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no-no-no-ahhhh · 5 years

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I'm having bad anxiety so I'm just going to answer these questions rn

Okay so when having anxiety I over think and I barely have any friends so I thought if using these questions to keep my mind off things and it kinda works it's also why some are long because I'm trying my best to think about other things then my stress. Maybe some of yall can try this if you want. Could help idk

Questions belong to @tr33-g1rl

1. coffee mugs, teacups, wine glasses, water bottles, or soda cans?

Soda cans

2. chocolate bars or lollipops?

I LOVE chocolate bro

3. bubblegum or cotton candy?

Cotton candy because let's all be honest bubble gum doesn't even tast good so that just leaves texture and cotton candy dissolves abs you could always have normal gum

4. how did your elementary school teachers describe you?

Some would say nice hard working smart and dyslexic but that's what they say not actually think

5. do you prefer to drink soda from soda cans, soda bottles, plastic cups or glass cups?

I've never really had the soda bottles but for now Ig soda cans because I feel like it keeps it fresher then the plastic and plastic is bad

6. pastel, boho, tomboy, preppy, goth, grunge, formal or sportswear?

Umm out of all these ig tomboy my style that I try to go for more rn is kinda like bille eyelash baddie style

7. earbuds or headphones?

Def earbuds cuz headphones if left on too long start hurting and squeezing my head

8. movies or tv shows?

TV shows 100% I cant consum media for long (my anxiety)so cartoons are the best for me because they're usually 11 minutes and light hearted

9. favorite smell in the summer?

Hmm this is good question in my head summer looks so good ahh but I've never really had a sent for it cuz the past few years I've been in my room but I love the sun oh and you know when your about to go in the pool and you can smell the Clorox mixed with the sun block and that smell just smells like a soft nice energy and there is this one tropical sent havent really smelt it in years I remember the one time I got to smell it was in middle school in the girls locker room so ig it was a perfume idk if it was really associated with summer or it was just tropical perfume my mom could spray on anytime of the year

10. game you were best at in p.e.?

Lol none I hated p.e I was also pretty tall at the time so people expected me to play but I just wanted to hide in the corner

11. what you have for breakfast on an average day?

Well I don't really like breakfast that much I think food in the morning makes me nauseous but I have to eat it cuz I can't eat school lunch food cuz that shit is nasty but breakfast school food is 😉 so I usually get banana bread and good ass duch chocolate milk

12. name of your favorite playlist?

Por Vida is one of my favorite albums if that counts

13. lanyard or key ring?

I hate things being around my neck so key ring

14. favorite non-chocolate candy?

Mexican candy

15. favorite book you read as a school assignment?

The outsiders

16. most comfortable position to sit in?

Your butt relaxing ig and not hunched over idk how some people do their work not hunched over like how do you see what your working on

17. most frequently worn pair of shoes?

These white Adidas with 3 halo strips and tan boots

18. ideal weather?

To wear you can soak in the sun but not have it burn you right when you go outside and kinda breezy not a fan of the cold and whatever weather that isn't effected by global warming is the best

19. sleeping position?

I always try not to sleep on my back cuz then they say that the demons come for you

20. preferred place to write (i.e., in a note book, on your laptop, sketchpad, post-it notes, etc.)?

I have a lot of journals and books to write

21. obsession from childhood?

My little pet shops, barbies, fnaf, teen titans, monster high dolls, beanie babes, never brats or the ever after high dolls cuz I had a fear of big heads as a kid

22. role model?

Em their are not many people to look up to these days but Quenlin Blackwell is even though she struggles with depression and seasonal depression she still is a qween love her

23. strange habits?

24. favorite crystal?

Hmm maybe amethyst one of the only ones I have

25. first song you remember hearing?

No idea

26. favorite activity to do in warm weather?

Be in the sun

27. favorite activity to do in cold weather?

Not have the seasonal depression come for me

38. lemonade or tea?

Lemonade bro tea is kinda weak and for BrItish blocks , but today I did have a bunch of lemons and they got me sick cuz I dont have a healthy balanced diet if anybody knows simple healthy recipes that have little to no cooking pls share

39. lemon cake or lemon meringue pie?

I've never actually have had lemon pie but I have been thinking about making pie. I've had peacon pie and water burger apple pie and McDonald's apple pie and I think another fast food pie but I can't remember the flavor. I know the other flavor exist because my mom order a different pie flavor from me once and she said we can both try each others. Maybe it was lemon. I think lemon tast is quit forgettable thow idk I always put other things on my lemon and lemonade has all that sugar and speaking of Britain I think they carbonate their lemons . But I think I've only had lemon cake 2 times , so if the cake

40. weirdest thing to ever happen at your school?

School is lame and that's on period pooh

41. last person you texted?

Umm this girl I barely know and I'm going to leave it at that cuz this story makes me kinda sad and worried and I'm answering these questions to avoid that

42. jacket pockets or pants pockets?

Hmm good question , I think jacket because they are bigger and girl Jean's have the pockets different to make the booty look better and sometimes that leads to uncomfortable pockets and front pockets barely exit for girls and jackets sometimes have those secret pockets only you have assess too like the ones on the inside and jacket pockets are bigger

43. hoodie, leather jacket, cardigan, jean jacket or bomber jacket?

1. hoodies are good for when you dont have a bra on and they come with one BIG pocket and you dont need to worry about a shirt

2. Leather jackets are for cool kidz and carry a nice vibe and still thick enough to keep you warm , but you can't really get them wet I think so you can't wash em , but they can come with cool designs on the back but their better fitted on perfectly on a person and if you grow they just look odd on you then you have to buy another and that's not fun

3.Bomber jacket , it's a whole style but one I try to pull of but just cant do it well

4.Cardigans kinda umm not a fan but good if your wearing a dress that's shows your shoulders and you are insecure about that being shown. Remember when somewhere in the 2000s they told us that cardigans where so easy to put on and throw more into your outfit so people bought quit a few. I do

5.I feel like jeans jackets aren't warm enough maybe their more for the summer?

44. favorite scent for soap?

Hmm maybe something tropical or just those cool lavender ones that have oats that's cool I like oats in my soap

45. which genre: sci-fi, fantasy or superhero?

I hate sci-fi uhhhg and super hero kinda ties in with that so fantasy and when reading fan fic just sweet simple domestic fluff

46. most comfortable outfit to sleep in?

Hmm not sure but the shirt has to be soft. I only experience soft shirts like that few times in my life

47. favorite type of cheese?

Mexican cheese and blue cheese uhg and mozzarella with that crust, yum🤤

48. if you were a fruit, what kind would you be? Errrum maybe a watermelon cuz they are very hydrated. Oh and watermelon with the big black seeds is better then that soul less watermelon

49. what saying or quote do you live by?

None dawg I really need to find one but I do have a lot written down In a book

50. what made you laugh the hardest you ever have?

Omg my aunt had some funny looking ass dogs I couldn't stop laughing. One of her dogs hate me tho now

51. current stresses? I dont want to talk about it cuz I dont want to worry but I was crying for more then 6 hours probably 8 when I think about it and then today as well and it's so bad I'm not even going to school

52. favorite font? I like the one kali uchis uses in one of her albums I think it's called fairy tell or something

53. what is the current state of your hands?pretty dry cuz I wash them alot and kinda long nails cuz of genetics

54. what did you learn from your first job?

I havent had a first job

55. favorite fairy tale?

Hmmm something with the tooth fairy

56. favorite tradition?

Idk holidays cuz I get school off

57. the three biggest struggles you’ve overcome?

Depression and I would say anxiety but no

58. four talents you’re proud of having?

I dont have any talents

59. if you were a video game character, what would your catchphrase be?

Uuuuyg idk too stressed to really think that I dont even know what type of video game I would be in

60. if you were a character in an anime, what kind of anime would you want it to be?

nothing stressful maybe something calm like a farm anime, some light magic, pokemon things like that

61. favorite line you heard from a book/movie/tv show/etc.?

I was never ment to live life like a sim - megan the stallion

62. seven characters you relate to?

Anybody with anxiety, kinda pearl from Steven universe, the nerdy part of dipper from gravity falls , Roman from sander sides if virgil too sense he has anxiety okay and that's all I can think of I think early I said I dont really watch media or stuff so yeah

63. five songs that would play in your club?

Gosolina kali uchis songs and bank account that's all I can think about rn

64. favorite website from your childhood?64. favorite website from your childhood?

Y8 brooo oh and there was Disney or Nickelodeon websites you know that show with the hands and they had the googly eyes they had a g as new for that loved it and for Disney they had zack and cody games on their website and it's not a website but the one thing on windows that would work without wifi you know and you could make cakes and give them faces and try matching the cards

65. any permanent scars?

One time a cat scratched me more the like 8 years ago and I can still faintly see the mark

66. favorite flower(s)?

The one that grows on the cactus

67. good luck charms?

I know a rabbits foot is one and 4 leaf clovers,and markipliers flannel. I sadly dont have any personal good luck charms

68. worst flavor of any food or drink you’ve ever tried?

I don't want to talk about bad foods rn cut the cameras

69. a fun fact that you don’t know how you learned?

idk I think I can vaguely remember every facts orgin that I know

70. left or right handed?

Basic right handed but my dad used to be left but then the school forced him to be right

71. least favorite pattern?

Anything 80s uhg that shit is disgusting and terrifying

72. worst subject?

Chemistry but I just got out of that so that's fun

73. favorite weird flavor combo?

People day hot cheetos and sour cream is odd but I like it . I would wat some rn but I think I got sick cuz of my poor diet so I'm not. Someone pls suggested simple easy foods for your girl who can cook

74. at what pain level out of ten (1 through 10) do you have to be at before you take an advil or ibuprofen?

1 I am big baby

75. when did you lose your first tooth?

I dont know

76. what’s your favorite potato food (i.e. tater tots, baked potatoes, fries, chips, etc.)?

Tater tots are good and fries

77. best plant to grow on a windowsill?

Idk no green thumb

78. coffee from a gas station or sushi from a grocery store?

Idk ig coffee

80. earth tones or jewel tones?

Jewel tones

81. fireflies or lightning bugs?

Theirs a difference?

82. pc or console?

Console it's just simpler

83. writing or drawing?

Uhhheg ig drawing I'm bad at grammar

84. podcasts or talk radio?

Podcast, podcast are just more plans out then talk radio and talk radio is a morning thing and I'm not the biggest fan of mornings

85. fairy tales or mythology?

Fairy tales mythology kinda ruff ya know

86. cookies or cupcakes?

Cookies their just more sturdy and their is always normal cake

87. your greatest fear?

Tooo many things and I'm having an anxiety attack right now so like no

88. your greatest wish?

Well it's cute and all idk to live peacefully is one part the other parts a secret for now

X.o.x.o gossip girl ya know ya love me

89. who would you put before everyone else?

Umm maybe myself Idk

90. luckiest mistake?

One time my mom ordered a foam sord for my brother and a real one came. It was some anime sword

91. boxes or bags?

Bags cuz they look cute and you can take em every where with you. Disposable I would have to say boxes tho because its less damaging to the environment

92. lamps, overhead lights, sunlight or fairy lights?

Sunlight is so warm and it fills something inside of me makes me feel cozy

Lamps are great for when sleeping and your scared of the dark

Fairy lights are cute but are they neccessary

Overhead lights are good for when you just need light in your life

Am I the only one who gets sad and sometimes cant clean if it's dark in the house?

94. favorite season?

Summer I think. I know it's harder for me to function in the winter cuz depression but then summer is anxiety sometimes ya know

95. favorite app on your phone?

Littetly no idea I don't really love/like the things on my phone if their more distractions or time wasters but I do love how I can search up useful things on YouTube to try to calm down my anxiety and I was definitely not a fan of tumblr at all but I kind have made it my safe place a bit

96. desktop background?

Well the computers my dad's so it has deadpool on i

97. how many phone numbers do you have memorized?

Barely 2 ,I am kinda a dummy sorry unggv

98. favorite historical era?

Well idk heehaww cowboys?

#trifle utters #misspelling because ya girls pretty stressed #im just trying to cope rn so dont cap on me

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ofmuscs-blog · 6 years

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✨hola muchachos !! i’m flora & too excited to be here if we’re being honest. the color scheme of this rp pleases me very much. there were way too many shows to choose from & i can’t make decisions for the life of me so picking wanda took about half my day & that’s the tea. i love the color pink, all things cartoon, been tumblr rping for too dang long but here i am !! i live on the east coast but lbr my sleeping schedule is a joke so i’ll be here like normal european hours i bet. ok ok but anyway, under the read more i’ll have some more stuff about the gal wanda !!

( *✧ amanda arcuri, she/her ) — that was WANDA FAIRYWINKLE, the nineteen year old nanny that’s responsible & bright, but also nagging & obsessive. in another dimension, she was known as wanda venus fairywinkle-cosma from the fairly odd parents.

wanda is very much mom friendTM inspired. she is bossy and nagging at all hours of the day, but really really tries to put up a friendly front for everyone.

very outgoing, very sociable and likable. ok she’s popular let’s just get that out, but doesn’t have the bad traits associated with popularity (arrogant, snobby, etc.).

would rather DIE than spend too much time alone. she’ll drag out her introvert friends and force them to do embarrassing, outgoing things with her. karaoke is her best friend, dance clubs are her second home, window shopping, you name it.

she has a favorite board game and it’s clue. yes, we grind. she goes HARD & will stop at nothing to win. competitive by nature but just here to have a good time.

very middle class. never had anything crazy, no big bucks or designer brands, but prefers to have nicer things than not if you know what i’m saying. she’s very firm in her belief that money can’t buy happiness and that intelligence is the best thing you can have to prepare you for life.

e d u c a t e d~~ stellar student & takes pride in that. graduated high school with honors, taking a break from it and just chillin’ (by that i mean staying busy 24/7 but we been knew) for a while.

kids surround her like all the time, way too often. call her super nanny. she can lose her temper pretty easily which... isn’t good... to be working with kids ?? but she doesn’t get angry, just irritated. she’d def find a way to take some time for herself in the middle of a busy workday. she’s that mom with the triplets who snuck into the bathroom to eat red vines, except they’re not her kids and she’s thankful for that.

occupying herself as a nanny has probably put a damper on deciding if she wants kids or not. she’s really young so that’s like, way out of the works of things & she won’t be crossing that bridge anytime soon, but she likes to think she has a way with children. probably bribes them a lot. there’s definitely a place deep down in her heart that would love to start a family when she’s older with someone she loves.

she is totally in control of her life. the girl has color coded journals and calendars to keep track of her every waking moment. definitely a hard person to get ahold of. a ‘sorry, you wanted to hang out? i’m gonna need a request three weeks in advance, i’ll check my schedule’ kinda person. annoying, but ‘nuff said.

her music taste is wild. catch her listening to bubble pop electric one day and rap the next. she appreciates a bop when she hears one & will play a song to death whenever the opportunity arises.

lifelong dream is to have lunch with harriet tubman & gwen stefani. yes, she knows harriet is no longer alive, but a girl can dream.

✨some wanted connection ideas i have are: best friends/good friends/friends — to keep her grounded and control her quick-tempered nature whenever possible. possible romantic interests/crushes (?) — i can see her obsessed with anything and everything so multiple at a time would be super comical! enemies/someone she butts heads with — this is a big one, pretty please. we can rp soap opera style together, this is rp crack. ~ basically the basic ones but i’m open to anything else anyone can think about to be completely honest !! ~

#animate:intro #too excited #✨#HMU FOR PLOTS !!!#&& this is long so proceed at your own risk

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surveysonfleek · 7 years

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377.

5000 Question Survey Pt. 9

801. How often do you change your mood in a day? not too often unless something happens. 802. When you ask people how they are doing you actually care about their answer or is it just polite? i usually mean it, only because i don’t ask that too often haha. 803. Would you consider yourself to be very polite? polite, but not ‘very’. 804. Do you like movies and books that involve nuclear holocaust? not particularly, but some of them are well done. 805. Have you ever had a lucid dream (a dream in which you knew you were dreaming and had complete control over what happened in the dream)? nope.

806. Have you ever had a flying dream? not that i can remember. 807. Have you ever had a lucid flying dream? no. 808. What's the oddest law you ever heard of? man there’s plenty, i just can’t remember. 809. What is the ultimate way to connect with another person? honestly just the process of getting to know each other. that’s when you know if you have a connection or not. 810. Can you be intimate with someone without touching him or her? yes. there’s always facetime haha. 811. Can men and women ever really be 'just friends' with no interest in anything more? yes, 100%. i have plenty of guy friends i could never feel anything for. 813. Are you addicted to this survey like drugs? no. 814. If your significant other wanted to wait for marriage could you hold out or would you leave them (or would you cheat)? i’m not sure... depends at what stage we are in the relationship when they tell me. 815. What's the longest sentence you can make using only words that start with the same letter as your first name? no thanks. 816. If you had a theme song what would it be? no idea. i’d get it made. 817. Are you cranky? no. 818. Which group generally annoys you more, people older than you, or people younger than you? younger than me. 819. Do you refer to older people as old farts? no. 820. Do you refer to younger people as the kids? sometimes. 821. Which is better: Poems that everyone can relate to or poems that are intensely personal to the author? either or. depends on the reader. i personally don’t bother with poems. 822. Is it worse to be too hot or too cold? too hot. 823. Are you so flexible that you can put your feet behind your head? no. 824. Would you enjoy reading fairy tales written about robots? um, no. 825. Is smoking a turn on or gross? def not a turn on lol. 826. What is the one way you wouldn't want to die? being burned to death. 827. Which would look sillier on you: A cowboy hat or a Rasta hat? rasta hat for sure. 828. Would you rather have a job doing something indoors or outdoors? indoors. 829. Would you rather learn more about human nutrition or meteorology? human nutrition. 830. Have you ever taken honors courses? nope. 831. What do you think of crop circles? interesting... 832. Where do they come from? no idea. 833. When was the last time you screwed up big time? idk. 834. You have a choice. What do you eat: A veggie burger A turkey dog <---- this A cheese sandwich 835. Do you get a lot of random instant messages? not random. 836. Do you have a paper journal also? nope. 837. VHS or DVD? neither. streaming ftw. 838. Vinyl, cassette tape, or CD? none, streaming again lol. 839. Have you ever seen the video/heard the song Days Go By, performed by Dirty Vegas? nope. 840. MTV: should it play more videos or more shows? more videos. 841. Name a band: destiny’s child. Do fans of that band tend to share any characteristics with each other? ummm, not really. 842. What does the expression 'touch and go' mean? something you can do quickly? 843. Caffeine or alcohol? alcohol. 844. Betty or Veronica? veronica. Archie or Reggie or Jughead? archie. 845. What book are you reading right now? sometimes i lie. 846. Is the news too depressing? yeah, sometimes. 847. Would you rather have a stuffed lion, elephant, pig or duck? duck. 848. Are you late for a very important date? nope. 849. Ever use star 69? no. 850. Is everyone as smart as you? haha who knows. 851. Have you ever seen the musical Annie? only the movie. 852. Sheets: silk or satin? i’d love silk sheets. 853. Bath: soap or bubbles? bubbles. 854. Your best color: blue or red? blue. 855. What's your favorite candy? chocolate. 856. Can you sing? not well. 857. It's the end of the world, as we know it. How do you feel? pretty sad. 858. You take your little sister (she's 12) shopping for school clothes. Mom gave you the money to hold. She picks out a skimpy top emblazoned "Hottie" and hip-hugging pants that leave at least two inches of skin north and south of her navel exposed to the wind. She insists: If she doesn't have these clothes, she'll look awful, the other kids will tease her, and she’ll feel like a nerd. Do you think she should or should not wear these clothes? definitely not. she’s 12. Do you buy them for her? hell no. 859. What do you think is the most annoying cliché? happy endings. 860. What band is underground right now but will one day get really popular? idk. 861. Of the following which word best describes you: versatile (flexible): this i guess. wonderful: x-tra special: your own best friend: zany: 862. What does BYOB stand for? bring your own booze? 863. Who is sexiest: Marilyn Monroe <---- definitely marilyn James Dean Elvis Jim Morrison Madonna Cyndi Lauper 864. Do you always do what's expected of you? most of the time. 865. Do you believe everything you hear on the news? most of the time. i probably shouldn’t. 866. Would you prefer a $100.00 gift certificate to Hot Topic or Abercrombie & Fitch (assuming neither store gives change, so you'll have to spend the whole thing)? omg like neither. i’d take any then just buy gifts. 867. Have you ever won a competition? yes. 868. Who looks sloppier when they are over weight, guys or girls? it actually doesn’t matter, it depends more on how they dress and carry themselves. 869. At what age do you become all grown up? sometimes in your 20s. 870. Have you ever written graffiti on anything? no. 871. Can you remember what you wrote? - 872. Are you a force of nature? somewhat. 873. What do you think of blue eye shadow? How about gold eye shadow? they can both work, depends on how you apply it. 874. Would you ever wear any of the following Halloween costumes: Flapper? Hippie? Disco dancer? i’d wear all of them. 875. Should birth control be taught in high school? How about in jr. high or elementary school? definitely jr high and high school. 876. Would you consider yourself a genius? no. 877. What did you think of the movie Solaris? never heard of it. 878. Which is usually better movies or books? it depends solely on the book/movie. 879. Do you think The Hobbit will be made into a movie? haaa, it already did. 880. Do you research which brands use sweatshops to make their clothing before you shop? sadly no. 881. What gives you a magical feeling? adrenaline. 882. Have you ever pulled apart a Christmas cracker? yes. 883. Would you rather watch basketball or play basketball? watch. 884. Do you think that everyone makes his or her own problems? not always. 885. Do you often consider how your actions will affect other people? not often, no. 886. Are J-Lo and Ben Afleck interesting to you at all? i love j-lo, don’t follow ben affleck at all. 887. Do you use bad grammar or hate bad grammar? i hate it. 888. Make up a tabloid headline: no. 889. Do you like to learn new things? yes. 890. What's more important, fame or personal accomplishment? personal accomplishment. 891. Sweet dreams are made of this....What are they made of? idk. 892. Two trailer park girls go round the outside...Round the outside of what? the trailer? 893. Are you wearing a piece of jewelry that means a lot to you right now? yes. 894. If someone was going to inscribe a message on a ring and give it to you what would you want it to say? something personal i guess. 895. Guys who are losing their hair: Should they shave their heads? Get implants? Or let it go? it’s totally up to them. 896. Do rock stars work hard or lead the easy life? they would have to work hard to a certain extent. 897. How much water do you drink every day? maybe 6 glasses a day. 898. Are you driven or kinda apathetic? apathetic right now. 899. Who do you turn to when you are down? my boyfriend. 900. Would you ever wear seran-wrap? no.

#survey #surveys #quiz #bored #questions

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tamoroccodialogue-blog · 7 years

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Packing List Guide

Post: 22 March, 2018

Hi students! After this week’s meeting Clare said you were interested in a post on what essentials to bring, so I’ve written up a master packing list. It’s probably worth thinking about a little ahead of time to avoid overpacking/panic shopping right before departure. Also I promise you need less than you think! We’ll be able to do laundry there and wearing the same thing a couple days in a row is totally fine. You should be able to get by with a backpack as a carry-on and a medium roller bag or duffel in checked luggage. We’ll be taking the train from Amsterdam to Paris, and unfortunately not every station has escalators so don’t bring more than you want to carry up a flight of stairs!

Appropriate clothes for Morocco will take a little forethought and I would def recommend buying some Pepto Bismol or like store-brand product, but otherwise everything should be pretty self-evident.

-Lindsey

Carry-On Bag:

DOCUMENTS

Passport (plus color paper copy kept separately and one in your email as well)

Insurance cards (ditto above)

Credit/debit cards (ditto above and let your bank know where you’ll be travelling to and when)

Cash (this is a chance to use any spare euro/dirham your family have lying around! Don’t carry too much though, you can always get more when we’re on the ground)

Emergency phone #s (paper copy)

Optional: extra passport photos in case you decide to get a metro card in Paris

SCHOOL STUFF

Notebooks/pens/annotated copies of readings

Phone/laptop, chargers and adapters (make sure to invest in surge-protective ones to keep your laptop/phone safe as voltage varies from the US)

MISC.

Water bottle (drink lots of water allll the time)

Sunglasses/hat

Journal/book/cards

Any prescriptions you might need (remember to travel with everything in the original container and clearly labeled)

Checked Bag:

CLOTHES

A week’s worth of socks and underwear

Swimsuit (just in case)

Pajamas

4 pair pants or long skirts (loose and summery and Morocco-appropriate)

5 tops (same as above—high-necked and sleeves to your elbows)

One light long-sleeved layer to cover up and protect from sun if necessary

One warm layer

One light wind/rain jacket

Scarf

Shoes (you can get away with one pair if they’re comfortable for walking and breathable enough for summer; I wore Converse for the whole five weeks. Alternatively, you might choose a sturdier walking shoe and a pair of sandals)

OTHER

First aid kit: bandaids, antibacterial cream, pain meds, Pepto-Bismol, cough drops, etc.

Toiletries: deo, shampoo, lotion, sunscreen, soap, floss/toothbrush/toothpaste (only bring small amounts of these things—you’ll be able to buy more there)

Hostess gift (small but thoughtful, maybe something commemorative of Boston or your hometown)

Optional:

Earplugs (I love travelling with wax earplugs as it helps me sleep on planes and in shared rooms)

Packable duffel bag/stuff sack (nice to be able to section out things but still keep them organized when you are living out of a suitcase—can also be used to separate laundry)

Final Note: Remember to put luggage tags on both your checked AND carry-on bags!

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christianstewardshipnetwork · 7 years

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How One Church Used A 21-Day Financial Fast To Grow In Contentment, Joy, & Peace

A Churchwide Financial Fast

How One Church Used A 21-Day Financial Fast To Grow In Contentment, Joy, & Peace

A Churchwide Financial Fast

In this month’s episode of the CSN Podcast, our host, Derek Sisterhen, interviews George Thompson, Pastor of Stewardship and Finance at Faithful Central Bible Church in a discussion about, “How One Church Used A 21-Day Financial Fast To Grow Contentment, Joy & Peace.”

A Churchwide Financial Fast: How One Church Used A 21-Day Financial Fast To Grow Contentment, Joy & Peace

George Thompson is the Pastor of Stewardship and Finance at Faithful Central Bible Church in Inglewood, California, as well as a devoted husband and father of two twin boys and a daughter. George has written several books including Millionaires In Training: The Wealth Builder, Set-4-Life: The Diary of a Champion, and coauthored The Total Package: The Keys to Acquiring Wealth and Walking in Divine Health. His most recent books are part of a series called Ready, Set, Grow where he has taken over 20 years of teaching and living out these life stewardship principles and turned them into easily digestible lessons for anybody to consume.

What to read more about this month’s episode? Here is an excerpt from the transcript of this episode’s conversation.

Derek: Today we are going to talk about the 21 Day Financial Fast that you have led at Faithful Central. For our listeners, they can check out some of the details on the financial fast by going to http://ift.tt/2mT3bhp. So, George, as ministry leaders interested in seeing our people grow in their relationship with Jesus, we recognize how important spiritual disciplines are, reading Scripture, prayer. Usually, when we think about fasting, we think of not eating or taking the time to seek God through prayer. But you launched a financial fast. So, I want to hear what exactly is a financial fast and what started you down this road at Faithful Central?

George: That is a great question, Derek. First of all, about two years ago, Bishop Ulmer had come to me and said, “Hey, we want to do a fast a little bit different this year.” Because we had been fasting and doing the Daniel Fast for, I’ve been to the church 11 years, the entire time. We’ve always done the Daniel Fast. That was no meat, no sweets, and no alcohol. We found out that, hey, a lot of people don’t drink anyway or sometimes some people were…some people also wanted to just…they didn’t eat meat anyway, or they’re a vegetarian…or I don’t know, in California people try to eat healthy I guess. So they found out that they weren’t really doing all the elements of it. So one of the things he wanted to do, he said, “We want to do something in the area of finance and do a Financial Fast.” And he asked me to kind of make one up.

I’ve written about five in the area of finances. Bishop Ulmer has written two in the area of finance. So, between the both of us, I sat down and wrote down 21 principles that would just be good for someone to do with their finances. And then we would just walk through every day being a very special day in teaching them a financial principle and then go through it. Secondly, as you said, but you know, usually we’re used to using Scriptures or learning is a part of the financial fast. So that’s why we had built the financial fast. So, there are just different elements that I like to go over with you of the fast. But one of them is using the Bible. Meaning that we use SOAP which is, you know, that’s a way of studying the Bible by this method—the S stands for Scripture, the O stands for observation, the A stands for application, and the P stands for prayer.

So we used that during that period, but we also focused on…some of these Scriptures that we’re focusing on are…are financial Scriptures or also just teaching people about possession. Because as you know, most of the Scriptures in the Bible deal with about how people deal with what they have. And that’s stewardship.

Derek: This is great. I’m fascinated already because I didn’t realize that you had written so many books. So for all of our listeners, you have to go check out what George has put together in your little library, I suppose. So you’ve got these 21 principles, and we’re turning people towards scripture. We’re, also, I’m sure as we’re gonna talk a little bit more, you’re bringing in some practical application with this. Tell me, just ground level, if I’m someone who says, “Yes, I raised my hand. I’m signing up for the 21-Day Financial Fast, how does it work?”

George: That’s a great question. Because that’s what people have. That’s the first question Bishop Ulmer asked me. First of all, we have a text number because, you know, I want to be able to encourage millennials. I want to be able to encourage if you’re 8 to 108. So we have a text message that comes out every day, and that has a Scripture, you know like it has a scripture for every day what the scripture is and also what we’re studying for that day. So there’s always a scripture and while we’re actually online, I’m gonna look up, you know, our scripture that was actually for today in going through it.

So it was Proverbs 22:7. It talked about indebted slavery and then making somebody else rich by the sweat of your own brow. So then what we do is we teach every day to get out of the demons of debt. You already know debt is spelled D-E-B-T. So that’s doing everything but tithing. So we want to make sure that everybody knows that they don’t want to be not only caught up in that but just learning the techniques of that. But now your first question was…is though is that how does someone get started? So it’s either by email, they go to our website, they actually download the papers. And what we do is we just give you information about every day what you would do.

And so first of all, the basic elements are this is that we start moving from using…to just having a journal where they write down what they’re spending money on and that they kind of know that. And then also, a big principle is that we stop using credit cards. We even stop using debit cards. Then we go strictly to cash. So we start having people doing that. And then, by the way, we live in Los Angeles, so this is anywhere. We also understand that in 21 days you have to use a debit card or a credit card because I was doing the financial fast, and I took my kids to the dentist. And then when I pulled out of the parking lot, there was no attendant…there was no way of getting out of the parking lot without using a debit card. I understand that there are a couple of instances we have to do that if you travel. So just the first one is that we move to cash. You have a journal; you write things down. And then also, you only buy what you need, not what you want.

Three categories, as you know, from teaching. First one is, there’s a need, a want, and a wish. We only buy what we need. We find out when you go to use cash; you only buy what you need. You don’t buy all that extra stuff. As you know, as you know, what it says in Philippians is that “My God shall supply all of my needs.” It doesn’t say greeds. It doesn’t say wishes. It says needs, and it says all of mine. Then people do that, and then we start going through a transformation of renewing people’s minds by understanding, by putting the focus on God and not on material possessions.

So there are different days. Like one day we learned to be content. Just put the fork down, like you’re just learning that. And actually, the word fast, F-A-S-T, is what we put up on Sunday, and I go through this when we discuss the offering. And then before I do an announcement that fast, the F, the F stands for focus. And we have a goal we have to focus on what we’re doing. And the A stands to take action. I’m going to take action on what you’re doing. And the S is for sacrifice. That was the problem. That’s what the real focus is of a fast is that people have to sacrifice. And then the T is for trust. You’ve gotta trust God. Because you don’t know how you’re gonna do it, but that’s how you’re gonna do it. You know, after you sacrifice, you’re believing God, He’s gonna deliver what you and I are trusting God for. Amen.

Derek: Amen. I hear ya. That’s fantastic. You know, it’s funny. You made a comment in there that reminded me of something that a participant in one of our classes said here one time. She and her husband had just finished our financial coaching program, and she was saying, “We started to learn that just because we can afford it doesn’t mean we should have it.”

And that is, I think, that sounds like something that if everybody in kind of middle income America could get their arms…really, any income level but particularly people who have some disposable income but they think they’ve always gotta spend right up to what they’ve got.

Just because you can afford it doesn’t mean you should have it because even the items, even the things themselves if we can separate from just accumulating and acquiring and consuming. We start to see the world in a new way.

George: And that’s one, being content. I’ll pick which side, first, I want the women to be mad at me first. The women will be mad at me but a lot of times but I will say, we keep buying stuff that we don’t actually need. Women going out there and buying this and buying that and doing this and just like, hey, do we need another pair of … That’s why I ask, do we need another pair of shoes, ladies? And they say they need to go to the closets and they’re full of them. Now, now that I’ve made them mad, now on to the men.

Do we have to get the 2017 version of everything? First of all, you got a television, right? Then, you got the high def. Now, you gotta get … Then you go in Costco, and oh no, you gotta get the one that’s curved. You know what I mean? Like, the TV you have is fine. You know, the 50 inch is fine. You don’t have to get the 55 and then now what is it? The 65 and the 70 and the different areas. So that’s the different areas. Just learn to be content and thank God for what you already have. If you actually want to be successful in life, you should be focusing on what you do have, not what you don’t have. And be content.

Derek: That’ll preach. You’ve got Josh, behind the scenes at the sound board, nodding his head. So what’s really interesting about this story about how this financial fast came to life is that you had this incredible partnership out of the gate with your senior pastor. I think for anybody that’s listening to the CSN podcast, if you’re a stewardship leader in a local church, you know your senior pastor, your lead pastor, they are busy, busy people. And it can be difficult sometimes just to even get a little bit of the face time to even talk about a new ministry effort, a new project, a new initiative. But you know that if you can get the senior pastor, the senior leader at your church behind it, that effort is likely to draw the congregation up behind it. So you already had the benefit of this, this tightly woven I guess, kind of, alignment with your senior pastor. What do you, what do you say to somebody who’s like, “Hey, I’m a stewardship leader. I want to go, and I want to get my ministry effort moving here. How do I go and engage my senior pastor, my senior leadership, to get buy-in to launch this thing?”

George: I’m going to answer your question very quickly. But I would like to actually one day do an entire podcast on this topic. Because the secret, not secret but how you do this is you develop a culture of stewardship at your church. Trying to get an idea to somebody once every few years or preaching, preaching on finance once a year, that’s…I don’t know if that’s completely successful. So what you want to do is, is that you want to have a plan. As you know, it says in Jeremiah 29:11 that God has a plan and a purpose for our lives, plans of giving us a hope and a future. There has to be a plan for your church. Whatever church you go to, there has to be a whole financial, a whole stewardship plan for that church. And your senior pastor needs to be onboard from the beginning. Like, in other words, what is his vision or what is her vision for the church as a whole. And then, these are just things that can just execute that or that we can do to get those going.

But to answer directly, it is finding out the pastor’s heart and then plugging in the things that already exist, that already exist. Like in other words, like if your church is already doing a fast then just also discuss with the pastor there’s another way of doing it, doing a financial fast as well and in helping in those areas. That’s the easiest and quickest method. Plug into things that already exist and then just adding some stewardship components to it and then getting everyone involved.

Derek: So I appreciate that your answer is so succinct because I agree with you. You could devote a whole show; you could probably devote a series of episodes of podcasts just to this subject.

George: But that’s the whole reason why if someone ever is running a stewardship and they’re leading stewardship at their church, one of the reasons they say it’s not going very well or it’s failing, the reason why is they’re trying to do it by themselves. Like, I tell them, stewardship is not a department. What stewardship is, it’s a culture. What we do here is a culture. You can’t just have a Bible reading department or a prayer department, you know? No, no, no. This is a church that prays. This is a church that does stewardship. You look at certain churches that do stewardship very well; the senior pastor could halfway be the pastor of stewardship.

Because it has to be part of it, where everyone has bought into it in senior management. So that’s the job of the person that’s leading in stewardship is to get everybody onboard. It’s too heavy of a load to pull by yourself, and you’re only going to meet with a certain number of people that way.

Derek: So I think one of the things that I think is a little bit dangerous, even for some of the stewardship leaders that are out there in local churches, is to use the fact that maybe they haven’t gotten the buy-in from their senior pastor as an excuse for why things aren’t going the way they want them to go.

And I’ve seen in some cases where if you have this idea, something you wanted to put out there in front of the entire church, like a financial fast, you may have to win over your senior pastor with some smaller victories. And they may need to hear that, yeah, you’re making some progress in some other areas where people are really starting to actually buzz about what’s going on in your ministry. And now, okay, I see, hey, there’s something we could go to the…do the broadcast with here. To think though that you could come right out of the gate with something huge like this is probably a little bit naive.

George: Yeah. That would very aggressive. I mean, obviously, you know, I’ve been at the church for so many years and doing it that way. But initially, it was taking over the regular fast and then saying let me just add some components to it. In other words, like if people were just to make it very practical, if somebody says that “Hey, we’re no meat, no sweets, no alcohol, hey, let’s instead of…since I don’t already drink, or I don’t already eat meat, let’s just stop doing reality television.” Let’s stop hanging around or doing things that are meaning us no good. Why don’t we just take up…let’s not add anything to our credit cards?

Let’s look at an area…we had somewhere where we were doing service this year. So whatever we do…and I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I’m giving out all the secrets today. But whenever the Church has any campaign and they’ll through it out there…they said, “This year, we’re gonna serve with gladness.” And we give everyone a bag of…what area, how we’re going to serve this year. So now I said, “Great.” I took over…I said, “I’m going to look at this as a stewardship thing.” Because you remember, with stewardship, we have stewardship over three areas of our lives. Time. Every day there’s 86,400 seconds in a day. So we have to learn how to manage that. Second is talent. And the third is treasure. So when they’re serving, we’re going to help do…we’re going to help them do that. Because wait, because we’re really nice people. We’re great. But then also they’ll be stewardship elements of that next year. You see, you have to plant. And then, later on, we want to reap the harvest. So that’s how we’re gonna walk through this.

Derek: This is great stuff. Because I think, again, for a lot of the listeners to the podcast, they’re going to say, “Well, yeah, that’s great for George that he’s able to go and do a full blown 21 Day Financial Fast. But look at all this…he had it on easy street.” When the reality is, is you were taking all these nice little incremental steps, building that base that then allowed you to launch this thing forward. So here’s what I want to ask you now. I want to know how it went. You know, what has happened in and through this financial fast and what are you seeing happen there at Faithful Central?

George: Oh, good. That’s good, another really good question. So I’m going to tell you what happened last year when we did it and then also we’re doing it right now.

So first of all, last year we had so many people that came..and you know, one of the biggest things we want to do is get people out of credit cards and get people out of debt. So, so many people…we have so many testimonies of people that came, and they got out of debt and in the different areas. But also, where our…and then another…I just want to give you the two…another area is a lot of people, home ownership. Our church is in Inglewood, California. So people didn’t…we always said we were Los Angeles but then now that you are seeing where the Rams, where they’re building the stadiums, they’re doing a lot of developments in Inglewood and our church used to own the Forum, they were doing a lot of things for people with home ownership because now they have their finances in order, they’re able to do it.

Also again, we’re in Los Angeles, California. So the average home value in Los Angeles is $432,000. So it’s a little bit higher than it is around the country. So to quality to do certain things, people are in position. But I want to tell you one of the biggest things we got out of this. A lot of families became closer together. There’s a lot of people who had either children living at home with them, above age 18. And just them getting a plan together for their whole family, that was one. Also, marriages. Couples sitting down and there were, there were men that came to me at church, and they were like I’m doing the financial fast. Now, my wife, we’re sitting down, we’re doing this, we’re doing this, we have a plan. And then they made their husband sign the commitment card. Did I tell you about the commitment card?

The commitment card, as you know, in Psalms 24:1, “The Earth is the LORD’s and the fullness therein.” So we have people fill out a commitment card that they’re committed to the promise and declare to have stewardship over their finances and [inaudible 00:18:48]. And then they sign a quitclaim deed at the bottom overall, did I say some? I didn’t say some. I didn’t say most. All of their assets, everything they have, assets and debts, over to God.

And then they would manage it as if God were sitting there and they were just having a meeting with God every week of how they were managing their assets. Because remember, that’s what a steward is, just a manager of what God’s blessed you with. So when people had to sit down and then…for people in the financial arena, when they had a balance sheet.

That’s the first time some people had ever sat together (been married 10, 20, years.) It’s the first time they sat down together and actually went over their finances and what they were doing with God in setting their goals and actually achieving them. So that with married couples and then also my latest book, I call it “Financial Intimacy,” where we can learn how to manage finances together as a couple. And then the families working together and in doing it.

Derek: Man. I just love this stuff. I feel like I should go sign one of your quitclaim deeds right now.

George: It’s not too late. Because this year, this year, we’re on fire too. We had to go in and actually…I’ll be teaching actually congregation-wide over this week. So I have to adults and also to the general church.

Derek: That’s awesome. That’s so cool. I just…I love how…you know, on the one hand, we could say, “Oh, a quitclaim deed, that’s kind of a cute little add on.” But you’ve led the people to the place where they understand, yes, this is not my stuff. This is God’s stuff. It is simply for me to manage. And I think just that, that exercise of saying…even if it may be something that’s kind of cute and fun to fill that out, there’s really a gravity to it, there’s a weight to it. Yeah, this means something, and I understand who the true owner is. I just, I just love it.

George: It’s the accountability. Like your car, you drive a certain way. But if you had someone else’s car, you’d typically treat that car better. They have to start doing that. You have to start doing that. If you rent a car, you walk around the car and look at it. And you make sure you park it somewhere where you can just bring it back and not have no problems. We want to understand that we’re managing what God has blessed us with. So that’s why we want to just take that extra level of accountability.

Derek: That’s it, man. The 21 Day Financial Fast. George, thank you for joining me on the podcast today and sharing with me about this.

George: My pleasure. Any time.

Derek: So for all the listeners out there, I think he’s made a pretty good case for checking it out. If you go over to http://ift.tt/2nnExS8, you can get the scoop; you can get the details. And who knows? Maybe you sign up yourself. I’ll probably be heading over there once we finish this recording. For great content, the podcast, info on the next CSN Forum and more, visit ChristianStewardshipNetwork.com. Until next time here’s to leading and serving well, for God’s glory and your joy. Thanks so much for being with us.

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