Reference letter for myself

I wrote three new reference letters for my past team members or a new colleagues in the month of January. I have said so many wonderful things about these three people that it was incredibly positive and joyful experience. Nevertheless, I wish that noone else asks me to write a reference letter anytime soon, as it takes time to be write these letters and I desperately need my time for myself.

The book that I purchased in the weekend had a section about self-esteem where the author suggested that we say things about ourselves like we would say for others. What a great idea!

Why did I not think about this before??

I start writing a reference letter for myself tonite. It is gonna be long, but hey, we will go through it like a champ!

🙂

 

my love affair with self-sufficiency

Life is interesting.

I have never been interested in cooking or being self-sufficient.

In the last two years, however, this has change. I still do not like cooking but baking, pickling, and jamming have been awesome. I could not be more excited 🙂

Fermented food

Sourdough: I first became interested in baking bread and I now even have a sourdough starter that makes wonders every week 🙂 I have not purchased any store-made bread since May 2016. I also shared my sourdough and commercial yeast loaves with my fiends. What a joy 🙂

Kefir: I then was gifted by kefir grains within 2017 and i not only fell in love with kefir itself, but I made cheese/spread from it and even used it in baking bread 🙂 Drinking kefir makes me feel good and I know that it gives me the calcium that I need at my age in addition to many nutrients. I am very happy with it 🙂

Pickles: I did pickles before thanks to my mother, but I have never been this interested in it until recently – I love the beet and cabbage pickles I make! I think it is the benefit of living in a cold climate that the pickle lasts long without going bad and this way I always have a jar or two in my kitchen. I made three batches of beet pickles this fall enjoyed by myself and my friends 🙂

Sauerkraut: And tomorrow I will try my first ever sauerkraut! 

How about this? 

I think I am moving in the right direction 🙂

 

Jam/marmalade:

And just within the last 5-6 weeks, I started experimenting with making jam; dried fig jam first, then orange and tangerine, and today the raspberry jam/marmalade 🙂

I feel like I am doing such a great job refraining from additives and chemicals in store-bought jams/bread/pickles. I must be rightfully proud of myself and I am!

 

Sewing

Okay.. I have not been as productive as I wished, but since I purchased my lovely sewing machine last year, I have done small stuff, including lots of covers for jars and discloth/cloth for the counter and window sills. I am yet to undertake a serious project, like a blouse or a quilt, but I know when the time comes, that will happen too 🙂

 

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These are newfound interests for me and they have been enriching my life, providing me healthy and affordable food/items, and I feel increasingly “able”.

I really am excited about this change in me.

 

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gif by:https://giphy.com/gifs/XSKhFtfGr1HYA

 

 

pacifying ourselves

I guess we all have times in our lives when we felt the need to pacify ourselves.

I have been feeling it since yesterday; I am not sure what bothers me, but the fact that I keep doing repetitive actions, such as cross words or puzzles, eat as I please, and spend money more liberally than before tells me that my subconsciousness is working on some feelings and I am unconsciously trying to keep my mind busy…. Or reward it.

In my experience, such periods of self-pacifications ends up with some realizations that hurt at first but then help re-structure myself, my thoughts, or my behavior. That is not always a negative experience; in fact I am curious now what the coming days will bring me. I hope to finally make the decisions that will further improve my life (such as quitting unnecessary expenses and unhealthy habits) or events or emotions that I need to finally face and then move on.

I welcome this episode with curiosity and with the acknowledgement that while it may disturb my emotional world, I know eventually it will be good for me.

self-appreciation: I thank myself for noticing this (life experience is a great thing 🙂 ), being curious about it, and having a healthy and mature stand about it.

weekly budget check

Today is the end of my budget week, so here is the account:

I neither over- nor under-spent this week – the entire weekly allowance is spent. It would be nice if I had not, especially by not taking the cab in the mornings, but hey that is okay; I traded money with feeling better about myself or to protect myself from rain and snow. That is okay for a week, but I am thinking when the winter comes, taking the cab will be a routine again; I wonder whether I can at least try  to take the bus tomorrow, before it gets too cold outside, which will make waiting challenging. Good idea (can I please get up on time to catch the bus tomorrow? 🙂 )

My weekly savings from would-be-expenses are not too much, around $50. even though this is a small amount, I am thankful for it – this money could end up on being wasted easily. yet, now it is with me and that feels great 🙂

In the last two weeks I was on trips and my estimations is that more or less my spending was okay and I did not spend over my budget.

The cost of clothes when my airline lost my luggage: looks like the paperwork is too much, too cumbersome. I will not even apply for reimbursement. This does not mean that I am okay with this; I am furious that the airlines make this process that difficult, especially considering that it is their fault that led to the spending. But I am gonna let this one go so that my nerves will not fry for any longer. Argh…

self-appreciation: I thank myself for having a budget and a generous weekly allowance, saving as much as possible, being frugal and loving it, recording my expenses meticulously, and overall spending much less and saving more in the last 4-5 months when I started having a budget 🙂

random thoughts

We have had the first snow yesterday!

Oh, boy.. It looks good. The trees and the roads are covered by the thin layers of snow. I realized today that I love this kind of scenery. I know I will complain about it and the winter, especially after February (because of ice on the roads, the snow storms, the shoveling adventures, and lack of sunlight), but today I am enjoying it big time 🙂

The work went well. As a matter of fact, I have worked up till 6pm on a document. It is moving really well and I have revised it after I came back home this evening; we are on the right track. I am excited about this. Working feels good 🙂

The day light saving changes made the daylight in the evening shorter; but for sure it also helps me to enjoy the dark evenings more, as there are more people now on the streets after the sunset. For some reason, I happen to like that. I should take my camera with me so that I can take pictures; there is something lovely about the dark roads lightened up by the lights and the streets energized by the people walking and the stores open.

A post I wrote yesterday and the interactions with another blogger (thank you tamtam) at the comments section convinced me to prioritize appreciating myself in my daily life. Here is what I mean:

I happen to do a lot of good stuff, like yourself, in life; doing meaningful work and hopefully contribute to the family, society and humanity as a whole, training, educating, and supporting others, contributing to the local and global economy, producing knowledge and experience, helping others in need, etc.

I love it when I am kind and supportive to others. Yet, like many of you, I am hard on myself; there are always somethings that I need to do better, easier, more, cheaper, etc. Beating up myself should not be the solution to do better. I know that there are things that I really need to be iron-fist-like; I need to be more health conscious for example and I need to get rid of one extra expense from my life. These are probably the only things that I need to be firm on myself right now. But all other times, starting today, I will thank myself for doing good.

Like this morning when I checked whether the plug at the back of my house was turned off; under different conditions I would delay it till this evening; but my inner voice said “check it now” and I did it. What a peace of mind….And I thanked myself after that with a smile. It felt awesome!

Or when I decided to work till 6pm today; even though that meant I could spend less time unwinding at home, working progressed something important and it felt really good. I thank myself for making this decision, and as you guessed, with a large smile on my face 🙂

The same when I decided to walk back to home from the office, instead of taking the cab this evening. It was late and snowy, I was tempted to take the cab, but I did not. I thank myself for this wonderful decision that not only helped me to exercise my body but also save money.

I will keep doing this from now on. I am not sure which part of my blog I will have these posts all together (maybe the joy journal?), but I will always note the things I have done well while thanking myself with a large smile on my face! 🙂

I hope you can thank yourself for many things you have done or not done today 🙂