sunrise Tag

celebrate everyday: day 1

1.1.18

I’ve been planning to start a project today for a long while now, but didn’t know what kind of photo I’d kick it off with. New Years Eve last night didn’t exactly get us into bed early, so I was a bit surprised when I woke up like a bullet before the sun rose this morning. It was 21 degrees. Barefoot on the quiet balcony straight from a warm bed to snap this shot felt, um…a little chilly:

New Year: 2018

…but totally worth it. Could there be a more perfect way to start the new year, than with the day coming alive like this?

I don’t think we celebrate enough. I think we wait too long. I don’t think we stop to look up enough. I think we could use to have a little more fun. I don’t think we should be so scared of everything. The only thing that’s scary is no more time.

Join me in respecting the clock this year, won’t ya?

I’m throwing a party. Consider this your formal invitation to come rip up the dance floor with me. Hell, maybe we’ll even rip it up naked style, and post it on YouTube! I’m kidding. (Maybe.) It’s time to celebrate because we have the choice to. Watch here for a 2018 daily dose of life outside the drone zone, and get ready to share yours.

What are you celebrating, today?

#StartFresh #TodayIsTheDay #HopToIt

*Ready for a big change this year? Want to organize your time, space, money life…or all three? Call me! (804.339.6514) I can help.

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hello monday!

(…because every day is a chance and a choice to drive your life.)

I sat on the very chilly balcony this morning to watch the sunrise. Under a blanket I was in the quiet while clutching my steaming cup of coffee to my chest for warmth thinking of my friend Sam. News yesterday that Sam passed away after his 9-month battle-royale with the ever-hated cancer. (F*CK CANCER!!!) I imagined my sweet and always-smiling friend floating to a much happier, healthier place into the blue above:

Uptown CLT sunrise

Yesterday at just about the very second Sam passed, I was starting a hot yoga class at a place for the first time. It happened to be the instructors birthday. As this instructor announced how thankful he was on his day of birth for all the people around him, and how life should be a celebration, all I could think of was Sam and think of the irony of a death day and a birth day.

Not that I have ever been, or would be ashamed of crying, but I did keep thinking that I was thankful for all the sweat dripping off me so everyone around me wouldn’t be able to see my streaming tears.

People like Sam, should never be ripped from our earth this early. Clearly some one or some thing, somewhere, needed him to bring his smiles to do a bigger job than he was already doing living with us here.

I will share more about Sam soon. For today, Monday September 14, 2015, I just wanted to share a quick note about how much much he will always mean to so many of us. A true Mojo Warrior. I encourage you reading this to be inspired by him, even if you didn’t know him. If there’s one thing I know for sure, it is that he would want every single one of us to fully celebrate the time that we have.

TODAY is the day to tell someone you love them. TODAY is the day to take a leap of faith. TODAY is the day to start that thing you’ve wanted to. TODAY is the day to start really living if you are not already. TODAY is the day to be fearless.

Live while you are living. Sam sure did. What a guy.

#TodayIsTheDay #ForeverMojoWarrior #DoItWhileYouCan

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red eye

Not much in the early morning beats a sunrise. Especially from an airplane. This was my 6am today:

Airplane sunrise

It is so nice to sit in uninterrupted, unplugged silence, and just watch what happens:

Red Eye

Escape, explore, make new memories…and appreciate going home too. Love travel!

Whatever life you want is out there and possible. How are you making the most of today?

#UpInTheAir #WanderingHomebody #Reflection

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making it up heartbreak hill

“You’ve created quite a life for yourself!”

“You seem so well adjusted and like you are doing great!”

Thanks. I guess that’s true. I have, and I am. Or at least I’m trying. (Have I ever mentioned, I’ve definitely had plenty of thoughts about just floating out to sea and never coming back, or drinking myself into oblivion? I force myself not to do hose kind of things, however. We all know problems don’t go away just because you disappear for a while or get wasted.)

The quotes above are what I’ve heard since I started writing here in 2008, and more regularly recently. I get a lot of “you’re so lucky!”‘s and “I wish I could do that!”‘s. I’ve been gifted quite the fury of compliments for my so called perfect life over the years.

I have to laugh and shake my head. It’s perfect alright. A perfectly beautiful mess.

The past 6 weeks are close to the worst I’ve ever had. I can handle a lot so that’s very hard for me to admit, but It’s the truth. Recent happenings in/around/to me, include, but are not limited to; Illness, death, heartbreak, loneliness, sadness, life turning upside down, unexpected unpleasant surprises, exhaustion, sleeplessness, lack of appetite, and more. Lots more, and It’s probably not going to stop anytime soon.

You didn’t think I was immune to these kind of things just because I write a seize the day blog and stand proudly on my soap box shouting that anything is possible, did you?

Ok. Glad we have that straight.

During my early morning before the sun really rose, most humans aren’t even awake yet, run on the beach this morning:

Mornings at the beach

…forcing my bare tired feet to go, I kept thinking about 1.) How awesome it was to have my toes in the sand. 2.) How much I wish nothing bad would happen to the people I love. 3.) How much I wish all the people in the land were more comfortable talking about real stuff, the raw stuff, the dirty laundry.

Did I want to hit the snooze button this morning? Yep. Did I remember that reality seriously bites as soon as I opened up my eyes? Yep. Did I stay lying there feeling sorry for myself? Nope. (Sometimes I do though, and that’s Ok and very necessary.)

(Insert AA meeting theme tone here.) My name is Diane, and I am a regular person with plenty of problems, just like you. I’m not fancy because I post pretty pictures here. I’m not cooler or smarter or richer than you because I travel. I don’t have magical powers that make unicorns and rainbows appear, and I am not “lucky” that I have a lot of energy and a good attitude. This is a practice, and one I take very seriously. I have to practice every day to stay happy and keep trucking. We’re talking double-session style in 102 degree heat exhausting kinda practice that is really hard, and really not so fun. This life ain’t easy, peeps- for any of us.

Here’s how I cheerlead my butt outta bed when life’s got me down and swirling in the 3-ring circus of hot-mess bonanza:

While I’m getting kicked, and kicked, and kicked, when life is laughing in my face with that cruel, cruel, maniacal laugh, when I get up, brush myself off still trying to hold that positive outlook- let’s try again smile, and I stand up, then it smashes me in the face with that shovel one more time again, I do all I can to remember it could be so much worse, then I stare into that black hole/fiery dragon/billion pound crater hovering above me, and tell it 50 ways to go fuck itself because that shit is not allowed at my party thankyouverymuch.

Boom.

What other choice do I have? What other choice do YOU have?

If you think you are the only one in the world reading this feeling like you’ve been beaten with a case of whoop-ass cans, and more times than one, you’re not. If you think you are the only one with that unbearable stress, sadness or embarrassment about something, you’re not. If you think you’re the only one who’s ever royally screwed something up, ummm…not so. If you think that guy or girl sitting next to you at Starbucks, smiling and looking all fly in those freshly pressed business clothes sipping that $5 latte has it all figured out-think again.

Guys, this life is a shit show for all of us. If you want to create “quite a life for yourself”, It’s a CHOICE. You must train and practice like It’s a marathon. A long, painful race that in the end should theoretically leave us smiling, proud, and feeling like it was all totally worth it. Accept this 26.2 gazillion mile run with 1/2 the water stops along the way stocked full of cups with dirty, filthy mud to drink, and other 1/2 bubbling over with Dom Perignon. Collect your metal at the end, and go find your friends and family to celebrate with. Share your stories of trial and error, pulled muscles, aches, pains, and Heartbreak Hill. Everybody has to make it up Heartbreak Hill sooner or later, and that trek is so much easier if you build a good team around you.

If you find yourself alone, in fact seeing that there is an “I” in your current team, find something to look at that inspires you:

Morning Mojo

…and keep pushing.

Sunrise BLR

…at least that’s what I do. I’ve got to believe that when it feels like the world is collapsing, there are good lessons to be learned and some amazing things to see on the other side of it all. I hope you believe that too.

#MorningMojo #HardLessons #Choices

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