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Saturday, December 30, 2017

2018 Craft Your Own Happiness




Before four years ago the only time I really would think about myself and reflect on what I had accomplished big or small for the past year was the week or days before new year’s eve.

I probably didn’t want to look back at all of things I said I wanted to accomplish and never did.  For years I would come up with a list of new resolutions and by February/March I would not remember half of the list.

For those of us that live with depression we know very well that when we don’t complete that task or goal, we sink even deeper into what I call a “funk”, and at times it took months to dig my way out, because I had not only disappointed myself but probably had let down someone else with my unfulfilled promises.

When I first started this journey of finding my own happiness and not counting on others to make me feel happy about myself.  It was a huge struggle in the beginning and still to this day I have my challenges.

To help prevent from disappointing myself and stop feeling bad about who I was all the time. 

I started practicing the following activities and gradually with time my journey to my own happiness began.

BEING REALISTIC

I started to set small realistic goals and/or steps.  I realized very fast that I did not need to wait until the end of the year to reset. 

OPEN YOUR HEART TO BE TRULY GREATFUL

When I wake up almost every day I consciously think of how grateful and thankful I am for all of the blessings in my life. Like most people I do not have an extra 30 minutes to sit in silence and reflect.  Some days I only take a quick few minutes to think about it, before getting the kids ready for school, or having that ten minute window before I am officially going to be late for work, again.

When I first started doing this practice, it was hard to find things to be grateful for, apart from thinking of the obvious which is being thankful for a healthy family, a roof over head etc.  Opening your heart to being grateful is also looking at everything as a whole and in also all of the small details too.  Some mornings for example I’m thankful that my youngest isn’t having a melt down before I leave the house to go to work.  Or maybe the day before I had a very challenging situation where I was thankful to have a new fresh day to start again and do better.  As you start practicing this almost daily it will get a lot easier to see all that you are blessed with big or small, and begin your day positive with a clear mind. 

BE YOUR TRUE SELF, WHO CARES WHO IS LOOKING

For many years I was constantly thinking of what others thought of me and was always trying to please others and make sure they were happy before my happiness.  This sort of attitude made me believe that I would be very selfish if I decided to do something just for myself.  During my journey I have learned that if I am not happy with myself inside and out then how would I be able to make others happy.  I started to do things that I hadn’t done in years that I enjoyed so much before.  In the beginning it was hard for me to do things on my own, but in time I started meeting people with the same interests and passions.  It is hard to put in words but the best way to describe this is by letting myself do what I wanted, just for me and my happiness ignited a feeling of becoming alive of who I truly am.  Don’t get me wrong, I do continue to be just as dedicated to my family life as before, but I make the extra effort to squeeze in time for me too.  There will always be those that will say a comment here or there asking “how do find time for your kids?”  I just smile and stay quite.

JUST DO IT

I’m not going to sugar coat the next part, because it can be exhausting at times but this year by far has been one of the most accomplished years I have had for my OWN self.

I set my realistic small goals and have been able to do so many projects that I had on the back burner for so, so long.  Since I love to plan and organize that sometimes is my down fall because I want everything to be perfect before I can do that next step, but this year I loosened the reigns and have been able to accomplish so much more.  If you have something that you have been planning to do I can’t find that “perfect”  JUST DO IT!

As we ring in the new year I wish you much joy and happiness that you truly deserve!

XOXO,
D. Blooming

Friday, November 3, 2017

Me, Myself, & I








 I was very insecure growing up. I never was petite or thin and was always one of tallest, big boned girls. I was very shy and introverted.  I was so timid that I didn't even put my hand up in class, even if needed help or to ask a question, because I did not want everyone to look at me. Being so shy and introverted caused me to have barely any confidence.  

As a young adult, I had my oldest son when I was 20 with my high school sweetheart. At that time, I thought we were going to be together forever and become a family with a father and mother for our son. It was what I had wanted in life growing up. As our son, Alex, turned a year old, his father and I had finally called it quits.

Having a child at 20 and already having self-image issues made me even more obsessed with how I looked. It didn't help that right after Alex's dad and I broke up that he moved on to a very petite lady, who had what I thought at that time was the perfect body. 

All my life, I've gone up and down in weight. I've tried different diets and different exercises. But the honest truth is that I've never been into sports and exercise. It's just not my thing.

The summer of the big break-up, I was 21, heartbroken, and disappointed in myself for not giving my son the family I had always wanted for myself and him.  I decided that I didn't want to rush into anything serious for a long time and, instead, enjoy my new-found freedom.  

Almost at the end of summer, I met a man who was so different from any man I had dated before. He was
very confident and charismatic and not a serious relationship type-of-guy which was perfect for that time in my life. I should have seen the red flag when we were making plans for a second date because he told me to make sure I wore makeup.

I'm not sure why I lasted so long with him but during those four years he would always show me examples of what the ideal woman would look like for him which, of course, was opposite to what I physically looked like. I was so naive then that I had convinced myself that I was so fortunate to date such a man and tried all these crazy crash diets to try and make him look at me the way he looked at other women. Even after I lost 30 pounds, he didn’t notice a huge difference in my appearance.

During those four years together we got engaged for a few months. You may be asking why I stayed with Mr. Wrong for so long.

I believe the reason was because I thought he was a good person, as far as the way he treated his mom, dad, and sister, and foolishly thought that eventually he would be that same way with me.

I also, as an only child, I hated being alone. I had invested so much time with him. As I was approaching 30 years old, my thinking was "who would be interested in me?"

I eventually came to my senses and acknowledged the reality that he was not marriage material and we would never have the family that I had envisioned for Alex and me.

For the next three years, I was single and dated here and there. It gave me time to really find out what I was looking for in a life partner.

This past October, I celebrated my 13th wedding anniversary with the man that checked off all the boxes for my ideal husband. We met briefly one night while I was picking up a friend from work. I remember that we were introduced to each other and talked for barely a minute. He then said he would be right back and never returned. At the time, I didn’t pay it any attention.

About a year late, I ended up working at the same place part-time and he was still working there.

He ended up telling me why he left so abruptly when we first met. It was because he was so smitten with me that he wanted to freshen up, since he was just finishing up a busy shift. He did return but by the time the slow elevators came up and down we had left.

After only 6 months, he proposed. From the very beginning, he treated me like every woman deserves to be treated. He loved me for who I was inside and out and even to this day I am the ideal type of woman for him.

Through these 13 years together, he has been my number one supporter with all that I do professionally and personally.

I will soon be celebrating my 43rd birthday and am very comfortable in my skin. People that have just met me more recently cannot believe that I used to be an introverted person.

With this new blossoming chapter in my life, I am a happy, confident woman who is making her dreams come true.

 XOXO,

D. Blooming

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

EVERYTHING IS BETTER WITH TEA




As a young girl I loved having tea parties with my bears and other stuffed animals.  Since I am an only child my imagination has always been expansive and vivid.  Growing up in England drinking tea was part of every time of the day.  We woke up - we drank tea. At lunch time we drank tea. In the afternoon we drank tea; and right before bedtime we had tea. 
 
When I was a child my family was really just my mom and I. My aunt and cousins moved all over the world due to my uncle’s job; so we didn’t see them much. I remember that my mom had a lot of friends who lived close by. While visiting they would sit around the dining room table sipping tea while eating finger sandwiches and biscuits (which is what we called cookies in England).  The ladies would talk for hours, while I drew pictures in my sketch book.  After a while of drawing pages and pages of different things. I would start asking, “Mum what time are we going home?”  Sometimes it was shortly after I had asked her for the fourth time. Other times, when it got too late, we would spend the night.

We moved to the United States when I was eleven. I’m not sure why we stopped drinking as much tea.  It could have been that my mom had to work longer hours or because, when we first arrived, she didn’t know many people to invite to tea time.

Moving forward to my thirties, I tried to make a point of spending more one-on-one time with my Mom.  We started visiting local tea rooms and, as we sipped, all of the memories from my childhood starting coming back.  My birthday is in January; so, when it comes to party themes, my options are limited.  I decided one year to throw a birthday tea party.  I bought my first tea set for 12, rented white chairs and joined two tables together to make a huge square.  After the guests arrived we started to chit chat over tea and sandwiches and ended the night with pink champagne and with chocolate covered strawberries.  It was one of the most memorable birthday events ever and has since become a tradition for me and my friends. 
After hosting the birthday party for some years, I gained the confidence to venture into taking my tea party on the road.  On November 21, 2014, Lady D’s Traveling Tea Party was founded and I began to share my love of tea parties with ladies of all ages. We offer all types of themes and also are able to customize the tea time according to our customer’s request.
Each time I host a tea party I feel great happiness seeing the guests smile as they enjoy tea and one another. It closes the circle of warmth that I remember so well from my childhood.
Everything is better with tea!

XOXO,

       D. Blooming

 








Wednesday, May 10, 2017

She Believed She Could, So She Did



 


 Should I? Could I? Was the questions that would go around and around in my head for many years when I was in a major depression state.
Before my awakening that happened about four years ago, I would constantly ask these questions to myself.

When you go through a period of depression even the simple things like folding laundry, doing the dishes are so hard to do.  I went through years of holding myself together during the work week, but when the weekend came along, all I wanted to do was be in bed.  I could barely make it to soccer games or visiting family or friends.  If I did leave the house all I could think about was what time was I getting home so I could go back to sleep. 

When I finally came to grips with myself to truly make a change.  I started off with small steps as to not to overwhelm myself by doing things that I used to do that made me happy. I started crafting again, reconnecting with friends that I hadn't talk to in so long.
I decided to also talk to my neighbors that I didn’t even know their names and embarrassing to say I had already been living in our house for over six years.

During my awakening I did finally accept that my medical depression is something I will have to deal with all my life, but when I feel that my mood is going down, I reach out to my friends, invite them over, or go to places I enjoy, have kids come over for play dates with my boys.  just something to keep myself away from isolation and then slowly fall into that dark place that I used to be in for so long.
Today I work very hard to not let my moods go up and down so drastically, I'm so in tune with my emotions and my body now, so when I feel like I'm creeping down, I quickly decide to do things that keep me happy.

Now that the weather is better I'm finally giving some TLC to my deck and working on a teatime fairy garden that I've wanted to do since I was a little girl.
My husband and I apart from running around with ours boys doing Boy scout activities and soccer, we are working on a fire pit area in our backyard, so our family can hang out together and have some good quality conversations with our kids over some delicious S’more’s
Now when I ask myself should I do this or could I do this? I do it!
Sometimes it’s not easy but there's no better feeling than completing something that you thought you could never do.


XOXO,

D. Blooming

 






Monday, March 13, 2017

Where It All Began

This is the first time that I am venturing into the world of blogging; so what I want to accomplish with my blog posts is to share how I strive to live creatively while balancing family life, work life and my other interests that I love to do. 

Let me just give you a little background about myself and how I got to be the person I am today.
 I was born in England and moved here to the U.S. when I was 11 years old. I am an only child and was always very shy. I had issues with my weight which, to this day, I struggle with. I’m always trying to live a healthier eating life style.  I had my oldest son when I was 21 and was a single mother for ten years, until I met my husband at work. From that first date I knew he was the one.  Six months later we were engaged and got married.  We started a family right away. Twelve years later we have two other boys and our chihuahua named Chloe.  

 Going back to when I was in my twenties, I started to have episodes of depression. I thought this was normal because I hadn't found "Mr. Right" and craved to start a family with that special man that I did not have when I was growing up.  At thirty I was married and had just had our first son when my depression started to get worse. I thought I had post postpartum blues, which I probably did, but it just would never go away.  By the time our second son was born three years later, my depression got to the point that, when I was not working during the week, I was in bed almost all day. It was that ugly secret that I kept between myself and family.  I was always so hard on myself - thinking I was bad wife and mother. Even though my husband did what he could to try and draw me out of my darkness, nothing helped.  Four years ago is when it all changed.  I was diagnosed with a medical condition that could have major effects on my brain. During those six months of MRIs and waiting to see if things would get better or worse, I started to seriously look at where I was in life. I asked myself the question that changed it all.


 “If I only have a limited time to live, am I happy with everything I have accomplished in my life?”

 I immediately knew what the answer was.  From that point is when I started what I called my Awakening.  I decided to stop looking back to the past - at all of my faults, the things I had done to others and what others had done to me - and just started to look ahead. I began making the changes that I needed to make me happy and also found great doctors to help me.  I knew that I needed to learn to love myself first to truly feel happy. Then I could bring that happiness to my family.  Don't get me wrong. My clinical depression will always be there; but I have learned through the years how to overcome getting to those very low dark places like I had before.  I hope to share some of my methods with you through this blog as time goes on. Through the last four years I have reintroduced all the passions that I had left behind so many years before. I also learned how to use mindfulness to help me be more grateful, appreciative and simply happy.  To some the phrase "being happy" may come easily but it used to be painfully hard for me.  

Now that I am in a great place personally with myself, I have helped create a more positive family life and pursued so many dreams that I never thought I could accomplish before.  I have a full time career in a field that I love. In addition to that I am an entrepreneur with a Traveling Tea Party company and also host creative events.  I have mentored at-risk teens and am always looking for ways to give back to the community by conducting workshops about promoting positive self-image.  I'm so thrilled with where I am now, but am so excited to see what else is to come.  I hope you continue to follow my blog as I write more specifically about how I live creatively happy as a wife, mother, career woman and entrepreneur.


XOXO,
D. Blooming