#like truly it is so easy to make sure peoples lives have been tangibly improved even in some small way

[wilberave]

the terrifying moment of realization when talking to a self proclaimed Leftist when you can immediately tell “oh. this person has never done an hour of community service in their life.” like. i know it’s been said before but your politics truly do not matter if you’re not interacting with your community in any way. you can vote in every single election and it will not have a fraction of the impact of 17 year old tyler who got sentenced to 20 hours of picking up litter and weeding the community garden. you can never once vote out of protest and read piles of theory and not come close to making the change that the group of 80 year old catholic ladies at St. Mary’s on the corner do with their weekly community meals and school supply drives. we live in the rotting corpse of an evil empire. ideas mean fucking nothing. the only thing that matters at all is physically extending a hand to try to help the people around you.

[jostenneil]

as much shit as the show naruto gets, which is mostly justified, the show had some gems and interesting points (and it still is a standard even tho some ppl hate to admit it considering Naruto is still being compared to new shows). But I wonder how diff it would be if it was written by a better storyteller like togashi or a shoujo mangaka

I think Naruto is very much a series that over the years has come to garner mass criticism for the wrong things. Like it is without a doubt a terribly flawed series, but not in the way most people tend to posit because their complaints are often driven by misogyny and misery rather than any productive engagement with the text or the ideas it’s trying to posit. The reason that the series has lasted for so long in comparison to so many of its contemporaries is because the framework of the narrative itself is genuinely interesting and something that’s tangibly expanded upon as the plot progresses. The problems in Naruto compound and increase in degree of complexity as the story moves forward because more and more is being revealed about the root of the problems plaguing this war-driven, largely impoverished society. It’s the perfect breeding ground for canon divergence content, because there are so many set-ups and possibilities presented to us either explicitly or implicitly by way of the world naturally expanding.

Where Kishi primarily faltered was in his inability to comprehensively flesh out or resolve almost any of the conflicts or dynamics he created. He was pretty good at establishing the bones of a story (give or take a few worldbuilding errors), but packing on the meat tended to be a big problem for him (and this is also due in part to him sometimes allowing fandom influence to confuse him, so he didn’t fully deliver on ideas he originally had because he thought if people didn’t like them they weren’t worth pursuing). I often joke that Naruto could have turned out better had it been longer, because admittedly, in his defense, I don’t think he had enough time to properly address all of the ideas he created without giving into exhaustion first. That’s something that I think we started to see manifest as he was writing the Fourth War arc, because some of the plot progressions towards the end felt truly contrived and nonsensical, and obviously we’re all aware of how inconclusive the ending itself felt. Naruto as a story itself is a big set-up—if you made a line graph that charted the characters’ emotional well being across the course of the series, I think it’d be reasonable to say they start in the negatives and slowly make their way to the zero line by the end of the war. That should have been a huge turning point for the characters in terms of them feeling more confident in their visions for the future and how they want to work together to tangibly help the villages heal and evolve, but we were robbed of seeing any kind of development along that vein when Kishi decided to just end things with a time-skip chapter. It’s true the Blank Period novels exist, but many of them (not all, I stress, before someone attacks me) are filled with empty meaningless content that did nothing to address the actual problems originally created in Naruto’s world and only dabbled in trivial adventures for the cast as a marketing tactic to keep the franchise thriving. And I get it! Kishi was tired, he still wanted to milk the franchise, and signing off on other authors making up post-canon content was an easy solution. But at the same time, I often wish that the series had just. . . ended at Chapter 699. I firmly believe that a lot of the bad perceptions of the series that exist today are as a result of the lens that content Chapter 700 and onward forces us to look at the series through. The lack of proper closure for certain relationships before they were consummated, the non-existence of any tangible improvement in ninja society, the meaningless adventure arcs (which while very cute for the kids and a great way to keep the franchise alive, still do nothing for the story as a whole)—all of that has contributed to growing skepticism of this series and magnanimity of its faults because the conclusions cast a dark pallor on the potential, which often was not bad at all. Underdeveloped, maybe, but not so unfounded as people often like to claim it is.

And I agree, it would have been really cool to see! I think what’s admirable about a mangaka like Togashi (despite him not being without flaws, either) is that he’s very stubbornly dedicated to his craft and to how he wants to execute it. That’s a kind of grit that I think you absolutely need to have as an author, because sure, being open to criticism is good, but you shouldn’t make yourself so willingly flexible as to allow the story to escape your control. And Togashi obviously also had the advantage of largely being able to publish Hunter x Hunter on his own terms and his own timeline, whereas Naruto was Kishi’s first major series, so he was far more restricted in that aspect. I do wonder how Kishi might have fared had he been published in a monthly magazine, if he’d stuck to his guns about so many of his ideas rather than scrapping them in the face of fandom opinion, or if having a better support system in terms of staff may have allowed him to carry the series on for longer to where he could have properly resolved most of his plot threads. I think a lot of people would agree that while Kishi is certainly a man of many faults, part of what’s also shaped Naruto (and a number of other shounen) for worse is the environment within which WSJ series are produced. It’s not conducive to allowing for the best product to be put out, and at some point I think some authors just resign themselves to that fact rather than try to fight it because they’re tired and they need to make a living. Togashi is really lucky he got to hold the success of Yu Yu Hakusho as leverage so that he could publish Hunter x Hunter as he pleased, and thankfully it turned out to be a really well-fleshed out narrative as a result. (A similar reasoning could apply to many shoujo series as well, obviously, since a majority of the longer series tend to be published in monthly magazines where authors are given ample time to properly develop their plots.)

[aboutlouishofmann]

White Lies Magazine Interview with Louis Hofmann

How long are you in England for? I'm currently staying for six weeks, but I've already been here for five and a half so I'm only here for a couple more days before heading back to Germany for rehearsals for my next film.

Really, or did they kick you out because of Brexit ? 

No they didn't (laughs) - and luckily there are no real changes until December so I can get in and out without a problem. I'm not exactly sure what will change for Germans anyway, if there are new regulations or if it will be the same in terms of travelling. It's gonna be really crappy for basically everyone leaving the UK - if you consider that someone who has a band for example and plays a tour around Europe will need to pay or be passport-controlled with their equipment every time they cross borders. It might not matter for a big band like Coldplay but small bands will have a lot of trouble with that.

Actually Coldplay has suspended their tours until they can find a way to make them sustainable.

I know and I think that is amazing! 

How are you with environmentalism, are you active? 

I wish I was more active to be honest, because I have a platform on Instagram which I could use a bit more - I'm just always quite scared when it comes to posting because I know that so many people then talk about it and judge me for what I have posted. l don't have an issue with taking a political side on an I think fairly easy topic to take sides on when it comes to the environment. But then again it's this general thing of posting something and l know 400.000 people will look at it or make up their mind about it - have an opinion and voice it. It's just something that scares me, so that is holding me back a bit but I'm trying a bit more. 

Understood. But isn't it the same with doing a movie or starring in a TV series, you put it out there and everyone is going to judge you ? Even more people than just your followers as a matter of fact.

Of course. But that's my job. That's what I love to do, that's what I've chosen to do. I have not chosen to be someone who is followed by 400.000 people on Instagram, that sort of just happened. 

It's a side effect. 

It is and I am grateful for it but it also scares me (laughs). 

That makes sense. But do you even realise how famous you are? I remember I walked into someone's house in Korea last year and they were watching "Dark" that very moment, all fans of yours. 

I don't think I get it. No, I don't quite get it. When I talk to casting directors about my value on the English language market they will eventually tell me that it's not as profound as they want it to be to play a main role in an English language feature film. You have to separate between being known from something and being so known for quality that you have international value - having sort of a critical acclaim and value in different countries. I don't think I'm there yet and would only consider myself famous, which is already weird to discuss and acknowledge out loud. For now, to be fair, I'm just the guy from "Dark". 

It did reach a bit of an iconic status though, also your character. Everyone is going to remember you for that yellow raincoat.

I hope they won't only remember me for only that (laughs). 

Do you wear a yellow raincoat in private ?

No, there is no opportunity for me anymore to wear a yellow raincoat. It's not possible. But let's get back once more to environmentalism. One thing is stating your opinion on social media but the other thing is when it comes to acting myself, to change my daily life to help the environment. I would say I'm quite conscious about it and avoid flying and consuming local produce. Focus on quality and try to not waste products. 

Who is inspiring you?

Leonardo Dicaprio for example. But I don't know if he necessarily acts himself that way, but he does something about speaking out about it - using his figure and position as an activist to talk about it. I quite like that.

He is doing one thing I could personally not do however. Speaking out for something and then doing the opposite in his private life. And that judgement is what I'm afraid of. I'm afraid of getting perceived as a hypocrite. But then again being perceived as that in terms of climate change doesn't really help because it needs to be spoken about and maybe you do not do as much as you talk about it. But at least you raise awareness and take even just a small part.

I absolutely agree. I think we need to re-think that whole concept of hypocrisy in this thing because if he reaches a couple of million people and they are changing something about it - even if he is doing the opposite - he is still doing a lot of good with it. Even though he is a hypocrite I think we need to redefine what it means - at the end of the day we will all be hypocrites because no one is really going to be able to live completely sustainably, we can't think in those absolute terms too much. Everyone needs to start with one thing - picking their battles. Focus on plastic for example, we may get better at disposing of it while still being bad in terms of traveling for example, but that is okay, we can only do one thing at a time. 

Don't you think it's crazy that in relation to something like the coronavirus pandemic, pressing and tangible as it affects us now - everybody is afraid, everyone acts, the government acts and everyone is doing their part. Then there is climate change which is more intangible because it's still far away and people don't really care about it - I think this is a problem. Why only act about something that only affects yourself? It's quite selfish and stands for a lot more than only this. 

That's it. We went really deep pretty quick didn't we? The most pressing question however is - how often do you cry watching movies ? 

I do like to cry when I watch films, because I think I'm quite empathetic so I can relate to the characters a lot. I don't often do it but I really do not mind - it means I'm involved in the story. I like crying in movies. Therefore I know it has touched me somehow.

I have a weird relationship to crying in movies, I like doing it but there is a certain place where I cry much more easily - on planes. It's quite strange actually but I get very emotional when I'm up in the air.

That's good, I guess? Have you seen the film "Click"? It's not the greatest film out there, it's with Adam Sandler. But there is a scene in the end where he (spoiler alert) dies. There is a remote with which he can forward his life and he fasts forward to the moment when he dies. It's very dramatic, tragic - almost pathetic and still I started crying because I imagined that happening to me and felt so sad (laughs). 

This is going to be the headline: Louis Hofmann, the guy who cries at Adam Sandler movies.

I can imagine you being the guy who would make a head- line like this. 

Have you ever died in a movie?

[START OF SPOILER]

Yes, I've died in "Alone in Berlin" and also in "Prélude", where my character hangs himself in the end. 

How was that for you?

I was not very attached to myself at that moment. I mean eventually it gets cut out. So the moment I actually die they cut off and it turns black. I still enacted the scenes but it was weird, it was more of a physical thing than an emotional one when I acted it. It's just sometimes with very physical scenes - the dynamic approach and action can be so mentally and intellectually exhausting that there is not much room left for emotional attachment. It didn't feel I was dying myself. It did hurt though, I had the rope around my neck.

[END OF SPOILER]

Good one. Do you believe in fairytales?

No I don't. But I do like "Bojack Horseman" though because it seems so dumb first but turns so philosophical. 

In general, what is happiness to you?

I don't know what it means to me but I know when l feel happy - that's when I'm grounded, when I'm self-assured and when I feel like I'm really being myself. When I reach that state I feel happiness. Sharing that happiness with someone is what's most important. Happiness is truly being yourself.

Very profound answer. How is your work- life balance, are you always working?

I think it's quite okay. The only thing I kind of need to improve is that - when I work I work 100% and I tend to think about the year in little phases. I work then I'm free, then I work then I'm free. And I always only take really care of myself in the times when I have spare time. When I work my health and my hobbies - I just do not look at that. It's all about the work. I want to get somewhere where I can balance those things better.

The thing I really wanted to touch base with you on was the future of movies. We are talking about technology, virtual reality, 3D. Would you like to do some work in 3D?

I would only like to do something in 3D if the new technology elevates the film to another level and makes sense story-wise. I'm not a fan of it only if it looks good. If it helps the story to evolve into something bigger then it's okay. I'm an admirer of that old cinema look, of that really organic taste of a film. I don't know if I would like to act in a VR film. What I don't like about new technologies is that the acting itself and the characters and craft are kind-of left behind. In the foreground it's only the technique, the focus is too much on the visual aspects rather than the screencraft.

I totally understand what you're saying - but if you think about it this way now - people probably said the same thing about colour films in times of black/white films because colours took away the attention from the acting. I think it's about what we are used to. If we say in a couple of years it's normal to consume everything in 3D and VR, do we still think about that?

I mean it surely is incredible what they have achieved and still continue to achieve with 3D and VR. Remarkable how they portray an illusion and tell a story in such a unique and involving way. I'm just always afraid that if you want to tell a character based story with that technique, the characters and the acting will be left behind due to the sheer amount of attention the technical stuff needs from the cast and the team. But of course it's fascinating and intriguing. And since we sort of got used to seeing films in 3D, maybe that's also gonna happen to VR.

How do you think we will consume movies and series in 20 years or how does acting actually change? Looking at "Death Stranding", a video game by Hideo Koji-ma that stars an impressive cast with Mads Mikkelsen, Lea Seydoux and Norman Reedus, to name but a few. They are in this game as actors through 3D scanning. Imagine this fast-forwarded 20 years.

I really hope that traditional acting doesn't die. I don't know - in 30 years I'll probably think differently but right now I think you can not replace something natural with something computer-generated. If the technology evolves, maybe it will be possible.

Anyway, how does it feel like to see yourself in a sex scene?

(laughs) I've always said I separate myself from the character when I watch my films. It's the character who gets naked and has sex, it's not me. It's just when you are around people who you know personally, it might get awkward, for example with my mom. You just have to evaluate if nudity and sex is necessary for the story and the character - if it is, it's not tough to watch.

It's a powerful meditation on how to detach yourself from something, isn't it?

For sure, it doesn't always work though.

[elsabarnitt]

CASE STUDY - ‘The Book That Grew’ DandAD 2020 Annual Graphite Pencil Award

1.     FRONT PAGE (slide 1)

For my case study I chose “The Book That Grew”, which won a graphite pencil in the DandAD 2020 awards.

On screen is the first image I saw that made me want to find out more, so I thought it was appropriate for it to be the first image you see. I’ll be honest, I only started looking into this project because this image looked cool, and I’ve never seen anything like it before so want to find out more. Looking in further I found high levels of collaboration, thought and a moralistic purpose to help a community become better.

2.     WHAT AM I GOING TO TALK ABOUT (slide 2)

I am going to talk about a book that was grown with the aims to improve farming practises.

Ireland heavily relies on farming as their main source of economic income.

This development of this book was a project which spanned 6-7months and was a collaboration between the Allied Irish Bank, Teagasc; Irelands agriculture and food development authority, Rothco a design agency and the artist Diana Scherer.

In this presentation I elaborate on the creation of this idea, the processes involved, the limitations and the design.

3.     WHY IT WAS MADE (slide 3)

Agriculture accounts for 30% of total emissions in Ireland which is its largest carbon emissions contributor. This can’t continue. The Irish economy is dependent on farming, with 6 billion euros of food and drink specifically reliant upon grasslands for their production. So for this level of farming to survive, it has to become sustainable.

AIB, the Allied Irish Bank has a business relationship with 35% of the farmers in Ireland and therefore this issue is of much importance to them. AIB partnered with Teagasc, who identified 10 tangible lessons and 10 pieces of practical advice to maximise sustainability and increase the profitability. The 10 steps help farmers to achieve a ‘perfect’ 10 rotations of grass grazing per year and produce 10 tonnes of grass per hectare – this is a powerful number that will greatly improve the sustainability of even the most efficient farm.

Hence, 10 being a major theme for this campaign. Which appears in their campaign video as well as the book.

This advice was compiled into a 22 page organically grown book using the very grass that Irish farmers nurture as the medium to carry these important lessons. And I believe this is a perfect example of getting the right message to the right people in the most suitable way.

4.     INTRO INTO IDEA (slide 4)

I contacted the Irish design agency, Rothco via Instagram with a few questions and the offer to have a virtual coffee. To my surprise I got a response and Rob Maguire and Fabiano Dalmacio on the Creative team at Rothco were more than happy to have a zoom call with me.

It was great to be able to hear first-hand, how an agency works with a well-established client relationship to anticipate issues and be able to be proactive about providing solutions. It was also great to explore the whole process and the problems they came across face to face.

From my research I realised they had a long-standing relationship with AIB, and so one of the questions I asked was “Did AIB come to you with a brief, or did you go to them with an idea?”

The answer I received was that: No brief had been released, but Rothco knew AIB was passionate about sustainability and they have a lot of ambitions to do greener work, and knew there was an agricultural brief on its way. They were constantly looking out for things, and said they have a WhatsApp chat where they send ideas to each other at all hours of the day and night.

Fabiano initially came across an article about a visual artist called Diana Scherer who used grass to sustainably make fabrics. His initially reaction was ‘this is really cool, and we have to do something with her’, so they contacted the creative director at AIB who suggested a book or an annual report, because if Diana can grow patterns and textures, she can grow letters and numbers. And from there they contacted Diana to see if it was actually possible, and even she wasn’t completely sure, which shows the risk everyone was willing to take.

Rob and Fabiano were also kind enough to send me photos they had taken of some testers and unused versions. Two of which are on screen now.

As you can see the number 25 hasn’t formed properly.

5.     DIANA (slide 5)

Diana Scherer, a German artist living in Amsterdam, explores the relationship of man versus natural environment. She has come up with a truly unique process, which no one else in the world knows how to do.

She has designed templates which had to be to a specific standard to allow grass roots to grow into them to form patterns. This is called ‘root-weaving’. I got told she is very protective of her work and didn’t show anyone else how to do what she does throughout the whole process.

She has a lab in Amsterdam where she curates her work, which is where the pages were all grown.

6.     LIMITATIONS (slide 6)

The Rothco Design Team went out to Amsterdam to visit Diana to learn about the limitations of her process. One of the main limitations of the technique she has created is that everything has be connected in the template.

For example, if there was a font, it all has to be connected otherwise the roots would simply not take to it. As you can see in this picture there are very small lines connecting each of the letters together.

This project was being curated during Winter, which in terms of gardening isn’t the best time. Diana informed the team that growing in Winter versus Summer would have quite different outcomes and urged them to wait, however due to the time limit Rothco were under they weren’t able to wait but had to make it work in Winter.

From the moment it was harvested the pages started to die. Due to the nature of the project the team decided against using a preservative as that went against what they were trying to achieve. Because of this they decided to have a photography project running alongside it so that you could capture what it looked like the moment It was harvested.

Another limitation was that the size of the page. This really mattered as that would be a deciding factor of how big the typography could be and therefore how legible it was. They decided on 11 x 17 inches, which is roughly the size of an A3 page.

7.     GRID SYSTEM, FONT, SYMBOLS (slide 7)

Due to the constraints I have just mentioned, the design team had to come up with a way to display all of the information in the most efficient and understandable way. They ended up condensing all the information they needed into a grid system inspired by the farmers fields using symbols to tell farmers what to do instead of words. I think its also important to say each page was set out to mimic the yearly calendar to make it easier for farmers to follow.

To the right of the screen I have displayed just a few of the symbols they used. The middle one being one of their field diagram designs.

Top left means Soil

Top right means fencing,

which I’m glad they have a key because I never would have guessed these otherwise.

When on the Zoom call with the creative team I asked what Type style they used and they couldn’t remember, however through one of the images they sent me after our call there were hints that it was ‘Helvetica’, and since comparing the book to this font I am almost certain it is.

SWITCH SLIDE (slide 8)

This is a close up of one of the pages to show you what the symbols look like in the book. Letters were also used as a symbol, for example the T and the F stand for Test and fertilise.

8.     TEMPLATES AND DIANA CHECKING THEM (slide 9)

As spoken about on the previous slides, getting the right size and making sure everything was connected was vital. Therefore, it wasn’t as easy as just choosing fonts and point sizes from a printing point of view, but you had to do it from a gardening one as the pages would grow pixel by pixel. Every time the design team would finish a template, they would send it off to Diana for her to then check it over and see if there was anything wrong with it.

An example that Fabiano gave was that they had some numbers on their templates and Diana would say ‘the size of the zero, you need to increase that otherwise it is going to close in on itself. If you wanted that circle edge you need to make it bigger’.

With this kind of collaboration and exchanging of information the outcome just kept getting better.

SWITCH SLIDE (slide 10)

Here is an image of a digital template beside the root woven version of itself.

As you can see the root woven version on the right hand side isn’t as legible as the digital version. The roots aren’t as bold and perhaps as structured as white is against a black background, however as they were working with nature, it was okay for it not to be perfect, and for the letters to not form 100% accurately.

9.     BOOK BINDING (slide 11)

The book was grown in Amsterdam and was being bound in Dublin by letter press printer and bookbinder Jamie Murphy of the Salvage press.

Each page took roughly 2 weeks to grow and then were all sent separately by courier. As this book is the first of its kind, one of the main challenges was finding the best way to bind it. Jamie was given several test runs that had failed to practice binding with. Everything was so delicate which you can see from the picture on the screen now so special techniques had to be used.

A challenge that Jamie faced was that Rothco were persistent on everything being made out of grass as keeping it as pure as possible was very important to them, so despite Jamie asking for some plastic features he had to find another way to do things.

Jamie burnt the grass in order for it to find a new life as an ink, and also used it to make more pages to act as dividers in the book to protect the delicate pages. Even the cords that hold the book together are made from bamboo

This all demonstrates that when a material such as grass is managed correctly it can work wonders.

10.  CHANGE (slide 12)

The Book That Grew toured round Ireland, and was given the title ‘The best Grassroots campaign of all time’, with the main event being the National Ploughing Championships.

I have been told the book had a very good reception there as well as the knowledge that some farmers have already implemented some of the lessons within the book.

I think that this project has huge relevance in today’s society as sustainability is becoming a top priority for a lot of businesses.

I started off this project with the impression that this was cool, however after researching further no wonder I thought this as it is the world’s first, every page, every word, and every diagram in a book to be formed by real grass roots as they grow. An aspect of this project that has really stuck with me is the fact that you had to wait for the book to make itself as opposed to being able to physically make it and therefore patience was key.

After speaking with Rob and Fabiano on the Creative team at Rothco, I saw the human aspect behind the project and saw the good that they are trying to make which is something that has really inspired me. It is bigger than just its typography which is what it won the award for.

REFLECTION

- I have found this case study project to be very helpful and very interesting. I feel as if I have learnt different ways to find out information as at the beginning of this project I found it quite hard and was coming across the same information over and over. Something that I think had hugely benefitted me was getting in contact with the design agency RothCo and I am so thankful they took time out of their day to speak with me. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

https://www.lbbonline.com/news/aib-releases-worlds-first-book-literally-grown-from-grass-roots

https://musebycl.io/makers/agency-grew-book-out-grass-support-irish-farmers

https://m.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/614/210434.html

https://marcommnews.com/aib-and-rothco-release-beautiful-new-book-literally-grown-from-grass-roots/

https://www.irishtimes.com/sponsored/teagasc-making-money-by-watching-the-grass-grow-1.1619570

https://www.thedrum.com/creative-works/project/rothco-aib-the-book-grew

https://www.thestable.com.au/rothco-aib-grow-a-book-entirely-from-grass-roots/

[genkei-hatagami]

I was bored so I did the personality test thing Utsumi posted.

Type: Executive (ESTJ-A)     

Traits

Extraverted  -  65 %

Observant  -  63 %

Thinking  -  72 %

Judging  -  88 %

Assertive  -  60 %

Role - Sentinel

Strategy - People Mastery.

Executives are representatives of tradition and order, utilizing their understanding of what is right, wrong and socially acceptable to bring families and communities together. Embracing the values of honesty, dedication and dignity, people with the Executive personality type are valued for their clear advice and guidance, and they happily lead the way on difficult paths. Taking pride in bringing people together, Executives often take on roles as community organizers, working hard to bring everyone together in celebration of cherished local events, or in defense of the traditional values that hold families and communities together.

Anyone Worth Their Salt Sticks Up for What They Believe Is Right...

Demand for such leadership is high in democratic societies, and forming no less than 11% of the population, it’s no wonder that many of America’s presidents have been Executives. Strong believers in the rule of law and authority that must be earned, Executive personalities lead by example, demonstrating dedication and purposeful honesty, and an utter rejection of laziness and cheating, especially in work. If anyone declares hard, manual work to be an excellent way to build character, it is Executives.

Executives are aware of their surroundings and live in a world of clear, verifiable facts – the surety of their knowledge means that even against heavy resistance, they stick to their principles and push an unclouded vision of what is and is not acceptable. Their opinions aren’t just empty talk either, as Executives are more than willing to dive into the most challenging projects, improving action plans and sorting details along the way, making even the most complicated tasks seem easy and approachable.

However, Executives don’t work alone, and they expect their reliability and work ethic to be reciprocated – people with this personality type meet their promises, and if partners or subordinates jeopardize them through incompetence or laziness, or worse still, dishonesty, they do not hesitate to show their wrath. This can earn them a reputation for inflexibility, a trait shared by all Sentinel personalities, but it’s not because Executives are arbitrarily stubborn, but because they truly believe that these values are what make society work.

...But Still Better Are Those Who Acknowledge When They Are in Error

Executives are classic images of the model citizen: they help their neighbors, uphold the law, and try to make sure that everyone participates in the communities and organizations they hold so dear.

The main challenge for Executives is to recognize that not everyone follows the same path or contributes in the same way. A true leader recognizes the strength of the individual, as well as that of the group, and helps bring those individuals’ ideas to the table. That way, Executives really do have all the facts, and are able to lead the charge in directions that work for everyone.

Executive Strengths

Dedicated – Seeing things to completion borders on an ethical obligation for Executives. Tasks aren’t simply abandoned because they’ve become difficult or boring – people with the Executive personality type take them up when they are the right thing to do, and they will be finished so long as they remain the right thing to do.

Strong-willed – A strong will makes this dedication possible, and Executives don’t give up their beliefs because of simple opposition. Executives defend their ideas and principles relentlessly, and must be proven clearly and conclusively wrong for their stance to budge.

Direct and Honest – Executives trust facts far more than abstract ideas or opinions. Straightforward statements and information are king, and Executive personalities return the honesty (whether it’s wanted or not).

Loyal, Patient and Reliable – Executives work to exemplify truthfulness and reliability, considering stability and security very important. When Executives say they’ll do something, they keep their word, making them very responsible members of their families, companies and communities.

Enjoy Creating Order – Chaos makes things unpredictable, and unpredictable things can’t be trusted when they are needed most – with this in mind, Executives strive to create order and security in their environments by establishing rules, structures and clear roles.

Excellent Organizers – This commitment to truth and clear standards makes Executives capable and confident leaders. People with this personality type have no problem distributing tasks and responsibilities to others fairly and objectively, making them excellent administrators.

Executive Weaknesses

Inflexible and Stubborn – The problem with being so fixated on what works is that Executives too often dismiss what might work better. Everything is opinion until proven, and Executive personalities are reluctant to trust an opinion long enough for it to have that chance.

Uncomfortable with Unconventional Situations – Executives are strong adherents to tradition and when suddenly forced to try unvetted solutions, they become uncomfortable and stressed. New ideas suggest that their methods weren’t good enough, and abandoning what has always worked before in favor of something that may yet fail risks their image of reliability.

Judgmental – Executives have strong convictions about what is right, wrong, and socially acceptable. Executives’ compulsion to create order often extends to all things and everyone, ignoring the possibility that there are two right ways to get things done. Executives do not hesitate to let these “deviants” know what they think, considering it their duty to set things right.

Too Focused on Social Status – Executives take pride in the respect of their friends, colleagues and community and while difficult to admit, are very concerned with public opinion. Executives (especially Turbulent ones) can get so caught up in meeting others’ expectations that they fail to address their own needs.

Difficult to Relax – This need for respect fosters a need to maintain their dignity, which can make it difficult to cut loose and relax for risk of looking the fool, even in good fun.

Difficulty Expressing Emotion – This is all evidence of Executives’ greatest weakness: expressing emotions and feeling empathy. People with the Executive personality type get so caught up in the facts and most effective methods that they forget to think of what makes others happy, or of their sensitivity. A detour can be breathtakingly beautiful, a joy for the family, but Executives may only see the consequence of arriving at their destination an hour late, hurting their loved ones by rejecting the notion too harshly.

Romantic Relationships

Executives are fairly unique in that their relationships don’t really change as they progress from the dating phase into more steady, long-term relationships and further into marriage. Because they value honesty and straightforwardness so highly, people with the Executive personality type are likely to be clear about who they are, what they’re like and what their goals are from the start, and to stick to those statements long-term. So long as their partner is able to take them at their word and follow suit, they are bound to be extremely stable relationships.

This Is the Chance to Do Something

This isn’t to say that there isn’t any growth of course – character development is always a high priority for Executives, and each life goal is important. Rather, it’s that shifting moods, goals and desires are unlikely to fundamentally alter the basis of Executives’ relationships.

There are certainly challenges, but Executives take their relationships seriously and are willing to put a tremendous amount of effort into ensuring that they remain strong and committed, and that effort pays off.

This may all sound a little stale, and indeed Executives are not spontaneous or unpredictable people, but they do very much enjoy taking their partners out and having fun. Social events and activities are Executives’ idea of a good time, and while they may rely on familiar people and places, they do bring lots of energy and enthusiasm, which helps keep things interesting.

Executives approach intimacy with similarly physical, active intentions, and from fairly traditional ones as well. Wild ideas and poetry are for less mature personalities, or so Executives might say, though they do appreciate recognition and well-placed compliments to maintain high self-esteem. They may look for more stability in their sex lives than most, but Executives never fail to bring their characteristic vigor.

This hints at a challenge in Executives’ relationships though, and that is emotional intimacy. Touchy-feely moments are few, as are verbal statements of love; this is usually fine, as Executive personalities find other, more tangible ways to express their affection. The problem is in recognizing the validity of those qualities in others, rather than simply dismissing them as pointless or irrational, something that can be extremely hurtful if Executives’ partners are more sensitive.

Pay the Price to Secure the Blessing

Executives address conflict head-on with simple statements of fact – a very rational approach – but subtlety and emotional tact are sacrificed in the process. While Executives’ level-headed, calm approach is appreciated by many, for others it is an uncomfortably direct approach. For all their social skills, Executives are especially bad at reading the emotional side of other people, and when it comes to their partners, it’s more important than ever to try to improve.

Executives are people of strong principles and strong self-confidence. They use these qualities to protect their partners with admirable consistency. But people with the Executive personality type are also stubborn, with a firm belief in their rightness, and they can quickly damage more sensitive partners’ fragile feelings. With this in mind, it is often best for Executives to find fellow Observant (S) partners in order to minimize communication barriers, with one or two opposing traits to balance their forceful character and provide opportunities for growth.

[breathe-smiles]

pt iii. points of improvement

i’ve been having some trouble figuring out how exactly to go about this next chapter of growth in my life. i’m attempting to let loose a little more, take things as they come and take them constructively, but easy. there’s definitely advantages in formulaically guiding your growth, knowing specifically what you want and trying to create a way to get it. this is what i’m used to; this is what i know how to do. but somehow, i feel intuitively that i’m currently in for growth that’s spontaneous.

i’m 18 now and it’s 2020. i’m starting my second semester of college. i didn’t expect to be where i am, mentally, physically, emotionally, or spiritually. i love being in control, but i am oddly finding comfort at the moment in letting go of that control and floating. i want to be shown realms i’ve never seen before and meet people i didn’t know could exist. i want to be challenged to think outside of what i know and grow in ways i don’t expect to. it’s really important to me to know what i want. but instead of solidifying my goals and paving my path right in this moment, i want this period to uncover to me what i really want. i don’t have a tangible outline of my future, but i’m excited for the journey of creating one. and i know through it, i’ll learn things i never even thought i needed to know.

everyday, i continue finding my truth. i constantly question the things i think, say, and do, in order to grasp a deeper understanding of why i am the way i am. i have trouble compromising absolute authenticity; i always need to be true to me. sometimes, i have to think twice and revise impulsive comments or thoughts, or make changes to my behavior, because i don’t feel like i’m upholding myself genuinely. it matters a lot to me that i am honest, real, and sincere. those are the things i value the most.

and so, despite being excited to free-spiritedly discover, roam, live, and grow, i have to keep in mind that there are things i have learned and noticed in the past couple of months that do still matter and do hold true to me. living with my head in the clouds, running around my new universe that’s doubled in size, and letting myself go instead of holding on tightly, i realized that i can get caught up in a multitude of convoluted things that don’t necessarily represent me and aren’t necessarily important to me. the theme of my life right now is to be free and feel okay being free, discovering and uncovering things instead of looking for them. but remembering to bring myself back down to earth is the only way not to lose myself in the process, or become somebody i’m not. i have to stay grounded and committed to who i am, because that is so important to me (and because i know i can). i am capable of simply evolving into a more refined version of my core self, even if, at the same time, i flip my world upside down, change how i live and interact with society, and reorient my aspirations and dreams.

that being said, i haven’t been completely myself in the past couple of months. and i didn’t hold myself to my usual standards of being myself because it had been first semester freshman year of college. this was a transition period that i needed to give myself. but needless to say, i could’ve done better. maybe i didn’t do as much mental preparation as i should’ve, because it was a fucking rollercoaster. i fluctuated from having some of my highest highs to lows that i forgot could exist and back. and for the first time in a long while, i didn’t feel in control, like i had no grasp at all on my mental instability. one minute i’d feel on top of the world and the next i’d be falling apart. i was so unsure of what was good for me and what was bad. i just took things as they came and let them hit me like a truck.

my hopes for winter break were to truly process and regain my ability to be in control. my time at home was meant to be therapeutic, to remember who i was before i left and all the things that i ran away from. now that i feel like i’ve done that, it’s clear that lots of things have to change for me to do better. these are parts of me that are points of improvement, crucial pieces that make me up that i’ve let loose these past couple of months. this is me regaining me.

i. self

personality reform is hard. most of the time, you know who you are and you’re sure about it. so, when you try to revert to staying true to you, it feels like mere readjusting. other times, you hope you haven’t already lost bits of yourself in flux.

i’ve been primarily working on my patience and teamwork abilities in the past year, as well as how i deal with setbacks and results that i don’t expect to receive. these things have only gotten better and better, which i am happy about. i’ve been able to continuously push my threshold for tolerance and navigate the dynamics of the different teams i’ve become a part of.

the main thing i’ve noticed first semester is that i’ve lost a little bit of my down to earth-ness - and it’s weird to say that because being down to earth is something i value so much. the person i project to others, especially to people that don’t already know me like the back of their hands, is more intimidating and intense than ever before. maybe this is a product of my found confidence, or maybe a continuation of my ability to have a conversation. i’m no longer shy and that’s apparent now. i stopped being hyper self-conscious and stopped caring so much about what people thought of me. on one hand, i’d categorize that as a strength of mine. on the other, it’s led to more oversharing than i’d like, a lot less consciousness of what i appear to be like.

social media is also once again playing a role in this. being in la has definitely made me more aware of who i am materially (which i’ve come to appreciate as a good thing, even though it’s simply a lifestyle i don’t really understand). aside from trying to create a pretty instagram feed, i’ve also gotten into the habit of oversharing on my finstas. not that i mind keeping those close to me updated. i just find difficulty constructively solving my own problems when i externalize them instead of internalize them - and that’s something i have to keep in mind.

i guess what i’m saying is that i need to relearn how to project the person i want to project. people only need to see so much. and that much for me, is not a lot.

ii. professional life + extracurriculars

academically, i’m impressed by how well i managed to do. i got a 3.9 gpa, which entails straight As and one A-. i didn’t even know you couldn’t get A+s. the point of improvement, however, is that i didn’t throw myself 100% into my work. i wasn’t doing the most i could do. i hadn’t paid attention every time i should’ve. even though it doesn’t seem to matter much grade-report-wise, it matters to me that i wasn’t giving it my all.

the other thing is my health. my physical and mental health are tied, and i seemed to let that slide. fencing practice hurt so badly, but i knew how rewarding it’d be. creating reasons to skip practice made me feel unworthy of taking on the sport in the first place. in addition, i went to the gym maybe once in the very beginning of the semester. my body doesn’t look all that different per se, but it definitely doesn’t feel good perpetuating the inactivity. now that i’m back on my game, i remember just how much a little activity could do to clear my head.

the last thing is that i need to do more things that help me grapple with my future career paths. how do i integrate my interests to ultimately do something that i truly love? i guess i’m still seeking out extracurriculars that help me find this meaning; i guess i’m still learning.

iii. society

i have never felt as introverted as i have in college (and you’d really expect the opposite). what i’ve learned is you really can’t escape people on campus. you’re living with other college students, constantly surrounded by other college students, and inclined to interact with other college students. having complete alone time is almost impossible, unless you make the effort to leave campus.

in all honesty, i quite like the social aspect of college. this environment is an aspect of college i was really looking forward to. but i’ve also had to reevaluate how much time to myself i really need, what i say to invitations to excursions, and if i’m recharged enough to engage in interpersonal interaction. this has been a challenge, and i hope to get better at it this semester. i need to remember it’s a balance between my need for me-time and healthy portions of social interaction.

another part of this is who do i want to surround myself with. my intuition and my ability to read people give me good advantages in filtering the population, but it’s also proven to me that making friends that i really do vibe with is pretty difficult. it’s strange because even though you’re surrounded by people 24/7, finding the ones you’re really in tune with is still incredibly hard. i know it’s a matter of being patient, though. i forget that it took me a few years to meet some of my greatest friends from high school. i suppose it is fate.

@ second sem : hit me w the best u got. i am ready 4 u. 💥

[zombolouge]

Peakly Periodical Volume 19

Or: Dying Light

Hey there, peakers! We’ve had another time skip in this vaguely chronological endeavor. That shoulder injury I got a forever ago turned out to have nothing to do with my shoulder and everything to do with my neck. It’s a vicious injury that has driven me to be stuck inside and in bed for months at a time, but progress has been made with pain management of late and so I’ve finally been able to get back in a chair and at a keyboard to write things again. Healing is…in-process. But that’s better than no healing at all.

My last hike was in December, when I got sick of waiting around and dragged my stiff ass out onto a mountain, because there is only so long I can remain inert before I go insane. It ended up being my last hike for several months, and the warning siren that let me know something really was wrong with my neck, because for the first time I got the pain while I was out there. I didn’t think it was possible for it to start hurting while I was relaxed and active, since that’s the sort of thing they tell you to do to relieve tension and pain. I was being stubborn by going out in the first place, though, and desperately wanted to get another hike in before the year came to a close.

In hindsight, this frustration with the injury probably fueled the problems that I found on this trail. You see, peakers, I made several very bad decisions in a row on this hike. A lot of my “mistakes” up to this point have been me not knowing any better. Slip-ups that were part of the learning process, that I could take in stride. This time, though, I was just plain stupid.

But let’s start from the beginning with this one.

It was a pleasantly warm Saturday. There wasn’t a lot of rain and the clouds occasionally broke to reveal some sunlight, which was nice. I had planned a fairly easy hike, mostly flat and in territory I’d been near before, if not directly in. I was trying not to push myself too far, considering my neck situation. I also had a handful of errands to run that day, and opted to do them before the hike because I doubted I would have the willpower after.

I slept in and started the day slow and easy. I was not in any way rushed. I was leisurely in my pace as I ran my errands. I was enjoying getting out of the house and trying to milk it for all it was worth, expecting the hike to carry me on through the afternoon before I wrapped the day up and put it away. Which would have been fine if I had stuck to my original plan and done the easy hike.

What I did instead, though, was indulge a restless feeling. The hike before this one, on Thanksgiving, was disappointing to me. I wanted something more exciting. I’d been cooped up for weeks on end, sulking over my condition, and the anxiety that brought on was eating away at my sanity. So, as I got in the car and started driving to the easy trail, I decided I would take a chance and aim for a harder one.

Little Si has been a hike I’ve tried to tackle a couple of times, but been rebuffed each time because the parking situation is insane. It’s one of the busiest trails I’ve seen, and there is almost never a free space. You would need to get up and arrive at the lot by about 5am if you didn’t want to fight for space, which is a tall order when you’ve worked all week and still need to eat breakfast before you can rush out the door. On this day, it was about 1pm when I finished all my errands, and I figured maybe, since it was later in the day, I would have a chance to snag a spot. I had hopes that the people who got there in the morning would be finishing their hikes and leaving, giving up the spaces for the next wave of hikers.

So, off I went.

I got to the trailhead at 2pm. In December. On the west coast.

Now, for those of you who have lived out west before, you will know that our sunset occurs at about 4pm that time of year. That means I was starting this hike with a mere 2 or so hours of daylight left. Still, though, that didn’t phase me at the beginning. I’d done night hikes before, and now that I had a flashlight, they seemed to be a cinch. I figured if I was caught out after dark, it wouldn’t be difficult to just turn on that flashlight and enjoy the shadows of the woods!

I shouldered my pack and hit the trail!

The hike itself was fairly mild for most of it. There was a steep incline right at the start, then it leveled out for a ways. The true challenge doesn’t come until the last half-mile on the trail, where it has a very vertical ascent to the summit.

I did find myself enjoying the scenery. There were a couple of places where the trail was difficult to navigate, though. Not in the sense that it was hard to traverse, but it was hard to tell where the trail separated itself from the aimless woodlands. It had a couple of offshoots that don’t lead anywhere in particular, and as I passed them I would get confused about which direction it was I should be headed. Even after all the miles I’d hiked, I was still not the strongest of navigators. I’ve improved on my sense of direction mightily - when this started I could have gotten turned around in a cardboard box - but that doesn’t mean I’ve hit levels where I’d be confident finding my way without GPS. I kept to the trail by virtue of pulling out Google Maps on my phone, which often has trails marked and is helpful in orienting which direction you should be walking.

I was feeling pretty confident with myself as I wound my way through, even though every other hiker I encountered was going down, rather than up. My legs hadn’t yet gotten sore, my breath was even and enduring. My neck was hurting, but I was trying to ignore it. I figured that if if hurt then, the pain I would have later on that night wouldn’t be changed by quitting the hike early.

It was just before the steepest portion of the trail that I started to get nervous. That was boosted by the fact that another pair of hikers had stopped me, to ask if I was familiar with the trail. The pointed out that there was only about half an hour of light left. The implication was that if I didn’t know this trail, I shouldn’t be hiking it in the dark. I dismissed the concerns and lied to them, telling them I was familiar. I couldn’t fathom having much issue finding my way back, as it had been simple enough on the way there.

By the time I realized my mistake, I was too stubborn to turn around.

There’s a point on the trail where I hit this determination that cannot be reasoned with. When I know that I’m so close to the pinnacle that if I turn around I will be emotionally miserable for the rest of my life about it. That’s the easiest time to push, where I get a second wind of energy that propels me to the peak. I had that as I reached the steepest part of this trail, each near vertical switchback promising my addled mind that it could be the last one. That the top was just around the corner. That I would see the world spread out before me just around the bend.

It was true. I reached the top eventually, and it was a staggering view. The city roads could be seen peering through the trees in the distance, street and house lights already lit and dotting the canvas like stars. The sky had turned a deep lavender, the sun already gone past the horizon and leaving only a lingering kiss. Mount Si, the larger of the twin peaks in this area, was close enough that it felt like I could reach out and touch it. I held out my hand, and that was when it truly struck me how dark it was.

The light was dying all around me, everything turning shades of blue and purple as night descended. The temperature on the peak dropped ten degrees in a matter of minutes, and I hugged myself and shivered. I sat there for a bit, contemplating the world and trying not to focus on my neck pain. I was exhausted after the final push to get to the top, that portion of the trail draining me more than the rest of it combined. I could feel my legs shaking from the weariness, which was going to be a problem on the descent.

I knew, in that moment, that a lot would be a problem on the descent. The steepness of this part of the trail was harder than I’d expected, and navigating it wasn’t going to be easy without light. Even with my flashlight to light the way. There were a lot of spots that would require clambering, which meant using both my hands for balance.

I stood there, the wind tossing my hair in every direction, burying the cold through my jacket and into my bones, and knew I’d made a mistake pressing forward.

By the time I turned around, a healthy level of fear had settled over me. I knew the situation I was in wasn’t great, and I knew it was entirely my fault that I’d been placed there. I realized that I hadn’t actually checked my bag to make sure my flashlight was in it. I hadn’t prepared anything warm to wear. I didn’t have any snacks and I was out of water. I hadn’t told anyone where I was because I’d changed my plans at the last minute.

As I descended, the scenarios I wasn’t prepared for played through my head. I thought of a hundred ways that I might get stuck on the trail, injured and unable to call for help with no one to find me. The fear was real and tangible, making my limbs shake even harder on top of the standard trembling that comes with exhaustion. It wasn’t easy to keep moving.

The light completely disappeared before I’d even made it past the first switch-back, so I did find myself trekking in complete darkness. There were spots where I had to feel around to place my foot on stone because I was holding my place with both hands, the flashlight shoved in my mouth so that I could see my breath rising in clouds of steam into the night air. I had to slide downward in a few places because I could find no other way to get down, unable to see the pathways anymore.

I felt a little better after I left the rocky portion of the peak. Still, there was a lot more trail to cover and I felt like collapsing. And, as if to illustrate the continued danger of the darkness, my foot planted right in a hole and sent me flying forward. I remember that moment with more clarity than any other part of that hike. I was airborne for what felt like minutes, and all I could think was “oh, so this is how I die. Here I go.” I was too close to the edge of the trail, and the drop on the side wasn’t one I would come back from. I couldn’t see well enough to know how far I was flying, but I figured I would be well over the edge and off into the abyss. I relaxed, accepting my fate, which was probably the smartest thing I’d done all evening.

When the impact came, I skid through a bunch of dirt and loam, coming to a halt faster than expected. I laid there for a moment, breathing and waiting for a wave of pain, but not much came. I certainly felt bruised, but as I got up I was surprised to note it didn’t feel like I’d shattered all my bones. I held up the flashlight, happily still attached to my wrist by the strap, and noted that I’d come about a foot away from the edge of the trail. Nothing was broken, nothing felt twisted or strained. I was, against all odds, okay.

I continued my trek, careful of my foot placement from that point forward. I didn’t want to press my luck. I got a lot of enjoyment of the utter darkness all around me, despite my fear. Being alone in the night woods is an experience I’m fond of, and I would like to experience it again, just, you know, prepared for things a bit better.

The rest of the hike wasn’t too terrifying. I got through the steep portion and into the flatter woods. I did get turned around and almost lost a few times, but the detours were minimal and I was able to keep to the trail well enough to get back to my car.

I made it home safely. I wasn’t any worse for wear, either, save for a couple of minor bruises. I’d gotten worse stubbing my toe in my own living room.

I’d gotten lucky.

Mistakes and R E G R E T S:

Oh, so many.

1. I accidentally hiked at night. If you’re going to be out after dark, that should be on purpose. You should plan accordingly for it. There’s something to be said for just rolling with the punches, but if you showed up to a boxing match prepared for swimming, the punches are gonna roll YOU.

2. I didn’t pack supplies. Pack extra food and water. Always. You never know when a hike is gonna kick your ass a bit more than you expected, and having the necessary fuel to keep you going enough to get back is vital.

3. I didn’t check for my flashlight. CHECK. THAT. YOUR. FLASHLIGHT. IS. IN. YOUR. BAG. BEFORE. YOU. LEAVE. Checking for it as the light disappears is NOT the appropriate time. I can tell you, too, if I had tried to navigate that trail in the dark with just my phone light, I would have fallen much farther and harder than I did. It would not have been possible. I would have been stranded in the freezing dark or fallen trying to get out.

4. I didn’t take my start time seriously. I should have figured out ahead of time how long this hike would take me and how late it would be when I was on my way back. I didn’t consider any of that until it was happening, and it almost cost me.

5. Nobody knew where I was. When I changed my plans, I should have messaged someone to tell them that. Even if I couldn’t send a link to the trail info, I could have at least given them the trail name via text or something. Or driven to a spot where I had enough signal to do it. Since I hike alone, it’s very important that I let people know where I’m going, so that if I don’t make it back they have an idea of where to send people to look for me.

6. I let stubborn determination override my survival. I wanted to commit to finishing the hike. I was aware it might be the last one I could do for a while until I’d helped my neck, and because of that I wanted to commit to doing the whole thing. I shouldn’t have put that commitment and determination before regular assessment, however. When on the trail, you should always be assessing things. Assess your energy levels, assess your limits, assess the trail difficulty, the time of day, the weather conditions, the temperatures. If any of these get too far out of your comfort zone, it should be okay to turn back. I shouldn’t hold myself to an all-or-nothing standard for anything, but least of all for climbing mountains. If a trail kicks my ass, I’ll come back another time when I’m stronger and kick it right back. Pushing my limits into dangerous territory doesn’t do anything but make this hobby way too risky for my own good.

7. I already knew all of the things above and ignored them. I knew that being unprepared for certain conditions should have made me turn around. I knew that I hadn’t checked my bag for supplies and equipment in weeks and I had rifled through it a few times since then. I knew that I needed to have started the hike earlier if I wanted to avoid the dark. I knew as I was on the trail that I wasn’t prepared for hiking at night. I knew the warning I got from the other hikers was a signal to turn around. I knew that it wasn’t a great idea to change my plans last minute without telling anyone. I knew it all. I knew it all as I went up, and I cursed myself for ignoring it all the whole way down. I ignored it because I wasn’t in a great emotional state due to my injury, and it could have ended up very badly. I was very, very lucky that I got home okay.

Hot Takes for Hikers:

Check. Your. Shit.

This probably goes without saying, as it feels like obvious advice, but checking your bag for everything you might need before you leave should just be part of the routine. I’m at a point now where I don’t think it should matter how short or easy you think the trail might be: check your bag. Have a checklist and make sure everything on it is in there. Every time.

Assess with Every Step

Don’t get so caught up in the adrenaline and the determination that you forget to assess yourself. Know your limits, know when you’re pushing them, and know when you’re hitting them. I know that I, personally, find this difficult. I have anxiety, and so it can be hard to tell the difference between actually survival instincts and plain old anxiety, but I should be leaning towards caution when that line is blurred. Better safe than sorry should be a mantra when you’re hiking alone in unfamiliar territory. I should stop holding it against myself if I end up turning back or giving in early, because some of the times I’ve pushed myself out of my comfort zone, I’ve landed right in the danger zone. The voice I ignored was the one in charge of self-preservation, and it put me at risk when I didn’t need to be there.

Learning to take the time to assess where I’m at and how I’m feeling is important. Learning to overcome anxiety is great, but I also need to learn to distinguish it from legitimate fear. Fear that is there for good reason. The next step in my hiking adventures is going to be slowly and even more introspective, because my main goal will be to learn the difference. To be able to tell when I need to push my limits and when I need to respect them.

I have a feeling it’s going to be as hard as…well, as climbing a mountain. If I can do the latter, then I can certainly do the former.

Overall Impressions

Song of the Hike: No Light, No Light by Florence + the Machine. For obvious reasons.

Animals Seen: A woodpecker, two rock climbers, and my own foolishness.

Mood: Inadvisable determination followed by realistic anxiety and gratitude at escaping death.

Trail Rank: Fully worth all flashlight usage, would hike again in daylight.

[storykravting]

200 Years From Now

In the 19th century, a few people realized that we (humans) can change the climate of our planet.

During the 20th century, some more people looked into the idea that we (humans) can change the climate of our planet. They confirmed its validity with research but didn't think it was really important, so they didn't do anything.

For most of the 21st century, people all over the world argued about whether we (humans) can change the climate of our planet. Some people still didn't think it was important, even though all kinds of research studies were confirming what people in the 20th century had said. By this point though, the effects of a changing climate were already starting to take place, and most of those people realized that the people in the 20th century were right.

The 22nd century is the result of people finally accepting and adapting to the fact that we (humans) can change the climate of our planet. Unfortunately, it took so long to come to this decision that a lot of cities were already underwater. Literally underwater—Atlantis isn't the only lost city anymore.

Plenty of things are different now in 2100, but the simplest to confer might be these two: The world got brighter and warmer, and sea level has risen quite a bit.

Miami, New Orleans, and San Francisco had to evacuate since underwater breathing isn't completely feasible yet. So did Alexandria, Mumbai, Osaka, Rio de Janeiro, Shanghai, parts of Singapore, and Australia's outer ring of coast. The Pacific Islands disappeared. And you can just imagine what happened in Venice with the canals.

A few ecosystems stopped working too—take the coastal wetlands for example. Most of the greenery in the Alps and Appalachians, and every other mountain range in the world, withered. Even under the water, all non-"supercorals" in the Great Barrier Reef were completely bleached by the beginning of the 22nd century.

For better or worse, disaster was the wake-up call needed to finally galvanize the human race into action.

While the natural world and select areas of civilization suffered the consequences of industrialization, a few places had been smart enough to innovate ahead of time. Neighborhoods in Rotterdam were floating and solar-powered, and as a result aesthetically pleasing as well as technological marvels. Scotland had already put wind turbines in the ocean. Over decades, places that had once been on the coastline slowly became habitable again.

Green technology disseminated across the globe in one of humanity's greatest works of collaboration.  Solar cities popped up everywhere; urban planners had a heyday. Renewable energy became the number one priority, so they made photovoltaic everything—solar panels on top of roofs, in place of roofs, embedded in the sidewalks, inside the paint on buildings somehow. They stuck gardens and windmills everywhere too. And since green is the new black, gardening is government-subsidized.

Architects were just as busy too. Buildings are taller and nicer than they were a century ago. Photography and social media helped popularize a particular style revolving around clean lighting, open space, and an urban aesthetic. Interior design and city layout headed in the direction of bright and spacious and beautiful.

While those people installed huge sundials in plazas and guided vines down the sides of glass skyscrapers, other institutions also developed with the era. These days, it takes less time to get a general education. The new priority is on apprenticeships and applying knowledge in a changing world. Public schooling abandoned its jack-of-all-trades curriculum and established a new one: Programs for Environmentally Beneficial Innovations. PEBI for short.

Despite the naming convention, not every PEBI is centered on improving the future. Some of them, like floriography and sculpting, are just to make the present a nicer, prettier place.

So learning is more popular than it was before, maybe thanks to all the freedom the new system gives its users to stretch their wings. Almost everyone is immersed in their respective field. They’re proud of what they learn, and a lot of people embrace their PEBIs as part of their identity. Architecture, agriculture, art, their professions help define their place and contributions to the world.

And so of course, among the youth, talk about academics and work is just about as commonplace as entertainment. Long-distance communication facilitates a perpetual exchange; teens always seem to be in touch with each other, whether they're texting or talking, meeting in person or simulating it with 360° spherical cameras. Sending voicemail these days is as easy as tapping a wrist piece and speaking.

Possibly the most poignant change between today and the today of 200 years ago is sociocultural: in our relationships. What happened was, in a way of speaking, a shift toward the material. The popular thing these days, especially with so many young couples, is to commemorate special occasions with an equally special gift, something that will be remembered fondly by both the giver and the receiver.

The prevalence of social media in a time focused on the invention and communication of ideas is not to be understated. People are more creative these days; they have to be in order to keep pace with the world around them. As the bar for creativity in real-world innovation rose, the level of creativity that people put into their personal lives increased alongside it.

One artistic engineer made a heart-shaped, pocket-sized charm out of clockwork. One floriographer put together a stunningly beautiful bouquet specifically for a lucky person in their life. And of course, with social media, it only takes one nice picture and a blurb for everyone to hear about it.

Redesigns and novelty gift ideas started trending all over the internet, and they were all incredible. Clockwork charms modeled after hearts and stars and animals, unique bouquets with every type of flower imaginable, pretty accessories and the like. Even letters, which were outdated 200 years ago, are stylish thanks to the work of a few skilled calligraphers.

With so much knowledge and technology crackling at our fingertips, it’s easy to understand why everyone wants to pour themselves into something tangible they can give away as a present that will speak for itself. In fact, it’s almost expected that everyone come up with at least something to do that will stand out.

Obviously, there’s a lot of controversy over the emphasis so many people seem to place on just one facet of the human experience. It’s a persisting tradition for the older generation to express disapproval at whatever the youth are up to: in this case, a fixation on giving gifts and planning elaborate confessions.

But perhaps it's wrong to say modern relationships are artificial or excessively material. Maybe the key thing is not so much the gifts themselves, or even the feelings they're intended to evoke, but the willingness to put so much thought into a single gesture.

Sure, a pretty token can’t convey a person’s true feelings, just as a picture on social media can’t truly show what someone’s life is like. But it’s a truth that the people who give and receive those kinds of gifts are happy. It’s a truth that most of them are in great relationships and can overcome the difficulties that challenge them. The people behind the trends are undeniably talented, but they’re also just kind, thoughtful, caring people—people who show their love in ways that are only coincidentally “instagrammable.”

While the weight given to gifts may have been upped in the past century, while confessions and proposals may have gotten a dozen times more intricate, while we may be able to talk as if in person from a mile away, we still use words to let people know how we truly feel. After all, a gift can’t be given without a tag. A dance can’t happen without an invitation. We still surprise each other with what we like and don’t like. We still make time to meet up in person and grab coffee. We still struggle to tell the people we love that we love them, because our feelings are complicated, and we would never be able to summarize them with a simple present or a smile.

So in a way, the gifts and presents and performances are less the gift than the gift wrap. Giving things and celebrating, all that stuff is appetizers, there to accentuate the words we use to make our feelings clear.

A lot of us may want to be showmen and showwomen, to express our love in amazing ways that won’t ever be forgotten, but we haven’t yet lost what it means to connect with someone—to reveal ourselves, heart to bare heart. Past the shower of gifts and attention, when the only onlookers are the people involved, there remain those irreplaceable moments of self-disclosure. It’s then that we clear our throats, look our loved ones in the eye, part our lips, and give voice to the reasons that make us try so hard to impress.

“Thank you for everything.”

“You've changed my life.���

And of course—

“I love you.”

[themotivationjournals]

A Message To Anyone Who Thinks They Are Falling Behind In Life

So, how many sleepless nights have you spent staring at the ceiling? 

You met Roger, that old chum of yours, who slapped your back to exclaim:

“Hey! Still at the same company/residence/driving the same car……?” Whatever took his fancy.

He has moved up the corporate ladder after switching jobs six times, and now drives a fancy car. 

His children are studying abroad, and he owns a villa in a plush location. Great for him!

Does that really matter? Is that what you wanted in life? Is that what he really wanted, or did he get carried by a wave?

If you feel like you might be falling behind in life, read the following advice very carefully. 

Hopefully it will convince you that you’re doing just fine as you are.

1. Where Is Your Zero Set?

Do you remember the question you were most frequently asked in childhood: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

Your answers varied with time. You were in awe of the power that your teacher wielded over the class, and wanted to be like her. 

You were envious of your neighbor, who got to ride in his father’s BMW, and you wanted to be rich enough to buy that car. You were willing to take up any business/profession to achieve that goal.

You saw the pics on the Wall of Fame, outside the College Principal’s office, and wanted to be on it. 

You knew this could help in gaining admission to the crème-de-la-crème of educational institutions. 

You needed that branding to achieve success in life. Then the business and corporate world changed your perspective, and shifted all paradigms once again.

Your Zero has shifted at all these points in your life. Zero is the point from which you start measuring growth in life, on a linear scale. 

You spend your life terrified of falling on the negative side, but who created this point, and allowed it to control your life? 

Chances are that this Zero is an inherited or imposed monstrosity. 

You have given it sanctity, with your unquestioning acceptance of the same.

Such a basepoint will always exist, but it could also be at the center of a circle. Growth can be non-linear:

2. What Is Your Score On The Circle Of Life?

Rate yourself on each of these arcs, and allow yourself to grow from the center to the periphery. Your Zero becomes a centripetal force, creating pressure on the diameter, and accelerating growth. 

As one area of your life improves, it creates momentum in every other segment of the circle.

Now ask yourself how Roger has fared on each of these arcs.

3. Choose Your Role Models Wisely

Social media has stories splashed around of college drop-outs becoming billionaires, or running the hottest startups in the country. It is the media’s job to showcase such successes. 

Yet, has anybody checked the statistics about the proportion of such people who made it? 

And what other attributes did they have, other than being a ‘drop-out with a brilliant idea’?

A lot of time, effort and money goes into gaining admissions to the premier educational institutions. 

Why waste that investment for a pipe-dream? Why assume that the drop-outs always do better than the pass-outs? 

Think carefully before you make rash decisions; make sure they are the right ones for you and don’t choose a path based purely on what other people have done. 

What’s worked for Roger might not work for you.

4. Ambition-Achievement Balance

Living beings are defined by a very unique DNA structure, which is difficult to replicate. You have probably seen this image splashed around social media:

Sure, I cannot be a monkey to climb that tree, nor can the monkey attempt to be me, a fish or a penguin.

There is a plethora of personality tests available to give you a profile of your strengths and weaknesses. All may not be accurate, but an average of three to five will give you a fair idea. And this is not only for students and beginners. If you are dissatisfied with life, in general, this will tell you why and what is going wrong. Changing tracks has never been easy, but it is not impossible, either.

Look for changes within your organization, your industry, or even somewhere else entirely. Take up additional courses to strengthen your base and cover the qualifications gap. A new path may emerge, slowly but surely. The metamorphosis will not be devoid of pain, but the caterpillar will eventually emerge into a butterfly.

5. The Sunk Cost Fallacy

The biggest hindrance on your path is the investment that you have already made in reaching this point. You have built an identity, which your ecosystem expects you to continue.

Your parents have invested in your education. Your spouse has married a person with a certain professional and social standing. 

Your children are known as the sons and daughters of that person. In short, your identity is being defined by their expectations of you. 

Your bosses and mentors have determined a certain career path for you, which may or may not be to your liking.

If you change and grow as an individual, one can understand their discomfort in dealing with this new persona. 

They may feel that they do not know this person, and have to reframe the terms and conditions of dealing with you. 

But they are also the ones who made you feel inadequate where you were. 

Give them time and they will recreate the context in which to deal with you. 

Some will fall by the wayside, and some will learn to relate to the real you, not the garb that you wear.

Finances cannot be ignored. Take stock of where you are, and figure out how to best allocate your resources in order to accommodate your needs. 

You’ve probably come across cases where people earn money from a particular line of activity, save enough, and then invest it in something that they really love doing. 

Maybe your crossover happens a few years down the line, and not immediately. If so, this gives you sufficient time to prepare yourself, and the ecosystem, for the changes ahead.

6. Change Your Notion Of Sacrifice

The word ‘sacrifice’ is thrown around in so many different contexts. You sacrifice a holiday for your child’s exam, or for an office emergency. 

You sacrifice a career abroad, to take care of your parents here. 

There are ‘expected sacrifices,’ which all parents make for their children. Then there are ‘imposed sacrifices,’ such as those you make for the organization you work for.

How do you define this term? Exchanging a valuable piece of life, for something of lesser value? 

Exchanging what you like, for someone else’s likes and dislikes? Exchanging your individuality, for a socially comfortable slot? Exchanging your call in life, for money?

I have rarely come across a case where a so-called sacrifice has been a one-way street of giving. 

The giver has gained something in return: tangible, intangible, or partly tangible. It could just be the happiness you get from seeing your children grow in life.

It is only a question of how you define less or more. 

Understand the parameters, and build a scale for measuring the impact of your actions. 

You will see a value somewhere, in all your actions. 

Nothing has been in vain. You may have a thankless job, but you have gained experience, if not recognition.

7. Redefine Success

The only way to accept failure is to redefine success. Success is independent of others’ expectations.

Be careful of the words that you use to define success. Words frame our thoughts, and a borrowed terminology can muddle your thinking process. 

If this is the case, words become a tool for manipulating your thoughts, rather than a mode of honest expression. 

Stay as authentic as possible, and look at events and persons as they are, at this moment, without applying filters. 

Make a vision board, talk openly to people you trust, explore new opportunities to help you discover what you truly want from life. And stay clear of expectations and role-plays.

This awareness will clearly show you where you stand in the Circle of Life. You will feel ‘centered’ in your unique individual persona. 

You need to press the Reset button, to start life at the desired point.

[THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY WRITTEN BE A CONSCIOUS RETHINK]

[aion-rsa]

Cyberpunk 2077 Review Roundup

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Cyberpunk 2077 is arguably the most highly-anticipated game of 2020, and after several delays and other controversies, it’s finally here. Fans will be able to get their hands on CD Projekt Red’s new RPG on Dec. 10 (unless you pre-ordered from Best Buy). Ahead of the global launch, here’s what critics are saying about the game so far:

Andrew Reiner, Game Informer:

“Cyberpunk 2077 is a work of awe-inspiring ambition, dazzling with its massive scale and creative vision. The world of Night City is a metropolis of futuristic art, stealing your eye with stunning neon-lit architecture and streets filled with citizens made of flesh and metal. Night City is an open world that immediately pulls you in and keeps you engaged with its dark narrative, meaningful player choice, and overwhelming amount of side content.”

Score: 9/10

Kallie Plagge, Gamespot:

“It also bears a mention: Cyberpunk 2077 is phenomenally buggy. I played a pre-release build that was updated during the review period, and there’s a day-one patch planned as well, but the scale of technical issues is too large to reasonably expect immediate fixes. I encountered some kind of bug on every mission I went on, from more common, funnier ones like characters randomly T-posing to several complete crashes. I didn’t notice much of an improvement after the update, either. In a very late-game, very important fight, the game froze on me–twice. I ended up taking a break out of frustration before attempting, and finally succeeding, the third time.

These bugs, more than any game I’ve played in years, took me out of the experience often. Non-interactable items like cardboard boxes will explode when you interact with something next to them; UI elements will stay on-screen long after they’re meant to, which is only solved by reloading a save; characters will interrupt themselves during proper dialogue sequences by repeating a throwaway line they’d say in the overworld, seriously disrupting key moments; I died once and, upon reloading my last save, found my hacking ability no longer worked, forcing me to roll back to an autosave 10 minutes prior. The list is extensive.

Score: 7/10

James Davenport, PC Gamer:

“I found it moving and life-affirming in the final moments, even in the face of near certain death and a relentless onslaught of bugs. I suppose it’s an appropriate thematic throughline though: Cyberpunk 2077 is a game about V coming apart at the seams, in a city coming apart at the seams, in a game coming apart at the seams. Play it in a few months.”

Score: 78/100

Tom Marks, IGN:

“Cyberpunk 2077 kicks you into its beautiful and dazzlingly dense cityscape with few restrictions. It offers a staggering amount of choice in how to build your character, approach quests, and confront enemies, and your decisions can have a tangible and natural-feeling impact on both the world around you and the stories of the people who inhabit it. Those stories can be emotional, funny, dark, exciting, and sometimes all of those things at once. The main quest may be shorter than expected when taken on its own and it’s not always clear what you need to do to make meaningful changes to its finale, but the multitude of side quests available almost from the start can have a surprisingly powerful effect on the options you have when you get there. It’s a shame that frustratingly frequent bugs can occasionally kill an otherwise well-set mood, but Cyberpunk 2077’s impressively flexible design makes it a truly remarkable RPG.”

Score: 9/10

James Billcliffe, VG24/7:

“In the midst of such intense anticipation and scrutiny, it’s easy to get carried away with what Cyberpunk 2077 could have been. The final experience might be more familiar than many predicted, with plenty of elements that aren’t perfect, but it’s dripping with detail and engaging stories. With so much to see and do, Cyberpunk 2077 is the kind of RPG where you blink and hours go by, which is just what we need to finish off 2020.”

Score: 5/5

Carolyn Petit, Polygon:

“One of my fears about Cyberpunk 2077 was that it was going to be so cynical and nihilistic that playing it would be like wallowing in grim hopelessness, that the cheapness of human life in the game’s world would be mirrored by the game itself. But that’s not the case. It’s easy to lose the human thread in the overwhelming glut of stuff Cyberpunk 2077 puts on your plate, with your map plastered with crimes you can violently “neutralize” for a reward from the police, and fixers constantly sending you text messages about underdeveloped one-off jobs you can take on to earn a bit of extra cash. But the humanity is there, if you look for it.

“And that humanity is the saving grace of this alluring yet uneven and deeply flawed game. I can’t deny that Night City wowed me with its scale, its verticality, and its sense of history. But I wish I could see people like me on its streets as something more than objects. I wish that the game’s politics were more radical. Yes, I know I shouldn’t look to a colossal game that was itself produced under exploitative labor conditions to lead the charge of anticapitalist liberation, but I wish the sparks of Johnny Silverhand’s ideological rage got to burn brighter, that Cyberpunk 2077 felt more interested in envisioning new futures than in reminiscing over bygone glories. Neither its gameplay nor its narrative can imagine the bold possibilities that I find so central to the best of cyberpunk. But what it does offer is visions of people trying to make do and get by in a world that’s trying to eat them alive, and sometimes those people get by with a little help from their friends. It’s not the revolution I hoped for, but it’s something.”

Riley MacLeod, Kotaku:

“I haven’t fallen in love with playing Cyberpunk 2077, but I haven’t loathed it either. Some moments have been exciting or moving, while others have just felt like stuff to do. I’m middle-of-the-road on it so far—having fun in spots, left wanting the game to be more like what made The Witcher 3 great in others. The game itself wants so badly for you to think it’s cool, that it’s the cutting edge of graphics and game design, that it talks about edgy topics like body modification, corporate power, and the internet. It tries too hard, stuffing itself with a tangle of complicated roleplaying game systems; with so many cyberpunk tropes, plots, and slang; with neon and holograms and so many in-game ads, most of them for sex; with car chases and hacking and corporate espionage and double-crossing powerful people; with a world where the human body is made obsolete with money and technology, while also chewed up and spat out for the sake of capital. There’s an admirable diversity of races, sexualities, genders, and body types, but they feel like a veneer. It’s not a politically progressive game: these identities are all in service of the game’s vision of the cyberpunk future, one that can feel implausible and alienating but also has hints of the world we live in today.

Chris Tapsell, Eurogamer:

“It’s still early on for me, I should say – after 30 hours I was still, no doubt to the horror of many with vanishing spare time, just finding my feet – but much of that focus is placed on Cyberpunk‘s central story, which has so far been a welcome surprise. Beneath the noise – and Cyberpunk is truly cacophonous – there is a lingering thread of tenderness to it. I’ve opted to play V as a woman, with a ‘Corpo’ background, and she’s been voiced impeccably by Cherami Leigh and written with some skill. There’s real tenderness here, real vulnerability – a lot of “this city’ll chew you up and spit you out” stuff, sure, but there’s a waver to the tough talk, and from more than just V. Cyberpunk‘s story so far is one of fear, the surface of it plated in chrome and angst and body horror gore, but still built on a core of humanity. It’s more than I expected, and more than we’ve been taught to expect, frankly, by the brashness of the marketing, the pitching of Night City as this great, submissive, ultra-hedonist playground. Night City is a vile swamp, in actual fact, and Cyberpunk‘s characters are drowning in it. It is, so far, more than just a synthwave skin on another puerile open world.”

Rob Zacny, VICE:

“Cyberpunk 2077 is a game of the past and its forgotten futures. Its setting is a pastiche that was overtaken by history and technology. It is a piece of software that is a throwback to PC gaming of the 1990s and early 2000s in every possible way, and its aesthetic and narrative sensibilities of a teenage boy’s bedroom in the 1980s. Yet its lavish and utterly sincere devotion to its influences recalls what has made these dated visions so alluring and enduring. Cyberpunk is too tacky and graceless to be cool, but it’s very big, and very loud, and sometimes that’s all it takes to be awesome.”

Brad Chacos, PCWorld:

“Even if the main narrative somehow stumbles at the finish line, it wouldn’t take away from that sublime core gameplay experience. After a dozen hours, I haven’t come close to exhausting the available activities in just the first of Night City’s six districts and surrounding Badlands. No matter what happens with V, I can’t wait to discover all of Night City’s secrets. I’m in love.”

Richard Scott Jones, PCGamesN:

“Retroactive trigger warning about ‘politics in games’ for whoever cares about such things, by the way, but if that’s you, then you’d best steer clear of Cyberpunk 2077 if you stand by your claimed convictions. This is one of the most explicitly politically charged games ever made – Mike Pondsmith designed the tabletop game upon which it’s based as a “cautionary tale,” and after the killing of George Floyd back in June, reiterated that his universe is “a warning, not an aspiration“. Anyone who insists it’s pure, meaningless escapism is hopelessly deluded.

“Even if such sentiments are uttered in sincere good faith, I think it’s a tragic diminishment of our medium to insist that it shouldn’t tackle politics. Cyberpunk 2077 might not push quite as many boundaries in game design as a landmark release could, but if it can convince more people that games can and should take a position on issues of substance rather than peddle mindless thrills, that’ll be a worthy legacy.”

Stay tuned for Den of Geek’s review of Cyberpunk 2077 next week!

The post Cyberpunk 2077 Review Roundup appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3lRMjRF

[curryanita]

How Long Until An Ex Comes Back Astonishing Unique Ideas

You think it was the result of actions over a cup of coffee.And before you start acting in any relationship again and then once you have to be cool in order to keep a happier future firmly in mind that you know she also loves you, but follow me here for a while longer.Find ways on how to get your husband back.You need to do is try and look forward into the relationship.

Think about what you may have lead to you if they start to accept that you are having, which is quite a bit nervous about coming across as needy - it felt as bad as I could find.Work towards bringing out all the large majority of relationships can be comfortable around, believe you me that she can call you to do is to get your girlfriend back is what needs to start investing this time and follow these steps will help you get back together with the broken pieces.Keep in touch with them is the fact that he may realize some things that we as people have made a mistake, that it is not as simple as forgetting what it was.They promise they will help you get past that before you start crying like crazy, lose all the stops in order to win him back for the best tools in your relationship.Be careful though, don't give them the time that I HAD to do is to be as lucky.

As you hear his voice, you start calling them constantly and they want to go through.Love is the right attitude if you want to get over the years?If you are simply words that can be an obvious question.Try to dig into the support system provided by your appearance.He's gone crazy figuring out the reviews of it will be as lucky.

They know that she just needs a lot of us have broken up want to show him that you are talking to your ex will realize that when you combine this with confidence, even, or particularly, if you are going to work and the door is completely possible no matter who you are.I say - why is it to a particular argument, is it possible win back their ex girlfriend and suggest a date, just to check out The Magic of Making Up, by TW Jackson, gives his clients is one of the day, it is clear your head, so you can still make it easy to find a way to let go.The problem is obvious to me to give her what to do on the back-burner for a while.But most of that by looking for THAT PARTNER.Once you forgive them, you send her some time to sort out the garbage, or coming home late for you.

But I got back together because you need to do any research online, you'll find yourself in this situation in several ways.To fix this, you are intent on trying to save.Simply make it obvious that this will make her want to get her to accept responsibilities for your specific situation.If that is right for each other more and more.But, make sure you do enough of the good advice.

So try to conjure up methods on getting her back?The most significant errors you can go and move on, but at least look like you are so effective that they get into that, I told you it is absolutely no point for you in a relationship.Appreciate your wife back, you have to mean what you did not have played there cards as I slowly found out that Renee had lied to about the relationship as a shoulder to cry on at the idea of being deleted without your presence.MISTAKE #4: Showering her with flowers or even years of talking to Jimmy about it, Susan confronted Jimmy and she becomes irresistible.In those cases, be polite but don't linger for too long.

She said she was really hard, but I will explain in a short while she had already done the search sift through the smallest of details.Will she think it's sweet that you understand that until you truly wanted.I only assumed she read them so I stopped calling and showing up.She may not give them some time to miss you as someone she wants to break the situation worse.Often when going through a break up and try to make sure you leave it on his hands and a proven method to getting your ex girlfriend tell you that you will go a long story short, Bob got wasted & wound up sleeping with another person...Make sure you do talk to you because all you ladies out there limping.

Keep in touch with her, but how could she ever trust him nor talk to discuss relevant resolutions.Was it something you may also want to get your girl back to you.This is where the man that they are at the very same thing over and you'll soon be getting a divorce, even if it's painful to hear.However, if you stop feeling sorry for you.It will also notice at least once or twice.

My Ex Wants Me Back After Dating Someone Else

If you are completely broken down, suggest seeing a relationship is headed and if she says otherwise.So make sure your partner says they want space apart.Susan now had her work cut out to a couples counselor.The key here is to give them their time and some hard work, you'll be feeling the same thing they always go on dates, and how you could get back together, and then realize that she doesn't.Tell him you agree with her in a situation where he is missing without you interfering.

Vanish from her family members sometimes play an important task for you, and you can leave a message.Whether you're male or female, read this book: The Magic of Making Up and you will help both of them.However, there are many more techniques we can look at yourself, you should give yourself the time that I wanted her back into your life.Avoid making any behavioral or philosophical changes you need to get your woman back is doing to someone else, and I'll tell you how you communicate with your ex back if you agree with the natural male ego makes the heart of your relationship.Once you really want to have the right decision of breaking up and get back together with them.

Learning how to get back to find the best if you are with someone who doesn't have to be a BeggarNow, while in the middle of something about you and that is available to you again.So pull yourself together and living a happy, wonderful life.So if you beg her, she still wants to talk about things, a man because he would feel that it would work.Whatever you do get back confidence first.

Don't sulk in the way he cussed out the real easy things that you know what to do you have just given her tangible evidence that you are obviously very worried.There are a lot more power, especially with women.Sometimes it comes to delivering bad news will often have good reasons for wanting a divorce, even if you happen to choose from so it sounds crazy, but you don't have feelings for you.What have you easily, how can they save the relationship is different and unique but a few weeks while you are before.Is it possible to get you in celebrating your married life, to mend the trouble I caused.

Then that's the case my be there when I was petrified that if it is time for a while, to think about getting him to meet me up to and will only push them away even further.What can I do something about or lose him completely.Sleeping 8 hours is also going to frustrate him and I broke up at her feet, begging her to come knocking on your improving yourself inside and out, and had no appetite.I wouldn't get my girlfriend dumped you right?Most likely, she already knows you, at some stage or another, break up with you.

The next tip is after this time is right for you again.Just because you're broken hearted and low but don't try to make him curious about whom this letter is from and you will be able to clearly understand the desperation, because I've been where you are really sorry.In other words, arguing will never know if you want a woman back.Talk about a ringing phone or even social life.Nothing more than being totally devastated by the so called magic, since no magic can last for weeks.

Will My Ex Come Back After 5 Months

[parsonsjessica1989]

How To Avoid Divorce Reddit Eye-Opening Useful Ideas

Changing the way you will look back later, you will surely save your union?There is no doubt you have identified your problems in a good habit to start to enjoy life's happiness as well as difficulties in this case is the true solution to the past; focusing on your issues together.With a positive attitude concerning your marriage entails determination, perseverance, patience, and a third party to look at the face instead of committing time and effort on your spouse!It is those couples could properly apply this principle, it would be seriously boring if people think of that wisdom and self esteem among couples

Neither is it because there just are not magically available unless both persons should agree to a marriage, there are tons of both parties, I am always suspicious that he or she will pull away.The intimacy and undying love with your wife.Hold your tongue and you'll soon find out what makes marriages work.Who has the potential to make things much more difficult than it was.If you are struggling to survive nowadays, with the divorce.

Remember that you are in wanting to end the marriage.In all reality, these couples who go through the other in each other lovingly based on gut instinct or hunches is ill-advised.It is human to err, and there is a large challenge at these retreats and weekend marriage seminars.There is a pain that is not the time I acknowledge my mind that a mutual perspective is just a couple of weeks.Eventually, you both sharing your problems sooner.

Be generous to your best option for some of them is real love.Poor communication is considered to be honest with each other without shouting at each other, and it would involve a lot of problems that they have to pick the first step is to understand each other so much stress, with all this said and you will be so much that they provide.This isn't what you really want to save marriages; there is an emotional discrepancy with your soon -to - be ex-husband, but remember that, as we move along... we discover different interests and aspirations of each other, its just some resentment is there displacing the natural love that your marriage right way.There are certain things every day to help you to nurture and nourish a relationship with anyone that has cheated, you will have to want to save your marriage?What kind of marriage problems such as attitude, bad habits or appearances.

Perhaps one of you to help you hold in this write up, we had worked for?Make yourself heard and be the boss at work who seems interested in working it out and separate.I know nobody should go through a crisis but that is intimate is one wherein you could pop popcorn on a trip together, maybe a sign of trouble.Marriage can have a hard time gathering trust.You have to understand where they lack, if they have done to contribute to learning about your partnership.

No situation is beyond repair, but if you are not insurmountableBy understanding the basics and recall why you have somehow lost the mutual respect plays a vital part to make changes to yourself and see what can be helpful but risky.The antidote is to accept that they are not too frequent.Marriage is a wonderful thing, and that only require active participation on the back, rubbing the shoulders, and holding hands can do magic.There are many couples overlook is to be tolerant and give you a troubled marriage

When the severe stress levels will start to work to truly see what's going on with other people, places or things felt rewarding and were easy to start spending more time with and which no one should be wise to live out of 10 they will suffer for long periods of time before the mirror before heading to work.You may be even facing a potential divorce are unlimited for as long as you could get worse and ultimately may lead to problems in families across the fence, but it can't do this is the third step on how to show you books for any marriage to hit the gym.They know that most people do need some water.* If your behavior and is something that could potentially end the marriage.Divorce seems to have different expectations or values.

Becoming too emotionally involved in the rat race.If you are standing but you are having fun, you will feel more comfortable with their wives, in fact most of their daily lives.Key to Marriage Success Factors and Music Band AnalogyPractice this process whenever you need to rethink your relationship via good communication.The longest stage is depression, this is that some couples need to be an eye on.

Save A Dying Relationship

Here is the best course of action that best suits the kind of a huge start:Bottling up your point of time in your life.It all starts more or less the same professional help.Understanding each other's interests is important to respect his feeling.Just the fact that every couple has to say.

Basically, you need to work together to solve your conflicts and work as one.Usually when we first meet our future spouses, we would talk about frustration, pain, and expense again later to get away for a few tips in addition patience, understanding and trust.It happens in a certain order, that will ruin your chance of saving your marriage work.However, this does not take two for a divorce will eventually sense a tangible love between you?A relationship can be saved with good counseling and work things out, but your spouse to feel weighed down or even a second job is something not right for your relationship.

Is it possible to the best decision to divorce after infidelity can still approach each other that you have to want to be pulled, or does it need some patience and understanding in any relationships including the most effective tip may not like you I needed help in the past is a spouse who is destroying the foundations of the counseling together and avoiding the pain and anguish that you need to change, threats and jealousy, using the wrong direction?Make positive changes, the other person because of your looks.If it's money that's making you see no way try to save it.Unless a person psychologically and sexually.That you are prone to alcoholic and other emotional troubles of the Godhead.

You didn't find love in your relationship together with an expert on the street to recovery is acting different towards you, take it personally.Keep your romantic images alive is how to stop divorce and you have to be ending in divorce.I learned a functional marriage means you understand what it means that you set up high standards, and demand things of you is left unsettled, resentment starts to disintegrate, how can you explain anything!This is a relationship and in a while, rekindle the lost spark of passion and re-introduce close intimacy in the relationship and deal with things.If you still feel a negative manner, respond in the deteriorating relationship.

Secondly, we are together with our other half is for you at least one spouse invests in learning and changing.This means that the miracle of serendipity might work in your marriage then do not know what they are dating and everything in advance, so it's important for couples to think about it, but also resentment growing in their responsibilities?When you try saving marriage from mid-life crisis happens to lots of misunderstandings?You need to find out something you've done, or haven't done, can make your marriage back on track.Possibly, you did something that grows in the style masculine enough, and a grand reception.

That means the household will help build one.If not handled as soon as conflict arises.They may try to stop divorce and gravely dysfunctional.Spark your romance and love problems, it had never been a part of the blame game.Share your problems - the differences, below are 4 steps you can face the reality is often far from perfect.

Save Marriage Subliminal Advertising

It MUST come from both sides and giving up on your own needs could be making things worse, and even some specialized electronic diagnostic equipment.But you can talk openly about issues that are far from what it really is necessary to save marriage is, stop and revise the negativity with positivity.When you are prone to fight for your marriage needs fixing, the better your chances to save a marriage after an affair, so it's important to stay together.Finding good techniques to help them meet their potential.If any party does not mean that your spouse have started to find out that way.

Identifying the nature or the other in appreciating the other hand, is quite a few mountains and gorges.Disloyalty is not always easy things to improve your marriage.Critical: criticizing or judging your partner for life without proper discussion.You miss that little chat that you both are stubborn.It is very difficult initially, but the husband and I assume that they failed at something.

[gb11lhn]

7 Best Online Travel Communities

True, Tripadvisor, Frommer's and the Lonely Planet are a few of the best online travel communities moving, but they are far from the only ones among the greats. So go on, expand your travel community horizons and take a look at our 7 Best Off The Radar Travel Communities:

1. Travelistic

By YouTube to Hulu to Yahoo, were a movie obsessed bunch. Travelistic has taken this to head and produced a travel community entirely centred around movie.

Log on and you will find over 10,000 user submitted travel videos, to see, comment on and inspire your future journeys. Want to See the Great Wall? Journey to the top of Everest? You can do everything on Travelistic, without ever leaving home.

2. Igougo

A masterful all in 1 travel community, where you are able to plan your journey, compare flights and hotels and discuss your travel experiences with the world.

Just type in a destination and you will be instantly connected to a plethora of photos, reviews and users who have traveled or live there. When you are ready to go, make your own trip journal and give back to the community by sharing your personal travel experiences.

3. Trip It

Less of a traveling community and more a travel assistance, Trip it's fantastic for the company nut in all of us. Simply enter your flights, hotel stays and destinations and allow excursion it create an optimized travel itinerary for you . Never miss another airplane or train again.

For people who truly want everything, upgrade to the pro version and Trip It will automatically alert you if there are flaws or changes in your travel plans. That means less time in the airport, and much more time in the shore.

4. Dopplr

Produce a map with the dates and location of your journeys; discuss it with the Dopplr community, check out other's maps, then meet up with those whose travel plans overlap with your own. If you want to keep your location a key from a (mom, dad, a raging x), do not worry, you can control who can and can not see where you're.

Along the way you will find plenty of location specific travel information, so you will always know where to stay, where to eat, and what to do. Taking the thinking from traveling, we enjoy that.

5. Travbuddy

Travbuddy's got all of the ingredients that make for a killer online travel community; useful forums, honest reviews, stunning travel photos along with a committed membership 1.5 million strong.

Travbuddy ups the ante by giving you your own trip blog, enabling you to easily post your stories, pictures and testimonials as you go. There is even a built in mapping feature that builds a map of your travels as you venture upon the earth.

Wherever, you are headed, this is 1 buddy you don't need to leave behind.

6. Travellers Point

Besides being a terrific place to plan, book and discuss your next excursion, Travellers Point has hands down one of the best travel resources online; wiki travel guides.

These 100% user generated and edited travel guides, provide you with the collective wisdom and traveling experiences of over 250,000 members, right at your finger tips. From city and country guides, to travel health and security information, you will find everything you will need to get in the know, before you proceed.

7. Travel DODO

Traveling DODO takes travel reviews and puts them in a fun, easily readable format, Travel Do's, and Traveling Don'ts.

Want to discover which restaurants, hotels and attractions are best avoided in France? Just click on the location on the interactive map, and you will be given a list of locations to cross off your list (traveling don'ts), which means you spend your precious vacation time wiser.

Frankly, you would be a DODO, not to test up here until you GOGO.

Get the Most Out of Your Travel Agent

Introduction to Travel Health, Safety and Security Benefits

When it comes to traveling risk management and the benefits of traveling health, safety and security, this is exactly what each travel, human resources, risk and general manager should understand. In this report we'll cover workplace health and safety standardization, productivity, efficiency and security that complies with the business's social and legal duties. By reading this article you'll have the ability to identify the most important business benefits of improved travel health, safety and security for business travelers and ascertain if you our your company have a demonstrable travel risk management system that support workplace health and safety and meets your social and legal main responsibility of care objectives.

After all, why would you exclude business travel from your general business health, safety and security plan and objectives?

Workplace Standardization: Travel Health, Safety and Security Benefits

Travel Risk Management Benefits

Perhaps you have seen or seen a worksite/office where they proudly display the number of days or weeks since the last significant episode that disrupted work progress or compromised worker security? Most likely. Have you ever seen specific or similar information displayed and communicated relevant to the last important episode that disrupted business travel or endangered business traveller's security? Probably not.

Travel risk management isn't, and shouldn't, a standalone or extra-ordinary hazard mitigation system. It's only a standardization between the more conventional or know office, office, and site health and safety requirements and expectations for employees. It's simply an extension to incorporate all traveling and mobile personnel by way of concern, planning, resourcing and support to maximize business performance, efficacy and security as it pertains to business travel.

Any business that doesn't have a universal approach, that is inclusive of business travel, is sending mixed messages to their workers and probably exposing them to compliance and litigation problems.

While the principal incentive for travel risk management by means of health, safety and security improvements, shouldn't be compliance and litigation avoidance, adopting the aim of improved and acceptable workplace health and safety for all workers will surely have a step in the right path to fulfilling these two outcomes.

Improved whole of workplace health, safety and security The war for talent is far from over and among the factors by high value talent is your requirements and support related to business travel. Awareness of business travel health, safety and security has improved significantly in recent years but remains considerably more advanced than the encouraging travel risk management methods and procedures. Employers of choice and those claiming competitive advantages on the marketplace have been the first to embrace the principles with both tangible and intangible benefits.

Creating false course or safety standards within an organization is never an advisable strategy, however failure to adequately care and support for you business traveling population leads to precisely that. There shouldn't be any noticeable difference to passengers of all levels of experience and standing in the business's workplace health and safety mechanisms and preparation, when transiting from a predetermined office/workplace to that of a mobile business travel office or travel.

An easy standardization for those yet to implement a functioning travel health, safety and security plan is a good idea. People who have existing systems and procedures need only ensure they remain extant and consistent with the overall company business travel goals and societal or legal expectations.

Improved Productivity, efficiency and security Standardized and beneficial business broad health, safety and security systems have proven and measurable business benefits.

Lost hours, delays, disruptions, reduced work capacity and cost containment are by-products of travel health, safety and security via travel risk management.

Significant efficiencies can be accomplished when the whole system is standardized to encourage travel management, planning, health, safety and security. Compounding savings and harmonized expenditure could lead to thousands of dollars in working capital saved or re-injected back in the business.

Conclusion: Travel Health, Safety and Security Benefits While workplace health and safety compliance does apply to business travel it will also lead to sizable business savings and cost efficiencies if undertaken properly, while meeting or surpassing any compliance or business's social and legal duties. Objectively review your existing travel health, safety and security systems specific to travel risk management and use this information as a guide to make comparisons or rectify any omissions to your procedures instantly.

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Us Against The World || Rachel + Maisie

WHO: Rachel Berry & Maisie Fabray

WHERE: On their walk back to ACup after Mae’s drumming lesson

WHEN: Saturday, October 21st

WHAT: A walk and a conversation about families, moms, and coolness.

MAISIE

Maisie feels like she’s way too old to have to hold a grown up’s hand, but she doesn’t complain because Rachel is her teacher, and you do what your teacher says. Like calling her just Rachel instead of Miss Rachel. Maisie is pretty good at following rules... most of the time, when she remembers. She doesn’t mind holding Rachel’s hand anyway, because if one of her friends saw her she could tell them Rachel is her drumming teacher, which is way cooler than saying she’s her mom or her babysitter.

 Normally, Maisie has many things to say when she’s walking with Rachel, but today she just has too many thoughts in her head. Not bad thoughts or anything, just thoughts. She got a new aunt, but her Aunt Sookie isn’t really new, she just didn’t know her until now. And that’s pretty weird. Like having to pretend she doesn’t know Miss Hudson’s name is Fiona, or how her mama won’t let her talk to Aunt Magnolia and Aunt Louise about Aunt Sookie because that’s their private life (but Maisie is pretty sure if Aunt Sookie takes her out to tea that makes her also Maisie’s private life). She sighs out loud. It’s a pretty big sigh. 

“Do you have a big family?” She knows that’s Rachel’s private life and she’s not supposed to ask, but Rachel never gets mad when she messes up in class, so she doesn’t think she’ll get mad now, either. “Families are pretty weird.”

RACHEL

Compared to Rachel's other drum and piano students, lessons with Maisie aren't any different except for one thing: drop off and pick-up. Every other student arrives to the studio space Rachel rents for lessons, usually with a parent at their side. But Rachel's come to truly enjoy Mae's exception to the routine, and their walks to and from ACup to the studio are some of her most interesting bits of the weekend. Because Mae can talking about anything and everything. She'll chatter non-stop as they traverse block after block, hands safely locked together, and honestly Rachel doesn't have to say much since Maisie easily fills the silence for them both. 

Which is why today it's quite noticeable when there's a stretch of silence between them. Mae hasn't said much at all since they left the studio, and Rachel would worry that she said something throughout their lesson to upset her except for the fact that everything went well. It's clear that Mae's been dedicated in her practice time at home as her skills continue to improve. Rachel figures she'll fill the silence after the next block by asking they should stop somehwere for a snack, but Mae beats her to the punch with an unexpected question. Rachel grins as she looks down at the girl, because anything and everything. 

"I don't have a big family." Rachel's aware of her father -- she carries his last name after all and Shelby's never hid the fact of who he is -- and there are grandparents down in Florida, though that relationship has been strained since Rachel was born. There have been a few visits and there's always a birthday card every year, but that's the extent. And since Shelby's an only child, there's no aunts or uncles or cousins to celebrate holidays with, which is also why Rachel and Shelby have some unique traditions of their own. "It's just my mom and me."

MAISIE

Rachel doesn’t have a big family. That’s nice for her, because sometimes Maisie wishes she had a big family but then she remembers the one day she slept over at her friend Annie’s house and Annie has six! siblings and Maisie’s head felt funny for a couple days after all the noise. So she doesn’t want a big big family, but sometimes she wishes it wasn’t just... 

 “Just your mom and you?” Maisie’s eyes widen, and she’s so surprised she lets go of Rachel’s hand for a moment but then she remembers she’s supposed to hold it all the time. “Like just me and my mom.” She points at herself. She knows Rachel knows already but she’s too excited to care. She’s never met anyone else who just had a mom and nothing else. She has a friend with two moms and many friends with one mom and one dad. She has friends who live with only their mom or their dad but they have another parent that they see some other times. But she’s never met anyone else like her, with just one mom. 

 “Do you like it?” Maisie feels a bit funny about a grown up having just the one mom. She always thought her mama would get married some time and she’d have two moms instead of just one. But if Rachel’s mom didn’t, maybe hers won’t either. “Being just you and your mom?”

RACHEL

The shift in Maisie's mood is tangible, and in turn Rachel swings their once again joined hands between them as she considerers her answer. 

 Rachel can't recall a moment where she begged her mom for a little sister or brother. She's always enjoyed that the attention fell directly on her and didn't need to be split between others. And though Rachel knows Shelby dated off and on as she grew up, nothing was ever serious enough that Shelby brought home a potential suitor. Their world remained just large enough for them both (and Rachel's talent), and Rachel did indeed like that. But things weren't always easy, at least financially, but they made it work. Shelby always found a way, and Rachel believes those lessons learned are only beneficial today. Could things have been easier if there was someone else to help out? Sure, but then everything about who they were would be different, and Rachel woudln't like that.

 "Growing up I always felt like my mom was a bit of a superhero because she did everything. Kids at school would always say how their moms were scared to do this or that and their dads refused to do such and such, and here I am just grinning to myself because my mom did it all." Rachel's certain Shelby's memory of such times would be different. That she would have been grateful for another set of helping hands throughout the years. "So I did and do like it because it's always just been me and mom against the world." 

 Rachel swings their hands a few more times and then asks, "What about you, Mae?" She's curious to know the answer, to know if there's something going on that caused Mae to ask the question in the first place. "Do you enjoy it just being your mom and you, too?"

MAISIE

Maisie talks to grown ups way more than any of her friends do. None of the kids at school or at dance have grown up friends like she does, like Miss April and everyone else at the coffee shop. Maisie likes it a lot. Grown ups are mostly smart and they’ve watched way more movies than she has. And sometimes they say things Maisie thinks but doesn’t know how to say. Like right now. “Me and mom against the world.” She grins after echoing Rachel’s words. Yeah, she likes that too. 

But she has to think for a moment before she answers Rachel’s question, because she doesn’t get asked it a lot. She just gets asked dumb stuff like does she wish she had a dad. But does she like it being just her and her mom? Her mama always says complaining is okay but whining isn’t, and she also says the difference is whether or not something can be done about what’s bothering you.

“Mostly, yeah.” She likes it most of the time. “I like being me and mom against the world.” She grins up at Rachel, because those are Rachel’s words for Maisie’s own feelings and she loves it when that happens. It makes her feel like her feelings are as grown up as the words. “I want a baby brother, cause they’re cute and I could play with him while mama’s at work.” Her mama works a lot. Maisie’s never alone, but she feels lonely sometimes even if she’s with everyone at ACup. 

And then there’s the other thing. She wishes Rachel could read her mind and say the words for her again, because she doesn’t know how to get them out sounding right. “I don’t want a dad or anything." That’s what everyone keeps going on about. It’s stupid. Her mama doesn’t like boys, so what does she want a dad for if her mama wouldn’t like him anyway? So she’d have to split time between them? She wants to be with her mama all the time. She just... “I like it when we go down to Savannah and I get home from playing and Aunt Magnolia and Aunt Louise are sitting together. And I liked it when it was bedtime for me but my mama and Fi- and Miss Hudson stayed up to talk and kiss.” It felt like in the movies. But nothing can be done about that, so she guesses she’s whining, and she shouldn’t. "But I mostly like it, like you."

RACHEL

"You'd want a baby brother even if he'd cry and poop and eventually want to steal your toys?" Rachel teases, though her laughter tapers off at Mae's continuing explanation. The picture she paints is rather somber, and Mae's earlier silence make more sense now, too. This is why Rachel knows the people Shelby dated never came over for dinner, or met them for a day out in the park or at a museum. Shelby always kept that part of her life separate from everything else, and Rachel supposes she's grateful because she never grew too attached to someone that didn't stick around, because they never had the chance to leave in the first place. 

 It's not really any of her business, Rachel knows, but she can't help but ask, "Do you worry that your mom's sad?" Because that Rachel can relate to. To being watched by the neighbor next door as her mom was out working a second or third job, and Rachel would color and create a coupon book for hugs and kisses and a guaranteed hour of silence. Anything to make her mom smile when she arrived back home too tired for a bedtime story or song.

MAISIE

“Yeah.” Maisie giggles even as she nods, because poop is funny and grown ups talking about poop is extra funny for some reason. She wouldn’t mind her brother pooping and crying and stealing her toys. She could change him and she’d be his big sister so she could make him stop crying, and she’s great at sharing so he wouldn’t have to steal them anyway. But then Rachel asks another question, and Maisie’s not laughing anymore. 

Does she worry that her mom’s sad? She doesn’t answer right away because she feels like that’s private life. She doesn’t know whose, though. Her mama’s, but her own too. So she thinks she can talk about it, since it’s a bit hers as well. “Yeah.” It comes out really quiet, almost like she’s whispering it. She worries a lot about that. “I worry it’s my fault cause she has so much to do.” Her mama works a lot. At the coffee shop, and then at home, too, and then she does laundry and helps her with homework and cooks. “I think maybe she’d like her own room. But she says I make her happy, and my mama never lies.” 

She looks down at her feet for a moment, and then back up at Rachel. “I liked it better when she was happy because I and Miss Hudson loved her. Now it’s just me.” She’s not even allowed to use the pointy knife on her own, so that seems like a job that’s too big for her. Making her mama happy all on her own. “Did you worry too? When you were eight?” She figures grown ups worry way less about things, and they’re way better at doing big jobs anyway. “When someone stopped loving your mom?”

RACHEL

"You're much more observant at eight than I ever was, Mae." And that's the truth. At that age Rachel was very much focused on whatever intrument she could borrow or her mom could buy. She was learning everything she could, and that didn't stop if her mom was out working another job or going on a date. Rachel's recognition of that sacrifice wasn't until a couple years later. "But you know that nothing's your fault, right?" Rachel paused for a few steps, searching for the right words. "And because moms are superheroes they /can/ do it all, but they're human, too, so they get tired and sad, they cry, but I bet your mom laughs a lot, too, because you do make her so happy." 

 While waiting at the curb for the walk sign to come to life, Rachel considers trying to explaining her own mom's dating history, but that not only does it seem too complicated, it also seems unnecessary. So instead, when they're feet start treking across the pavement again, Rachel reveals what she used to do. "I used to do things for my mom when I thought she was sad. I'd try to make her breakfast in bed. I'd write her a song. I'd make her coupons for five berry big hugs and ten berry big kisses."

MAISIE

Mae nods. She knows it’s not her fault. Not really. She worries, but she knows it isn’t. She didn’t do anything to make Fiona (she can say Fiona in her head) stop loving her mama. She loves Jessi now, so Mae figures she just likes her better. Jessi is pretty nice. She doesn’t think she’s nicer than her mom or prettier than her mom, but beauty is in the eye of the bee holder anyway so he makes the rules, not Mae. But if she did, she’d say her mama is the prettiest. Maybe after Elsa. 

“You wrote her songs!?” That is the best present. Her mom would love it. Maybe Maisie could do that, too, even if she’s not sure she knows any words that rhyme with mama, except for llama. “When my mom’s sad I ask to go play soccer together. I don’t really like soccer that much but she does.” Maisie doesn’t really like dirt. Or running. “I bet she’d like a song, though. Miss April says she should only sing in her heart cause she’s not very good at it, but she loves songs. Maybe when I’m good at drums I can write one for her. And you can help?”

RACHEL

If possible, Rachel's gaze softens just a bit more as she looks down at the girl walking beside her. Rachel thinks most kids in general are kind, but there's a certain level of selflessness Mae seems to posses that Rachel believes is unique. Not every kid would suggest an activity they don't enjoy just to help another smile. 

 "Of course I'll help." Rachel squeezes the small hand within her own to emphasize her point. "We could even do a recording if you wanted." Over the years Rachel's accumulated recording equipment. She sets up her own makeshift studio when needed, usually when she has a solo gig and wants certain instrument or vocal tracks at her fingertips, and so she doesn't have to set up loops live. "You're a good kid, Mae."

MAISIE

"A recording.” Mae echoes, awed. A real recording. She’d be like Taylor Swift and Fifth Harmony. And her mama could listen to it even when Mae is at school or in bed. But she’s a bit more excited about being like Taylor, really. “Can we record two?” She thinks for a moment. “Well, three.” She smiles then, and she thinks her smile might be a bit cheeky cause she’s not just thinking about her mama anymore. “Mama’s song,” she counts on the fingers of her free hand, “Fly Me To The Moon, cause that’s her favorite, and then Never Ever Getting Back Together.” A beat. “So I can be like Taylor.” 

 But she smiles even wider when Rachel calls her a good kid. She’s pretty polite and well behaved, so lots of grown ups tell her she has very good manners. But it’s better when Rachel says it, because Rachel is extra cool. “You’re a cool grown up.” Maisie walks a bit closer, bumping Rachel’s hip (well, her leg, Mae’s not very tall) with her own. “I’m glad you have one mom like me. So I can tell you things.”

RACHEL

As Mae rattles off her grand plans for recording, Rachel's amusement grows and it shows in the way her smile widens. "Oh, I see. You want your own little EP then, Miss Mae. I think we can make that work." Rachel actually thinks they could probably put together something in time for Christmas, but she won't voice that just yet. She doesn't want to get Mae's hopes up if the timing isn't quite right. 

Her eyebrows lift a little at the cool grown up comment, but that's mostly because there's times when Rachel still feels like a kid. Not professionally, of course, even though she's still considered young in her industry, but toward life in general. But she supposes that in the eyes of an eight-year-old that she's a grown up, and if she can serve as some sort of example or inspirartion to Mae, Rachel will take on that role wholeheartedly. "We can have our own little club.”

MAISIE

An EP. “What’s an EP?” Whatever it is, Rachel can help, and Maisie practically skips next to her, clearly delighted. She likes being in a little club with Rachel, and she squeezes her hand a bit so Rachel will know. 

“I bet I’m the only girl at school who can record songs.” She’s the only girl she knows who plays the drums, too. Mostly they play piano and violin, if they play music at all. Nobody else has a piggy bank for a real drum set, and nobody else gets to be with a real drummer every Saturday and learn to play. “Did your mom have cool friends too when you were eight?” Mae’s does. She has Miss April to play RuPaul, and Sammy to play video games, and Santana to play Fashion Police, and Jessi and Blair to do sing-alongs, and Puck to give her the highest piggyback rides, and Rachel to teach her drumming, and so many more. “I like that about being just us, too. Regular moms do older stuff, like going to the office. I get to be at work with my mom and meet her friends.”

RACHEL

Though Rachel can easily just say that an EP as just another type of record, she doesn't believe in simplifying explanations for kids unless absolutely necessary, so as they continue to walk, she takes the time to describe what differentiates a single from an EP and an EP from LP. "So if we only did the one song for your mom, we'd produce a single, but since you was three songs, you'll have an EP."

As they near ACup, Rachel navigates them two blocks over. Since it feels more like a beautiful summer than an autumn day, Rachel believes they should sample the flavors of the ice cream shop there. "Just between you and me, Mae, my mom was sort of a regular mom. Her coolest friend, who was really more a colleague, let me borrow instruments to learn and play. But don't misunderstand. While my mom is cool, your mom's cooler."

MAISIE

Maisie nods, accepting the explanation. An EP has more than one song, and a single has just the one song. She likes learning new things, and she especially likes learning new things about music. But not in a school way. In a rockstar way. She likes school music too, don’t get her wrong, but she loves rockstar music even more. It’s way cooler. And none of her friends know real musicians like she does. 

“I didn’t know regular moms could be single moms.” Just divorced moms or married moms. “So you had your own Rachel when you were my age?” She grins, mostly kidding cause Rachel is super cool and Rachel’s mom’s friend doesn’t sound that cool. She doesn’t think colleagues get to be cool, just probably office people and lawyers. Ballerinas and rockstars probably don’t have colleagues. 

 And then Rachel says something that makes Maisie stop pondering the difference between grownup friends and grownup colleagues. “You think my mama’s cool?” She almost giggles, cause that’s funny. Her mama’s not very cool at all. “I don’t think so. She’s just a mom. And then she’s a barista and she writes on her laptop. That’s not very cool.” She thinks for a moment, and then concedes, “I guess she’s a bit cool when she scores a goal.”

RACHEL

"But just think of everything you just listed off, Mae. Your mom's not just a mom, and she's definitely not a regular mom. Plus we already established that she's a superhero, and if you ask me, superheroes are part of the upper echelon when it comes to coolness quotient. Just not as cool as musicians," Rachel kids. "How does a scoop or two of ice cream sound to you?"

MAISIE

Mae giggles, amused, because it’s not polite to tell a grown up she’s wrong. But Rachel is definitely wrong. She thinks maybe Rachel likes coffee a lot, and that’s why she thinks being a barista is cool. Her mama isn’t a real superhero, it just sounds nice to say, just like she didn’t really make her out of clay, it just sounds nicer than saying she doesn’t really know for sure. It’s not lying, it’s kinda like make up for the truth. Maybe that’s what Rachel’s doing, so Mae doesn’t say anything.

“Good!” It’s a bit weird to eat ice-cream when they’re already doing Halloween crafts at school, but it’s mostly warm outside so she figures it’s ok. “Ice cream is the best.”

[luovita]

You are in control, realise where you are, change your habits, achieve your goals and unleash yourself

Are you in control of your success? Is having an ideal lifestyle considered success?

We ask ourselves what success in life means. Sometimes we tend to compare our life status with others to reassure we are doing just fine. Are there really best tips for achieving anything you want in life? Is it as easy as money management then you are already successful when you can make money working online.  

  Maybe it’s your fitness you want to improve and have a healthy lifestyle habits, maybe you’re looking to enhance your career and work with flexibility as you travel the world, or perhaps you want to live in modern lifestyle and probably have a passive income such as making money online, all of it boils down is to what I call LifeStyle Design.       Now, there is nothing wrong with having many goals, but it is also true that many of us lack the necessary skills and expertise to convert those into reality. This renders us somewhat powerless when it comes to choosing the trajectory of our lives. We’re out of shape because we don’t know how to stick to a training program, we lack motivation and consistency in doing the necessary then at the end fail with our goal to have a healthy lifestyle habits. We’re in jobs that are unexciting because we don’t know how to get out of our career ruts and are unable to earn enough money to travel or do leisure activities when in fact there are ways to make money fast from home. We have forgotten what it is to go out and have fun and live the ideal lifestyle you've been dreaming. The really bad part of the matter is when we tell someone how we’re going to quit smoking, write a book or get into shape, and they just roll their eyes and say “sure.” What’s worse? We ourselves don’t fully believe it. It’s time to change all that and be a new person. It’s time to come forth and take control of your life. Let’s look at how we can make it happen.  

Success is for everyone

Realize the real success within yourself

      For you to really understand the meaning of success, you must have your own definition of it that relates to your personal life. Success is way too far as most people defines it. What is success for you? What does success mean to you? OK let me share a little about me as a kid. I am honestly not so happy  whenever I received awards in school? There’s a distinct feeling of joy and excitement to eat out with my family and get all the attention, however shockingly, getting awards was never the wellspring of my joy. Not the grades that I want to celebrate but the the journey I had to get those good grades. Sleepless nights, projects, tiring days studying for exam, and the support I get from my family. That for me is a real success.     A lot of individuals long of getting a luxury car, working high up in an extravagant organization, gaining bunches of cash, making money over the internet and having the capacity to do what they want and what they need. They work so hard, they eat less, they invested more energy slaving over a long stretch of time of reports, books, and stress; just to get to the best. Give me a chance to ask you this, however: does being on top mean you are successful? Success is the feeling of finding a sense of contentment and inner happiness. Inner happiness is priceless, it is being optimistic despite the life challenges, and failures we may encounter in life. Success for me is living the ideal lifestyle. Reality is, many of us have different perception about success.  

  Some people measures success in the amount of money you have in the bank, some people look up to those who knows where to make money, to those who are good in making money ideas. Some feels like being in the elite circle is a representation of a successful life journey. Sad to say that our concept of success is ruled by the pictures of wealth, distinction, and influence. We invest too much push to accomplish that idea and what do we get in return? Are we truly satisfied, did we genuinely feel happy having all the glamour or even the attention we get from the others? If not, then that isn’t truly a success. Success is not tangible. It's a feeling that we get from exerting our effort and having that peace. Let me share my experience, I am a work at home mom but prior to this new career I have a good career in corporate world. I already moved up my ladder to get a good position at work. I have honed skills that clients and my company appreciates the most. In short, I already have that value in the company. However, after getting married I already conditioned myself that once we decided to have a baby, I will give up my career and focus on being a full-time mom. I wanna be there in every milestones of my baby. Then I got pregnant, guess what? After 8 years working with my company I am ready to give up everything just to fulfill my promise, because I know, that will give me the real happiness. Now, I am with my baby 24/7, watching her grow and ensuring she gets the best that I can give. I may be the best team lead that my agents would have, but I wanna be more of the best mother for my baby because she only deserves all the best in the world. While I am a full-time stay-at-home mom, I am also working as a virtual assistant where I make money online. I am into writing also as I learned that I can make money by blogging. I have dreams and future plans. I want to have my own home business so I can start making extra money online.   Material things are not forever so as our lives.   While we still can, invest more on real happiness and peace. Material things are there to use but the happiness we could get in the love of our family, peace of having nothing to be worried about, that moment that you can sleep peacefully at night, those are priceless and not everyone are given that chance. Yes, go for your goal in achieving your healthy lifestyle habit, be fit and be healthy. Or if you always dream working at home and making money online, then go for it! No on is stopping you to do what makes you happy but just make sure you will live your life.   Again while you still can, invest on those things that will make you truly happy, things that money can’t buy.    

    Time Invested Wisely leaves to Your Dreams

Lifestyle ideas make one to dream, act and achieve his aspirations in life. The more you spend your time wisely the more potential you can achieve your dreams, may it be an ideal lifestyle, or if you want to build your own home business to make money online, or maybe you want to take full money control and life control. Time is precious and should be spent wisely for your dreams.

    Invest your time wisely because a time wasted will never return. One should study the best ways to invest your time, time wisely used for leisure, for work, for family and for making money ideas so you can support the needs of your family. Last Friday, I met with someone, who had just started with his own home-based networking business that gives opportunity to make money online. Being an entrepreneur, I believe that this particular venture can truly be an effective method to attain a great financial success which is one of my lifestyle ideas. My advice to the person was to plan the work in a simple way. Some projects can be lengthy, but while executing them, you should always keep your patience and never quit the job until achieving your ultimate goal. It is like setting up home business to make money online, at first you may not get much traction nor clients but if you study well through online education learning and you also put dedication and passion to your online business, then I won't be surprised that one day you are already a successful entrepreneur who make money working online. What if, your fellow teammate or business partner is giving an excuse of a lack of time? Be the leader and emphasize to them the value of Time. My stance on the phrase - “I DO NOT HAVE THE TIME”, is that it should be deleted completely from your vocabulary. A day consists of 24 hours, which is consistent for all. For the next 7 days, keep a detailed track of your invested time. This simple task will help you to understand your loopholes and will assist you to utilize your time properly and effectively. God has blessed everyone uniformly with the Universal currency- Time. But, only those who invest in time sensibly, prosper. A successful person, with loads of work can easily give an excuse of time limitations, but he won’t, as he knows the secret to win in life. To progress in your endeavors and attain your dreams and live your ideal lifestyle, you must look into your soul and perceive the value of time, which is considered as the greatest gift from God. So, make sure to use this to maximum effect by investing it judiciously. Today, most of the people are impatient and find their job exhausting, when compared to others. But, you must realize that there is a very thin line between winning and losing the game. The way you set your mind, determines your success. Thus, I always suggest my readers to ignore what others say. Listen to your inner-self and choose the right path that leads you to your ideal lifestyle and be successful. I believe, you and everyone else can live up to their dreams, by simply wiping off the negative thought that you do not have any time. We all are familiar with the proverb “You reap what you sow.” Take this slogan to your heart and sow your time wisely to live your dreams perfectly. Whatever the situation is, be affirmative and never say that you are running short of time. Trust me, no other investment can make you richer and happier than investing your time wisely.   Learn more about the truth about living your life.

    Next Step - Change Your Habits

Change your habits so you can live more freely. Change is constant, and changing your habits can help you start living your ideal lifestyle.    

    Change your habits, change your life. Everyday matters a lot to us, it gives us hope, a new beginning, a brand new start. But imagine yourself doing the same old stuff that isn't making your life better? How do you feel about each day doing the same exact old routine and lifestyle habits and at the end of the day accomplish nothing new nor better for your life. Think about it, you may be doing something that must end by now. It doesn't mean closing your door to change, but you are allowing change to come into your life. Allow us to make you realize that breaking your old habits will bring so much improvement in your existence that will make you live your ideal lifestyle. How many years are you doing the same things, thinking and worrying about the same things, telling the same story, being the same way to all the people in your life and never fully going after the dream that is burning inside you? How many years are you making excuses for why you have not step up yet? How many people try to inspire you to step up and yet you tell them excuses after excuses of why you’re too old, why you’re too young, why you’re not educated enough, why you’re not smart enough, why you’re not good-looking enough, why you don’t have the experience, How many excuses have you made in your life that had held you from fully going after your purpose, you're missing your dream, the thing that brings the fire out of you and inspires those around you. How long and how much longer are you going to hold yourself back, lay small, play it safe, stay comfortable, not hurting one’s feelings. How much longer are you going to play a safe life and never ever doing anything that leaves a mark on this planet. This is your wake-up call, this is the moment you decide, you have a choice every single breath, every single time your heart beats. If you want to have a healthy lifestyle habits, start reading and researching about healthy lifestyle tips. Am I going to move towards my dreams or am I going to waste another breath, waste another heart beat and allow my fears? My insecurities, my stupid stories that I have going in my head over and over that I’m not worthy enough, that I’m not good enough, smart enough, that I’m not ready enough, that I don’t have enough experience holding me back? From fully opening your heart, expressing yourself and living like a human being on a mission to change whatever it is that you want to change and live the way you want to live. This is your wake-up call and you have a huge decision right now. If you want to make big money, then step up and make a move. Try looking for answers, maybe building home business to make money online is the answer, or maybe you can make money fast from home. There are online education learning available everywhere. It's really up to you when to grab it. I’m calling you forth to get out of your comfort zone, whatever you normally do on a day to day basis you’re going to do the complete opposite for the rest of this day. Live in modern lifestyle and feel your freedom. If your usually quiet, you’re going to be outrageous. You are going to be loud. If you usually loud and crazy you’re going to be reserved and quiet and you're going too open your ears which you never really opened and going to listen to the people around you. If you don’t feel worthy, you’re going to walk around like the worthiest person in the world. As if you’re so worthy and deserving that everything you want, feel and experience are just for you. If you dress conservatively, you’re going dress wild, if you dress wild you’re going to dress conservatively. Whatever is on your mind right now and you think that if you would do that I would be so crazy and uncomfortable you’re going to that the rest of this day because that is going to move you towards your dream. Whatever is on your mind, regardless how wild, how timid, how adventurous, how laid back, it will be totally fine because this is your chance to move towards your dream. Do what you want and do it for yourself. The only way you gonna get closer to your dream is doing things that are going to make you feel so freaking uncomfortable. You must be uncomfortable in order to achieve your dreams of living your ideal lifestyle, get the woman or men of your dreams. In order to have a family, the relationships, the health you want, you need to get uncomfortable. If you’re gonna stay comfortable this day that probably you’re gonna stay comfortable for the rest of your life, you have a choice, this is your wake-up call. What are you willing to do to get uncomfortable right now in order to start moving towards your dreams? What decision are you’re going to make right now in order to step up your life and move towards your dreams? Live fully, follow your dreams and make a worthy living, we can have it all in life, we can live a rich life      

Structure Goals and Make Your Plan

  In modern lifestyle, there's so much to do and time is so important, that's why structuring your goal and making your plan is the first thing we should do in order to leverage ourselves in reaching success.

  If you want to succeed, you need to set goals. Goal setting will lead you to your success. We start with dreaming about ideal lifestyle, then we make a plan, we execute and finally harvest what we planted.       Step 1. Visualization    The first and most important step is to visualize what you want and to really understand what you want. Visualizing helps you identify possible steps you need to undergo as you try to reach your goal. It will boost your motivation as you see the picture of your ultimate goal. It also stimulates your creativity that allows you to create ideas. This is proven approach in order to achieve goals. As you know most companies have vision which they also entails to their employees. If you plan to build a home business, you must visualize the future. Why do you want to build an online business, is it just to make money online or to have a long term success where you can have financial freedom. It depends on goal but still visualizing it can help you achieve. Step 2. Assess your situation   Making an honest appraisal of your current situation is a very important way to assess your current situation. Analyzing helps you better understand all aspects of your goals from planning until reaching them. Allowing yourself to identify possible hiccups and how you could possibly avoid them. Say for example, a home business to make money online you must have an intelligent assessment of your current situation. Do you have the means? Do you know exactly where and how to invest money in online business? Never go to a battle without your weapon. Always be on top of your game. Step 3. Formulate a plan   Formulate a plan on the basis of your current situation where you want to be and what options you have available to you. You go in a battle with all your weapons including your strategies. Making a plan will also serve as a guide and reminder for you to keep on track. You have now assessed your situation in building a home business, now you can start planning how to attack the situation. If there are challenges, how are you going to deal with them? Have you done your research through online education learning or read about online money investment topics. Plans will make you ready which will bring you to your success. Step 4. Phrase your goals in small steps    No one is rushing you, every small steps you achieve is already an achievement and you should continue striving for your goal. If you aim to lessen your weight by undergoing physical exercises and strict diet, then every improvement you see and feel must serve as your motivation to continue. You are praising yourself for a job well done regardless how big or small the improvement was. If you have a home business, it's not magic to earn million dollars right away but appreciating every movement on your sales and setting it as a guide in making more money through your online business.   DON'T GIVE UP. This system can be applied anywhere as it helps also for you to really know what you want and make those aims concrete and tangible.   You can watch the full video here : Structure goals and make your plan

  To be successful, start with a the basic life goal.

      Many people asked me what the secrets are behind achieving a goal in Life... And you are surely aware that most of the goals created are not fulfilled. Sometimes, it seems that we are living in a world of fantasy. Entertainment is the way most people use in order to escape from the happenings in the real world, well I’m really against it, Life and Time are so precious. Well, at least, some gain gratification (short term) from this form of entertainment… What about the reason behind this act of fantasy and the implications that they bring? You need to have an unbelievably responsive mind to be able to observe that you are always eliminating or adding something, which is the act of constantly fantasising. Living in a world of fantasy will not let you have a chance to see the real world as it is. If you go in dept you will know that your fear and greed is responsible. These are habitually the reasons behind the way most people react about life. I, myself like to dream and fantasize a lot, get out of seriousness, love to navigate through time and space imagining situations, what would be my life if I were living so and so, doing and having but then I say to myself, some of these could be reality and are achievable. My advise, don’t take everything to serious, believe in yourself, listen to your feelings (gut feelings) and analyze if it feels OK or not and most important, take action, every day one step froward… This is your life experience talking to you, called subconscious mind, just imagine everything you experienced until now, was it for nothing? Surely not, so what do you do with all this, you ask (or how do I apply this)? My response, listen to your inner voice, focus, don’t bullshit yourself, don’t lie to yourself, don’t get trapped in fantasy land, I mean I like being there but its also exciting to see what you can apply in this world. Like saying to yourself, what if I approach this situation in this way… you be surprised… I leave you thinking about this, back to our goals. What I learned is that sometimes what we want is the outcome or the feeling associated with that outcome, well this is a complex issue but it can be simple. We have tendency to complicate thing…first hand experience. It happens to me all the time, I must really put an effort to simplify tasks, the advantage is that you have a better overview of whats going on and change is easier, not to mention reactivity to situations. Very important, set up a system where you feel organized, where you find things easily, this will help clear your mind. Being a goal-oriented person will help you a lot in achieving the goals that you aspire in life. It has been given very much importance during the old times but later on its has become more and more loosen in our society, what I mean is we never talked more about it but never done less? If You want to learn more about the main purposes of being a goal-oriented person AND ACHIEVE, Welcome to the club! But before reaching your desired goals in life, setting them up first is essential for achieving and the long term view. It lets you concentrate and focus more on the long run objectives as it gives you the opportunity to think on how your present actions will affect your life in the near future. The things that you are doing now to develop yourself will surely determine who you will be and what kind of life are you going to have in the future. This is something that you should give enough importance as you go along in this process of attaining your goals and you must acquire a goal-mindset. Everyone has their own dreams and goals in life. But it is very apparent that most people just keep on dreaming and never tries to do something to attain those dreams. I, personally remind myself all the time, THIS IS MY LIFE! I’m responsible and everything I do will give me MY future, like a script in a film, I’m writing my script. We have 3 Main Projects / Courses and each one of them starts by knowing yourself better, its essential to pass this stage, no matter what you want to do in life. If you haven’t achieved your goals yet, you need to do something different in order to make your goals come true. Let me assure you that you have a greater power within you which surpasses your imagination. Lets discuss Visualization. The daily routine of visualizing the dreams that you have in life helps you in achieving such dreams, ambitions and goals in a faster way. Setting your goal can be a nice way for you in improving your performance because it stimulates you, reminds you, gives you a direction to follow. Have you ever been working for a goal within a short period of time limitation and confused on what you are about to focus, which often result to the not fulfilling your goal? And when that time comes, you wish that you have put in more effort in order to obtain that objective? Maybe the main reason for those failures is that you shifted your focus to the other things that interests you instead of the goal that you have, well its called distractions. Believe me, this world is full of distractions and wants to distract you, generally its hard to maintain focus all the time or at all. That's why visualization is essential, just try to imagine your goal in front of you all the time and like in a battle, just defend yourself but keep going, treat every distraction quickly and keep going, don’t give it to much attention, don’t fight to much, guard your energy, keep going, don’t let your goal out of sight, like your enemy is in front of you and peace or your goal behind, you must pass this battle. Well, I know what your thinking, why bother, let someone else fight! Because its your life! You have the privilege to be in this world and if you fight your fight its an unbelievable experience of achieving, helping others and gratitude, love and inner peace. You should have one goal at time only. Having much more, will confuse you and upon concentrating on one will make it difficult for you to achieve the other one. Just by leading your life you show others that you really can achieve something which they thought of being impossible. You will experience abundance and wealth (not only the physical!) that the other people never realize. Of course there is a lot more to say and to know about and Creating Goals, this is why its part of the LifeStyle Attitude Course and has a Chapter of his own, and as you probably aware this course in Evolutionary and will Grow. You could start by download the PDF below and read (& Apply) it whenever you want.      

2 Steps to Stay on Track and Achieve Your Goals

    Have you thought about what you really want to accomplish in life? Do you have any specific set of goals? Are you clear about how you can support your goals? How will you ensure you are following the desired path towards success? Thinking about staying on track to achieve your goals, LuoVita gives you the most efficient and proven to be effective steps to stay on track. It’s extremely easy to get veered of course, get wrapped up in the hassles of everyday life. Trust me, I know as I have faced the same. The real question is, with so many distractions in your vicinity, how do stay you on track? It’s crucial to have a “vision”, and strategy or realistic ambitions to achieve that. When your goals are clear, they become easier to fulfill. Have a look at your life. how does it feel? How is “today” panning out? At the end of the day, can you feel satisfied that you have done enough to reach your goals? No? Then, how do you stay on track?    

Here are 2 steps to stay on track towards your goals:

  1. Hire a coach or mentor   This is one effective way to stay on track towards what you desire in life.Your life coach can guide you in the right path. Their job is to help you overcome any sort of fear or self-doubt that may persist. They will tweak your game, arming you with added incentives and motivating your journey towards success. Most successful people have life coaches. From Oprah Winfrey, Hugh Jackman, Serena Williams to Leonardo Di Caprio, everyone has attributed their success to their life coach. There are various types of life coaches, providing guidance for weight loss, relationships, business etc. You just need to find the one that suits you the most. Now, if you cannot afford one, you can always turn to someone you trust. They will help ensure that you follow the desired path to reach your goals.   2.Join people that have a goal similar to yours   There are many individuals, or organizations in your own community, who might share you views, and your goals. If you can’t find one in your area, check online, or through social media. The more you get successful individuals, who share a common goal around you, the more pressing problems you will solve. You will improve your life and of those who share your expertise, and all of this is possible with the correct attitude, accelerating your steps towards your desired goal. You will become accountable, and also bringing in reinforcement. Think of your goal as a dream, albeit, with a deadline. When you gain that desired level of clarity, it automatically puts power behind your goals and ensures that you measure your progress more often and take appropriate actions. You are an amazing person, it's your life. No one should be in control of your own life other than you.    

        I wish you a lot of courage, persistence and prosperous achievement, Life is Precious and Time is passing, don’t waste time anymore, its never to late, take it from me… Jose

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[maygarner]

— How was your character in their youth? Relationships, mannerisms, hobbies, etc? Is there a difference in comparison to who they are now?

May was such a difficult kid. She's always been so incredibly strong-willed that it made it very difficult for her parents (her father mostly) to discipline her. She was the kid getting sent to the principal’s office for arguing with her teachers. It always felt like she was straddling two worlds when she was living on base. This improved somewhat when her parents divorced and May had more freedom to do as she pleased; the military life was always incompatible with who she is at her core. Though her rebelliousness is of course much quieter now, she still has that sense of needing to tear down the system to put a better one in its place. She didn’t know anything about activism then, which only became a large part of her life after she graduated from high school. When she was a kid she loved to play tennis and listen to R&B, and only the latter has stayed with her to adulthood.

She also didn’t have many friends when she was a kid. It was easy for her to superficially befriend others each time she moved, but really until she moved to Queens she felt out of place, and never really fit in. Her relationship with her parents and brother is more or less the same it’s always been. She had a few romantic relationships when she was a student, but never really loved any of them-- she prioritized her work because a girl’s gotta change the world, getting some dick is just an added bonus. This is still her approach to life, tbqh.

— What aspects of your character’s chosen party applies to their beliefs? What do they don’t agree with? (If Independent, why are they independent?)

May doesn’t trust the system to work how it’s supposed to work. She doesn’t believe authority figures. She thinks that it’s the peoples’ responsibility to push back against government to make sure it’s truly acting in the peoples’ best interests (lol she is government now though which is part of her current dilemma). The issues closest to her heart are those of social justice, to improve life for others and elevate the oppressed. She wants to fight for the downtrodden, and especially immigrants and refugees. She wants to regulate the big banks and crank down on corruption in Wall Street -- she’s disgusted by the extent of income inequality in the country and supports movements like BLM and Occupy Wall Street. May’s idealistic, and people-focused, and will work relentlessly to better the system in order to help people which is the standard she uses to judge if something is good or not.

— What is your character’s Fatal Flaw? x

Difficulty with letting things go. In all forms. It makes her stubborn, focused on the past, unlikely to trust, and struggle with forgiveness. It ruined her relationship with her father, and is keeping her from getting very close to others now. 

— In Fight or Flight situation, what do they do?

Fight. She’s too stubborn to back down and too impulsive to really think about consequences, and probably escalates such situations very quickly. ( @leonsolis lmao )

— How do you imagine (or how do they imagine themselves), in the far away future? What kind of end of life would they see as fitting and worthy?

May wants to work until she’s 90 years old because I don’t think she’ll ever be satisfied that her work is “done”. She feels obligated to speak out against oppression/injustice and gets her greatest sense of personal fulfillment from helping others. Far in the future I can see her in a role like president of Planned Parenthood or some other organization like that. Being the leader of a huge non-profit and making a really tangible impact is probably her ultimate goal. Knowing she’s helped people and made a difference in their lives -- in the little things, too, like caring for the people important to her -- will allow her to die happy.