it would be nice to be able to practice things with him when he gets older. Phil speaks Spanish, though, so I guess that will be their thing! And maybe I will pick some of the language up along the way.
Girl, we could totally take how to write a romance novel together! I wrote a…really terrible first draft of one in the spring/summer and I got this crazy idea to do book two in that universe for Nanowrimo. Are you doing NaNo?! I’m taralparkinson on the site – if you are, let’s be writing buddies!
Girl, I told you before I think it’s fantastic that you’ve been trying to reach the 10k per day, but I also think that it’s a great idea to adjust your expectations a bit (I just recently read an article that said that the 10k is really an arbritrary number and every person should set realistic and achievable goals for themselves). 10k is not a “magic” number. Any steps you get in during the day that make you feel good are GREAT!
I’m the same way when it comes to opening up to people. I can write about my feelings all day long, but when I have to talk about them IRL it’s nearly impossible.