Most mothers agree that the holidays are a time of magic, wonder, excitement and joy. What's not to love about decorating the tree and making cookies with your kids, or the looks on their faces as they open their gifts on Christmas morning?

 

For the past several weeks, I’ve watched Facebook friends update their statuses, each day naming the things for which they are thankful.  There is a theme that runs throughout these posts of love for kids, spouses, siblings, and aging parents. Nobody posts that they are thankful for new cars or big houses. It is our families that matter and Thanksgiving is the perfect time to reflect on that.

I am always surprised where Life Lessons appear.  I have been so busy wrapped up in quite a few projects that I knew I was losing my sense of being present

Believe or not, being available for others is something that does not come natural to me.  I have to work at it!  What is ironic is that I use to think that I was of service to others.  The reality was that I would make myself available if I wanted to, it was convenient or if it was going to be recognized for my service.   If it didn't meet one of the criteria; I had excuses abound as to why I wasn't available. 

Winston Churchill once said, “A polo handicap is your passport to the world.” When someone brings up Polo, one may have visions of sleek horses thundering down the grassy fields in London, England, or even Santa Barbara, California and Greenwich, Connecticut. One associates the sport with kings, not kids.

Well, I did it. I went a week without social media (mostly, see my last post for my one slip) and I survived. I learned a lot about myself and the role social media plays in my life in the last week, and although I don't have any steadfast "rules" as I move forward, some changes have naturally occurred.

After years of selling products for different companies such as Mary Kay; The Body Shop-Home Division and the every-elusive Avon, I have decided to try to sell my own products and or even start out by selling pastry.

 

One of my goals in 36 before 36 was to go social media free for a whole week. To some, this might seem ridiculously easy, but to me it was daunting. You can read more about the how's and why's of my challenge here.

 

Day 1-Sunday

 

“Do one thing every day that scares you.” 

 

My teenage daughter had a book report due last week. She selected the book the first week of school and was so excited to read it. The book has over 800 pages. I raised my eyebrows when she first told me because although she enjoys reading she is not a voracious reader. For her that is a lot of pages; to be honest, for me that would be a lot of pages as well!