Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - October 27th

The future belongs to those who prepare for it today. - Malcolm X

Even though the future seems far away, it is actually beginning right now.  - Mattie Stepanek

Where will you be in 10 years, 20 years or 30 years?  Do you have a dream that looks impossible?  Do you have a passion that does not go away, but you have no idea how you will use it in your current life situation?  Last Sunday, I saw a segment on television called “Power Player of the Week” and loved the story of Ina Garten and knew she was a topic for a blog post.  

Ina married her husband in 1968 and spent four (4) years in Fort Bragg, North Carolina as a military spouse where she developed a love for cooking.  When he returned from his Vietnam tour, the couple took a three (3) month tour of Paris, France, where she developed her love of French cuisine.  In 1972, Ina and Jeffrey moved to Washington, D.C. where he worked at the State Department and Ina worked for the Office of Budget and Management.  During the Ford and Carter Administrations, Ina was a budget analyst, which entailed her writing the nuclear energy budget and policy papers on nuclear centrifuge plants.  To help relief her stress, Ina turned to her love of cooking and threw weekly dinner parties for friends.  She and her husband also refurbished homes in the Dupont Circle and Kalorama neighborhoods. 

In 1978, Garten was tired of the hustle and bustle of Washington and not being completely fulfilled in life.  During a trip to Long Island, she saw a specialty food store called the Barefoot Contessa.  Calling the owner to discuss the store, she made an offer and the next day was completely surprised when the owner accepted her offer.  After twenty (20) successful years of running the store, she was ready for a change and sold Barefoot Contessa to two (2) employees.  Almost twenty (20) years after selling the store, she has now written eight (8) cookbooks and has a show on the Food Network. 

Who would have thought that a lady who wrote nuclear energy policy would later own a specialty food store and write numerous cookbooks?  

If you have a dream in your heart, but do not know how you can accomplish it….STOP!  DO NOT try to reason it out.  Run with it.  Set goals for yourself in 2016 to start preparing yourself for it and see where you end up.  GO FOR IT!   Be like Ina Garten and DO IT!

The future depends on what we do in the present. – Mahatma Gandhi

The best way to predict your future is to create it. – Abraham Lincoln

Resources

http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/fox-news-sunday-chris-wallace/videos#p/158303/v/4564813279001

http://barefootcontessa.com/about.aspx

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ina_Garten

Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - October 20th

It is often in the darkest skies that we see the brightest stars. - Richard Evans

Sometimes when you’re in a dark place you think you’ve been buried, but actually you’ve been planted. - Christine Caine

Everyone has talent.  What’s rare is the courage to follow it to the dark places where it leads. – Erica Jong

Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light. - Harry Potter - Albus Dumbledore quotes

The dark does not destroy the light; it defines it.  It’s our fear of the dark that casts our joy into the shadows. – Brene Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection

Do you ever feel like you are in a dark place in life?  A dark place is where you do not see a way out and you think life is “doomed”.  Recently, I felt like I was in a dark place because nothing was happening.  I was doing the daily “mundane” things of getting up, working out, going to work, coming home and then repeating the same activities the next day.  It was not a bad thing, but things were not “moving”.  My dentist put it best recently when he said that if I am not at “Mach 1” I am bored.  This past week, I had movement and it was just not one thing it was many things.

First, I hit a major milestone at my company last Sunday of eight (8) years, which means I am fully vested.  Second, I have been concerned for many months about leading an event in 2016.  Two years ago, I lead the event and was not sure how well I had done.  In the last week, I had to make some difficult telephone calls thinking I was going to have a hard time based on other people’s insights, but discovered everything was fine.  Third, I had plans change in the last couple of weeks and have been fighting to stay positive because I felt I was wronged.  However, it all turned out fine because if I had traveled I would not have been able to visit with a contact while in the other city.  Instead, I had the opportunity to have quiet time, make a new friend while hanging out at the pool, work on projects, read a whole book, etc. 

I often forget that dark times are the times I grow, develop and prepare for the future.  When it looks like nothing is happening, I know that I need to focus on the light because it is definitely shining through if I will just search for it.

My challenge to you is if you get down or depressed when you do not think anything is going the way you want it to, search for the light and see the hope that is shining through. 

It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light. - Aristotle Onassis

Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness. - Desmond Tutu

Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - October 13th

You can't truly understand something until it happens to you. The meaning of life is discovered in the experience. -  Anurag Prakash Ray

To live is to experience things, not sit around pondering the meaning of life. - Unknown quotes

Life is defined by time and seasons. ― Lailah Gifty Akita

Embrace the season of life you are in whether it’s a season of rain or a season of sunshine.  God is using it to shape you and prepare you for the future. daughterbydesign.wordpress.com

Last week, I had the craziest sleep schedule, which caused my work schedule to be weird.  For some obnoxious reason, I woke up at 2:45am and was not able to fall back asleep.  When this happened, I grabbed my book to read for a while and then would do my daily devotional.  Sometimes, I would try to fall back asleep and other times I would do work.  Crazy as it sounds, I was able to get a lot of stuff done early in the morning.  This was also good because I was able to get into the office around 7am before anyone else showed up so it was quiet and I was able to accomplish other tasks.  When I left the office on Friday, I finished one thing I had to complete for my boss and now will be able to work on other things this week.

We all go through seasons of life.  When I was waking up so early, at first I was frustrated with myself because I wanted to be like other people that actually slept through the night.  However, I realized that I am extremely busy right now and will be for the next 6 months.  I will never have the experiences I am going through again and I need to learn from them even though they are “pruning times” that are developing me for my future and they can be difficult.  Finally, I realized that I need to take these opportunities as they come, learn, process and grow from them because they are preparation for me to fulfill my purpose in life.  

As you are going through your current season in life, do not throw it away or question why.  There will be a day when you look back and understand why and will be thankful for the process you went through to get where you are going. 

A season of loneliness and isolation is when the caterpillar gets its wings. Remember that next time you feel alone. ― Mandy Hale, The Single Woman: Life, Love, and a Dash of Sass

When it is time for a season to change, the imperfections of life are most visible. - Sue Detweiler, 9 Traits of a Life-Giving Mom: Replacing My Worst with Gods Best

There is a season for everything under the sun—even when we can’t see the sun. ― Jared Brock, A Year of Living Prayerfully: How a Curious Traveler Met the Pope, Walked on Coals, Danced with Rabbis, and Revived His Prayer Life