Archive for Life Lessons
On Facing Your Fears.
Posted by: | CommentsI am scared of a lot of things.
Most notably I am scared of big crowds of people staring at me. Actually, if we are going to be honest here, they don’t even really have to be staring at me. If I walk into a big room full of people I will just assume they are staring at me and they must be talking about me and they must hate me and the next thing you know I am ordering a glass of wine and taking deep breaths while simultaneously hiding in the corner.
A while back I self-diagnosed myself with anxiety. I had to self-diagnose myself because once I went to the doctor to tell him how I was feeling and it went like this: “Things are going great! Life is wonderful, the sun is shining, the world is so fantastic. I love life!”
Well, not exactly that but you get the point. My doctor made me nervous so I basically made an appointment to tell him how wonderful my life is.
Why am I bringing all of this up?
A couple of weeks ago I spoke in front of a group of fifty or so people. I was PETRIFIED. Last summer I spoke at the 140 Conference in Des Moines and as soon as I walked in front of the crowd I felt panicked. I never posted about the experience because it was so terrible. I was THE worst public speaker ever. Just to show you I am going to link to the video I have never watched.
Where was I…
Oh yes, a few weeks ago I spoke in front of a crowd of fifty or so people. I was PETRIFIED. In fact, I spent the two weeks before my presentation telling everyone I know how there was no way I could get in front of these people. They were going to hate me and possibly throw tomatoes at me. Because I have good encouraging friends they kept telling me how great I was going to be and giving me tips. (except for one of them who had bets going that I was going to be in fetal position under a table)
I spent about a month practicing and imagining myself standing in front of everyone. I arrived early and spent the hour drive to the event repeating to myself everything I was great at and recalling all of the moments in my life that I felt like a total rock-star. I talked to people as they came in and learned that the crowd of people I was speaking to was SO. NICE. I did my thing and got through my presentation in the perfect amount of time. Everyone was so kind and I didn’t for a second feel panicked or consider crawling under a table and hiding. (Ok, maybe for a second but then that moment was over)
After my presentation I received three more speaking opportunities from people who were at the event. Three! Which can only mean one thing…they really liked me!
The point of this post is to face your fears.
Whatever you want to do that you are to scared to do? I am giving you permission to do it. Go. What is the worst that could happen?
Also? my dear friend and mentor Alli posted about mentoring me over at Babble.
How to Survive Thanksgiving as a Vegetarian
Posted by: | CommentsI have been a vegetarian for almost a year and a half now and have survived many a few holiday meals. The most memorable was last Christmas when there was only ONE dish that didn’t have a meat based product. ONE DISH!
Needless to say I threw a fit about how much meat we put into our big holiday meals and stomped my foot as my family rolled their eyes. It wasn’t all bad—I now have a perfect example of how much meat Americans eat every time one of my friends asks why I don’t eat meat.
Anyways I thought I would make a list of the things vegetarians can do for Thanksgiving.
1. Have a sense of humor.
This year I am hosting Thanksgiving at my house which of course led me to demand we don’t have a turkey. I started emailing my entire family videos of turkeys being tortured to support my point. Some people thought that this was mean/super weird but I thought it was funny. I believe that your family should feel as terrible as you do when you stare at your plate of mashed potatoes and rolls because THOSE ARE THE ONLY TWO THINGS WITHOUT MEAT IN THEM. My family happens to have a sense of humor and responded to my emails with pictures like this:
2. Make something delicious
There are SO many delicious not meat-y things you can make for thanksgiving. How do I know? The internet told me! Look at this delicious quiche, and this alternative to fried turkey and this list of DELICIOUS wonderful meals. However, you will probably have to cook all of these things yourself because your family will be wrapped up in turkey frying.
3. Support your cause with childrens books
This was a total wonderful accident that the universe threw at me. Aiden brought home this Thanksgiving book and was begging me to read it. I opened it up assuming I was going to read something about pilgrims and how delicious turkeys are but I was willing to be a good sport. What I found was a story about some turkeys that escaped the turkey farm, came back to save the chickens and the farmer was so happy they had pizza for thanksgiving dinner. They saved the turkeys! Turns out there are a whole lot of thanksgiving books that support not eating a turkey. Win!
4. Think about how the teenagers feel
As I was doing some “research” for this post I found this article about how to survive Thanksgiving as a teenager. If you think Thanksgiving is hard for vegetarians you clearly have never had to survive a Thanksgiving as a teenager. Lucky for you, I am pretty sure some of the advice in this article can help vegetarians survive Thanksgiving as well. Perfect example? “When you’re getting dressed for dinner, skip the heels and tights and put on something comfortable. After dessert, you’ll be happy you did. And don’t worry what people think of your outfit – your family’s a far cry from the fashion police” Take that turkey people!
However you celebrate–Have a Happy Thanksgiving friends!
