Week One: Taking Control

Well, I'm officially a week into my blog-venture and things seem to be moving pretty steadily.  In an effort to take control over my life, my first mission for the year was one of Kathleen's tips: "Get rid of stuff you don't want or need."  I thought this was going to be easy for me--but I was very wrong. 

I live in a two-bedroom apartment and since moving into the place in October, I've settled in really well and have most of my things unpacked.  However, the second bedroom is still full of a bunch of random stuff.  My plan was to completely clean up the room...get rid of the useless crap that is taking up space, organize my thousands of pictures I just have sitting around in boxes, sell/donate things that I am not making use of...ugh, talk about overwhelming.  While I spent probably a total of 10 hours working on this project throughout the week and I was able to throw away five boxes/trashbags of stuff I didn't need, I have yet to make up more than one box of things to donate.  It was a good jumpstart to my year, however, and will definitely be an ongoing project.  Before and after pictures coming soon.

Regardless of whether or not I was successful in cleaning up my old crap, I did learn a few lessons in taking control of my life--and THAT is what this year is all about!  This week I have reminded myself of a lesson I learned back in high school.  No one can make me feel anything.  I choose my own emotions, regardless of the action that inspired them.  There were a few times this week that I was reminded of this but here's one specific example: I had plans to go out on a date for drinks with a friend of my co-worker.  An hour before the date, I got the dreaded, "I really hate to do this, but..." text.  Got the message as I was mid-curl doing my hair.  Ugh.  The emotions that you feel right after being ditched for a date are terrible!  Not to mention the hit to your pride when you have to tell your friends, who knew how excited you were for said date.

However, the next day (yesterday) I reminded myself of the great lesson, which also comes in the form of the famous quote "no one can make you feel inferior without your consent," and I knew it would be great blog-material.  Just because one random guy decides I'm not worth a date, doesn't warrant me to think less of myself or feel defeated.  I am taking control and it feels good!

Keeping my blog in mind every day is a bit of a blessing in disguise.  I love how already it turned from cleaning up my apartment to loving myself more and more! 

This week, my blog-venture takes a great turn as I jump to one of Passanisi's Pointers for Purposeful Change: "Go One Day Without Complaining." However, I will make this a weekly challenge and see what blog-worthy life stories it brings me for next week! 

Song of the Week: "Domino" by Jessie J