Introverts of the World--unite!>when you feel up to it.

So, I saw this article on Facebook via my girl, Darcie, and I just had to share. Sometimes I think people around me think I don't like them--but it's not that at all. I'm just Introverted.

23 Signs You're Secretly An Introvert

"1. You find small talk incredibly cumbersome.

Introverts are notoriously small talk-phobic, as they find idle chatter to be a source of anxiety, or at least annoyance. . .“Let's clear one thing up: Introverts do not hate small talk because we dislike people," Laurie Helgoe writes in "Introvert Power: Why Your Inner Life Is Your Hidden Strength.""

Small talk is exhausting. I was never the teenager that spent hours talking to their girl friends on the phone. What is the point of expelling all that energy for a few words of "man, this weather sucks. . ."?

"7. Downtime doesn't feel unproductive to you.
One of the most fundamental characteristics of introverts is that they need time alone to recharge their batteries. Whereas an extrovert might get bored or antsy spending a day at home alone with tea and a stack of magazines, this sort of down time feels necessary and satisfying to an introvert."

This is number one for me. Unless you're introverted, you don't understand that going out does not energize us. Staying home, being quiet with a book is the only way to recharge. It doesn't mean we don't want to go out with you ever, or that we don't like you, it's just that we are out of energy and need to "plug in" for a bit. 

"8. Giving a talk in front of 500 people is less stressful than having to mingle with those people afterwards."

The mingling is the worst. Maybe because it's unknown? I can get up and speak to a room of people something that I have prepared and have had time to write out, but when it comes to standing about chatting--serious anxiety!

"10. You start to shut down after you've been active for too long.

Everything introverts do in the outside world causes them to expend energy, after which they'll need to go back and replenish their stores in a quiet environment, says Dembling. Short of a quiet place to go, many introverts will resort to zoning out."

Again--doesn't mean I don't like you--just means my energy is gone and I need some peace to recharge.

"14. You screen all your calls -- even from friends.

You may not pick up your phone even from people you like, but you’ll call them back as soon as you’re mentally prepared and have gathered the energy for the conversation."

I just need some time to mentally prepare and channel some energy and then I will be happy to chat. :)

"21. You've been told to “come out of your shell.

Many introverted children come to believe that there's something "wrong" with them if they're naturally less outspoken and assertive than their peers."

I'm still trying to learn this. That it is NOT WRONG to be introverted. It is good to push yourself and do things that are hard for you--we can't grow unless we try new things/things that scare us. But, it's okay to need time alone. It's actually good. If you can't be happy with yourself--how can you be happy with anyone else?

So, here's to the introverts of the world. When you've mentally prepared yourself, raise your cuppa and join in the movement to realize that being introverted is GREAT! Smile and hug those extroverts around us that help us try new things and allow us to "ride their fun bubble" as the article says. 

the best kind of crying

Sometimes I just feel like crying. Sometimes it's the boo-hoo-poor-me-why-me kind. Which is the worst kind. I hate that.

Sometimes it's the my-life-has-turned-out-so-much-differently-than-i-though-it-would-and-i-don't-know-if-that's-good-or-bad kind. That kind is stressful. I don't much like that one either.

And sometimes, very seldom, but every once in awhile, it's the everything-around-me-is-so-beautiful-humans-are-so-creative-i-am-inspired-&-in-awe kind.

That is the best kind. I want to feel that more often. Which means I need to surround myself with beautiful things and ideas more often. This is the time in my life when it can be all about me. I don't have a husband or children to worry about  take care of, so I can do things that I love every second--if I choose to.

That said, I hate when people say "happiness is a choice", because there are so many factors that go into how a person thinks and views the world--but I definitely believe that the way you see the world affects the way you think and therefore act. We have to actively pursue happiness in order to keep it with us. It's a day-by-day thing. Sometimes a minute-by-minute thing.

So raise a glass. Repeat this mantra if needed{everything around me is so beautiful}. Here's to making a goal to be more happy and enjoy things more often. Here's to saying "no" if we must in order to take care of ourselves. Here's to filling our eyes and minds and hearts with things that are truly beautiful. Here's to dreaming a little bigger. Cheers.

Lucy's Runaway Imagination

Guess what? I wrote and illustrated a children's book.

WHOO! Should be coming in the mail in a few weeks! So excited!

a life of its own.

I've been wanting to start creative writing again. It keeps me alive and helps me see the big picture of life. If I can see my life as a story; then things don't seem so scary, annoyances turn into things I can laugh about, disappointments aren't as devastating--because it's all just a small chapter in the book of my life.

So I saw this writing prompt on Pinterest and decided to take a whack.

As always when I'm writing, it turns into something completely different than what I thought it would at the beginning. This took on a life of its own and what I thought would be a story where the main character fell in love with who ever was reading, turned into the reader being a 3rd party looking into the life of a girl that fell in love with the main character in her book. . . .

Different, but still very interesting. 

I wasn't sure where to start, so I began with this other writing prompt. 

Three words turned into the beginning of a story that maybe we can all relate to.

enjoy.

"I trusted you. . ."

The salty tears from my eyes blur the letters on the page. "I'm sorry," I whisper.

"What am I supposed to do now?" I read, eyes squinting to clear the watery words.
I think back to our first day. So young and naive I was. We both were. The warnings were clear, but the promise of love overpowered it all.

The first few chapters of our love began with Ty out with another. I can hardly remember her name anymore. Sandra or Susan or something. Now I wish I wouldn't have interfered. We'd all be better off if he'd stayed with her.

I turn back to the page I'm reading. My tears have dried up by now. I suspect there's not many left.

"Don't leave me. . ." His plea is so simple, so desperate, it rips my heart in two. I try to swallow, try to answer, but the lump in my throat is barbed wire. I don't know what to do.

He is silent now, but I know he is slumped on the ragged couch, a now-cold cup of tea in his limp hands. I know because we have done this before and every time I go back and find him there. Just sitting. Nearly dead.

He needs me. I need him. But I can't spend my life like this. I have already sacrificed so many months to him. I need to move on.

"I trusted you too, you know," the words slip out and I see them appear, slowly, on the page in front of me. I pick up the book again and wait for his reply.

How did I allow this to happen?

I was born a dreamer, my mom always said. Always in costume, dancing around the house, singing to my prince charming that I had just met in the storybook that lay on my floor.

And as I grew, so did my infatuation with books and fictional characters. Every book I would read would end up sprawled across my chest, forgotten with the close my eyes and the start of a dream. In my mind I was suddenly thrown into the book, much like Mary Poppins is sucked into chalk pictures. I was the damsel in distress, the captain of the ship, the struggling heroin trying saving her family. But always, always, there was a prince. My prince. He was there to save me, support me, love me.

But sooner or later, my eyes would open and I would return to my world and get on with life. But each time it was harder to pull away. Fiction became better than reality and I spent every possible hour reading, dreaming, thinking about my fictional life.

Then one day, I found Ty. A book abandoned on a park bench and a family reunion to escape from has left me--now almost a year later--heart broken and desperate.

"Come here," the words materializing on the page in front of me snap me out of my stupor.

"I. . .can't," I stammer, but know it is hopeless. I've never been able to escape his plea's. I see his face in a ghostly daydream in front of me and sigh. One more, just one more time. I close my eyes and feel myself sucked into the worn book.

He is there. Cold tea, ragged couch, just as I imagined. He stands and is by my side in two long strides. His hand traces my chin and before I have a chance to even think about protesting--his lips have found mine and it feels so real that I find myself slipping again. Into this fantasy world. I breakaway and feel tears pulling at my eyes again.

"I have to let you go," I whisper, and it feels as if I've opened a trap door under my feet. I'm falling and screaming for Ty to help me, but all I see is white. No words, no floor, no Ty. I am completely alone.

Super Who Lock

Super Who Lock by keishbobeish featuring blue jeans

Closed cashmere v neck cardigan / White top / River Island blue jeans, $47 / Steve Madden brown boots / Pentagram necklace / Jil Sander

thanks

Wow guys. You are great.

I've been having kind-of a sucky few days {can't figure out why} 

but the one good thing is the SO MANY sweet blog comments from you. 

Yesterday, the only time I smiled {a real smile--not the fake work smile} 

was when I read through my comments.

Thank you for being so nice and making me feel so good. I love you!

Sometime life gets tough {i feel bad even saying that when others i know have it so much worse}. 

But everyone has our own bad days. It's not the same bad as someone else's, but it's still hard.

 Sometimes we get caught in a rut and it is SO HARD to get out.

I don't think I'm quite out of mine yet, but I'm trying. I've got up off the dirty chasm floor and have

started to climb. And isn't that what life is about? Getting up, doing better, trying harder?

No matter what your beliefs are--that is part of being human. 

Everyone has that little voice inside that pushes and expects them {us} to be better. 

The way I think about it--that's how all things happen in the world.

 Presidents get elected because we're trying to have a better country, 

movies get made because we're trying to create better {if not imaginary} worlds, 

Twitter gets updated because we are trying to show the world what we did to make life better that day.

Some people may choose different ways to accomplish this, 

but I believe we are all trying to be better people in our own way.

The thing I'm trying to learn now is to push myself to be better but still being kind to myself.

I've worked my whole life to be more outgoing and kind to others and I sort-of forgot to love myself.

In time, if you don't love YOU, you can't be there for others. And serving others is so important. 

But being there for yourself is more important in my eyes.

So grab a mug, pour some hot chocolate {with tons of marshmallows}, 

draw yourself a bubble bath, and LOVE the person you are tonight.

Keep trying to be better, but don't get down when you have a rough day {or days}.

"Don't worry darling, every little thing is going to be okay."

This is my mantra. I have it in vinyl in my bathroom, so I see it everyday. 

It really is going to be okay. One step at a time.

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Can It Please Be Autumn

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