I used to think up New Year's resolutions for myself and it was usually some form of health goals. I'd start a new diet or exercise routine. Research shows the average person gives up somewhere between the last week in January and mid-February. That's about now. Have you started some new goal Jan 1st and are you still doing it? I rarely made it to mid-February. But not anymore! I've been able to change all that. You see over the years I have been able to develop some excellent habits so that ...

My boss called I got called into my boss's office one day. This was unusual because if he had something to share with me, he normally would save it for our weekly 1-on-1 meeting. He invited me to sit down and immediately launched into an issue he had with staffing. He told me that Jennifer was going to be out for an extended period and wanted me to pick up her classes. He was asking me to teach Property Insurance 101. I felt a strong resistance. I was NOT a content matter expert. I wanted ...

In the beginning . . . When I was 19, living in CT, I moved in with a boyfriend for 2.5 years. That relationship ran its course and my reputation was shot so I moved to Texas. After a bit, I met another man who I moved in with for 1.5 years before that turned sour. These were my drinking years. When I got into recovery from drugs and alcohol, I decided to give up men too. My picker was broken you see. So I took a break from dating and worked on myself for a good year before I moved back home ...

High school to college When I graduated from High School the last thing I wanted to do was go to college! I know that is not the case with many students but that was true for me. It's because all I wanted to do was party. Party was a verb for me. I figured there was time later to go to school. If I lived that long. Eventually, when I matured a bit, I began to see the patterns that weren't working for me and reached out for help. After I got clean and sober at 24, I created much better habits as ...

What have you done? Is creating a list in December of what you've accomplished something you do annually? This is a feel-good exercise that puts me in a position to mentally checkmark the year that's just passed so I can move into the new year with a clean slate. I'm sure you've done this at various times if not annually. But have you ever created a list of your accomplishments and achievements from your whole life? Don't be overwhelmed, it's totally doable! This exercise is the first list ...

What is the meaning of this? Last week I started off by telling you a story about little Nightingale who asked me "What is the meaning of this?" as she showed me a picture when my hair was a different color. I've been thinking about the meaning of things a lot this week. What has meaning to me might not have any meaning for you. Our perspectives can be vastly different. I've seen people struggle with letting go of "things" that are old and useless (in my opinion) yet because the thing ...

Thanksgiving There were a few of us elders busy in the kitchen on Thanksgiving day getting ready for the big meal. The appetizers had been served in the living room and most of the family was in there when Nightingale, she's in first grade, came up to me with a book of fifty 4x6 pictures I took of her between the ages of birth to 3 years. I felt her tugging on my pants and I looked down. She'd opened to a picture of me holding her at about a year old and she said, in all seriousness, "What is ...

7 Uncommon Steps to Get a Promotion at Work By Maureen Ross Gemme, MS Ed.  I’ve been thinking a lot about the Great Resignation during the pandemic.  I think it should have been called the Great Exploration instead. The pandemic really shook things up, didn’t it? Everything changed about work, and how we work and many of us are questioning why we are doing what we are doing. When the pandemic hit I had about 50 classes booked on my calendar for 2020. I also had like 7 ...