Tag: dreams

Press “Start” and “Go”

~ Swisa A ~ Leave a comment

I’ve been away from my blog this past two months and I have missed it dearly.  After a hectic two months (which really isn’t any excuse) I am now settling down in my new house, new life and getting routines sorted out.  The other day I went back to the gym after a few weeks of absence due to my sprained ankle and was immediately commented by one of the regulars there about my absence, “It’s hard to get back in pace once you stop exercise.”  I smiled and nodded in response, “Yes it definitely is.  I will now be coming back again regularly.”

It has been hard to get back into pace and fighting the “lazy me” is no easy job.  Sometimes you fall behind your goals but as long as you keep working on it and pushing forth, it will be better than just giving up and never continuing on with your goal.  For me, saying these thoughts and promises to oneself and out loud gives me an incentive to keep my promise.  I feel it an obligation to keep my word.

The same applies for everything.

So here’s my word.  I’ve pressed “Start” and now I am in “Go”.  Tomorrow morning I am going to run.  Next week I am going to Amsterdam so keep watch.  I’m excited, I can’t remember the last time I was there. It must have been over ten years ago!!

What state are you in now? Are you ready to press “Start” and “Go”?

 

Relationships..What is it you want?

~ Swisa A ~ Leave a comment

I finally finished watchng Season 4 of Gossip Girls and can’t help but wonder at its strange appeal.  It’s crazy, it’s a high school story, but somehow it’s fun to watch even if I’m way beyond my highschol years.  Perhaps it’s because it is somewhat reflective of life and it makes you think about the good and bad parts of life.  In a year of these characters’s life,  more events and scandals happen than would ever happen in my entire lifetime.  Yet, there are a thing or two one could contemplate about when thinking about these characters’s choice of boyfriends/girlfriends.  What sort of person are they looking for? What is it they want in life?  These are questions I think are relevant at any age.

Blair wants a fairy tale life with a fairy tale prince.  She finds one and they are soon engaged to be married, yet somehow she still feels for the adventurous and raw Chuck Bass.  She was almost going to give up the fairy tale for him, but then Chuck decided for her.  She’s going to marry prince charming.

I wonder if prince charming really exists.  I wonder if Blair has fully contemplated what she wants in life for all that glitters is not gold.   Perhaps what she wished for might not be what she needs.

In every relationship, in every life, I think it’s about learning to see the good and the bad in another person.    It involves a process of learning and understanding the other person and their needs.  It’s not only about their title and their name.  Once you understand them and see who they truly are, then you can decide if certain faults can be overlooked.  If you decide these faults are ones you don’t mind, then it work at it.   If you cannot accept them, move on.   Don’t wait for someone perfect for there’s no one perfect in this world. By definition, perfect does not exist.

Then there’s the issue of what is it you value in life?  What are the things you hold most important and dear?  What is it you want most in life?

Some want fame and money.  Some want someone to be by their side.  Some want honesty.   It depends.  There’s no right or wrong answer, each person has different needs and wants, you just have to find out what your need is and if they match.  It’s not easy.  Some spend a lifetime trying to find out what it is they want in life.  Some never find out.  Some lucky ones have.

I think these are things that Blair should think about. I know it’s a series, but maybe we’ll see them grow up next season.  Chuck already has somewhat, for now he knows it’s better to let someone go and let them be happy than hold on to them for himself.  If everyone knew what they want, imagine what a happy world this would be.  Less scandals, less heart break, less sadness.

Do you know? What do you think? Please share.

Three Hundred Nights

~ Swisa A ~ 2 Comments

Tonight is the night I break the lucky 300th post.   I therefore want to give a special note of appreciation and thanks to my dear readers.  For each and everyone of you have and continue to inspire me.  Your comments, your thoughts, and your support are an invaluable source of motivation for me to continue on writing.   I also want to thank Alex who is always there by my side prodding me along whenever I need it.  Thank you.

Without your support, Having “Me” Time would most probably have been left to gather dust in a little corner and be one day labeled as “internet junk.” (Perhaps it might be so in the future, but not just yet. Not anytime soon.)  I have to admit that writing out into the abyss of the internet day-in day-out can be somewhat of a daunting task.  There is so much out there.  The internet is a vast universe of its own and we occupy but tiny corner of it.  A nano sized speck invisible to the human eye.

For three hundred nights I have sat in front of my computer screen and for three hundred nights, I have smiled upon seeing your comments and your support.  Thank you my readers.  You mean much to me and I hope that Having “Me” Time will continue to be a part of your lives.

Together we have lived through political turmoils, reflected upon lost lives, prayed for tsunami victims,  explored various corners of this earth, and enjoyed the great cuisines of this earth.  Most importantly, we do all this without forgetting that it is essential to live healthy.  Life is full of such unexpected events and there is much to experience in this short life time of ours.  Let’s go out, have some “me” time and enjoy what this world has to offer.  It’s too precious to just let it pass by.

Take care and sweet dreams until tomorrow night.

The Phone Ring.

~ Swisa A ~ 1 Comment

Today I’m taking a break from all the travel and want to share with you a funny story instead.  It happened to me this morning and thinking about it makes me laugh.  I do wonder though who is the culprit.  The active or the lazy me. You judge.

The story goes like this.  Tuesdays being my running day, I prepare my things the night before and make a mental note before going to bed that I “must” wake up in the wee hours of the morning to get myself to the gym, run, shower, and then off to the office on time. It’s a “must” because if I gave myself any excuse, I’ll find myself in the vicious cycle of wake up late, no running, and sleeping late…Recipe for weight gain.

So this morning as usual my iPhone alarm clock wakes me up with a lovely tune.  I reach out and turn off the sound. I get up, go to the bathroom and get dressed in my gym clothes.  Black running pants with an orange shirt today. That’s my outfit.  I grab my things and I’m off to go.

Then it happened.

My phone rings.  It’s Alex calling and there I am lying in bed reaching out to pick up the phone!!  Wait, wasn’t I just going out to door to run?  Was it all a dream?  A millisecond later I realize I had been dreaming.  I dreamt I was off to run! 

What a strange dream, part real, part imagination.   So which part of my dreamt this? Was it the active me out ready for a run even in her dreams? or was it the lazy me tricking real me into believing she was actually running?

Whichever part of me was responsible for inducing my dream, I give it my thumbs up.  This is a dream to laugh about.  To make me smile 🙂

I got up.  Dressed in my black and orange shirt and grabbed my things.  This time, though, there was no phone call.

I was awake (I pinched myself) and was ready to go. 🙂

Who do you think induced my dream?  The active or the lazy me?

Beige it is.

~ Swisa A ~ Leave a comment

The other day I went shopping for clothes. It’s something I haven’t done too much of since I lost those 15 kgs, as there were still so many “small” clothes I had left in my closet waiting for me to “one” day be small enough to fit in.  It’s a good thing I never lost hope and just donate them all away.  Now that I am small enough, I have been busy wearing those “small” clothes.  New ones had to be bought though I never realized how much I was still the “chubby” me inside even though I have been shopping for almost a year.

I suddenly realized the other day when shopping and trying on clothes, that I kept unconsciously picking out clothes were subject to the old rules. Rules that had been part of my life for much too long.  An eternity it feels like.

The list goes like this:
No horizontal stripes.
No light coloured bottoms.
No large lines.
No large patterns.
No sleeveless.
No skinny or pencil skirts. A-line or pleats only.
No straight legged pants. Boot cuts were favoured.
No lightweight material.  Materials need some weight to hide those flabs.
No chiffon, no knit.

I couldn’t let this continue.  I had to try on something different.  I tried on sleeveless shirts, dresses with large patterns, horizontals and yes, the other day I actually bought myself a BEIGE coloured skirt. 

What’s so interesting about BEIGE?  Nothing… I love it.  I love it now that I can wear it. 

Beige skirts or bottoms were things that I previously steered from as far away as I could.  I ran away from them and dared not introduce them into my closet.  Beige was a BIG “No No”   A fashion faux-pas.

My skirts or pants were all in the “darker” and slimming tones of black, brown and navy blue.  It was like that for almost as long as I’ve been working (and that is a LONG time) .  Now I have some greys, and pink, but BEIGE is still a new thing for me.

For the first time in my life, there are no rules I have to live by for clothing.  I can wear anything. I can pick out a funky shirt, a pair of shorts or a weird dress and just wear it.  Gone forever are the rules.  Tear them up, throw them away and burn them to ash.  No more will they become part of my life.

Freedom. Freedom at long last.

If you are working on losing weight.  Remember this:  once you have reached your goal, no longer will you have to burden your brain with all these rules.  No longer will your closet be filled with only the darker shades on the colour wheel with bottoms in only black, brown and navy blue.  You will be free to wear (or not wear) anything you choose or want to.  You will be able to wear that pencil skirt, perhaps in beige, or perhaps even get yourself a nice beige suit for work.  Wear a beige or white coloured pair of pants for the summer together with a light top.

Imagine it all. Imagine yourself in beige. I love it.  I hope you do too.

A Thousand Dreams

~ Swisa A ~ 2 Comments

I like to dream.  I dream of all the things I want to do and be.  I dream that one day I’ll be able to play golf like a pro.  I dream that one day I’ll sing like a bluebird.  I dream of traveling the world and having my own set of books.

I dream so many things that I wonder where to start.  Each day, each week, I come up with a new dream.  I wonder if this lifetime I’d be able to accomplish them all. There are just so many things to do in life. I have work, I have family, I have errands, I have social obligations.  Perhaps I need to have nine lives like a cat.

As said matter of factly by Alex:  “We only have 24 hours in day.”

It’s important to dream your dreams, but its also important to focus your energy on what dream you want to accomplish most and when.

If your immediate goal is to lose weight, then ignore all your other dreams for the moment and focus on losing weight.  It’ll take time.  It always takes time to accomplish a goal, and if you don’t focus all your energy on it, it’ll be hard to be successful.  There is no magic bullet, no magic pill.  Everything requires hard work.  It took  me half a year to lose 15kgs of my weight.  During that time, everything else was set aside.  I made time for my goal.   It wasn’t easy, but now it’s done, it’s done. 

I have crossed it off my “To Do” list forever.    It was worth it.  Everyday I am so happy I did it.

Once you get that goal over and done, you can then start on your next goal whatever that might be.  It’s through this succession of focus and prioritization that you will be able to accomplish all you want to.  Maybe you won’t accomplish all of the dreams you dreamt, but at least you’d have accomplished the dreams you really wanted most.

If you really want something badly enough, you’ll find a way to do it.  If not, there’s always an excuse. 🙂