Update

It's been a while since I last posted. The Christmas gifts were a hit. I have all my shots and the countdown to my departure for Ghana has begun. I am beginning to get excited. This is a wonderful opportunity for me and a great experience to share with my students.

I am finding that life has been a lot more stressful than it needed to be. Yes, I am a very analytical person and I must confess overly so. Some may say to the point of obsessing about things, but I disagree. I just love to think things through and, truthfully, of late I have not been doing that. I have been allowing others, in "leadership" positions in various areas of my life, to set boundaries and priorities for me. It my not seem so, but that may be because it was my internal, personal boundaries and priorities that seemed to be influenced the most by external situations and people. That is not me. It explains the inner conflict I have felt and the overall feeling that I was further from being an authentic person than I have ever been. Those close to me were the only ones I felt I could be myself with. With everyone else I wasn't me because anytime I tried to be me they would put on the pressure to change me into what they thought I should be. That would lead to shut down and withdrawal on my part. NO MORE!!! I am happy with my purpose in life and with the point I am at in life. I understand that others might not be happy with this life, but that is probably why this is the one designed for me and not them. I chose to live it on purpose an in peace.

What are people trying so hard to change?

1. I am a happy, content, single person.
2. I have the job I wanted as a child. It is meaningful and rewarding.
3. I enjoy my own company. In other words, I am not a lonely person.
4. I don't require a lot of material things to be happy.
5. I'm an intelligent person. I don't take things at face value, just because someone else said it. I study things to find the merit in them, I am not afraid to disagree with something I find to be wrong, and I know how to disagree in an agreeable way (admittedly I don't always do the last part, but 90% of the time I do).