Tag Archives: making the right choice

Making peace with my choices

31 Thursday Mar 2022

Posted by in Daily Life, Daily Message

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“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing.” ― Theodore Roosevelt

My mom and I did it again.

She has done 4 times already and I am on my second, and, fingers crossed, the last.

Yes, if you guessed covid vaccine, you are right! Please come forward and collect your prize! 🙂

I got a booster shot. It was my second shot, as my first one was the one dose Johnson and Johnson. This one was Pfizer.

“When people will not weed their own minds, they are apt to be overrun by nettles.” ― Horace Walpole

This is not a pro-vaccine or anti-vaccine post. This is just a post about my not wanting to take the booster shot but in the end giving in, and making the decision that feels right for me right now.   It was not an easy decision at all.

In Brazil they started giving a fourth dose weeks ago.  My mother has already gotten it.  I found out after the fact, not that I would try to talk her out of it either.  My mom is soon to be 87 and she feels very protected by getting it.

I didn’t want to get a booster at all. I didn’t want to get the vaccine either, but ended up getting it because I was going to travel to Brazil to see my parents. I felt that I needed to do it for them. Once I did it, I felt it was the right choice for me.

Then came the booster and again I felt I had to get it because of my travels to Brazil.  I kept waiting, hoping that I would get confirmation that a booster is not required, but that hasn’t come.

“Sometimes you make the right decision, sometimes you make the decision right.” ― Phillip C. McGraw

A friend that has just returned from Brazil said she was asked to show her vaccination card with the booster. Everything is so uncertain with the requirements that I chose to be on the safe side and take the booster, specially because my 1 dose JNJ is now over 1 year old.

I cannot postpone my trip to Brazil until I am sure I don’t need a booster. I have to go see my parents and brother and bring my mom over for her biannually trip here. She hasn’t been here in over 2 years.  She is a green card holder and is risking losing that status.

I have friends on both sides of this aisle. I have the ones that were shocked that it took me so long to get the booster.  And I have friends that were against the vaccine and didn’t want me to take the booster at all.

At the end of the day, they all understand that this is a personal decision. They respect my decision and I respect theirs. I had to choose what seemed to be best for me in my circumstances. 

I just heard about a new variant in Europe. Lord help us all!

“You are not the victim of the world, but rather the master of your own destiny. It is your choices and decisions that determine your destiny.” ― Roy T. Bennett

Pondering patience and the pursuit of passion

03 Friday Jun 2016

Posted by in Daily Life, Finding Me

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“Patience is power. Patience is not an absence of action;
rather it is “timing”
it waits on the right time to act, for the right principles
and in the right way.” -Fulton J. Sheen

Things have been a little crazier than usual for me.  My Mom is still in town so I am trying to spend as much time with her as I can, while juggling the rest of my life.

“I do not believe in taking the right decision, I take a decision and make it right.”  ― Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Being a landlord.   I had been running around trying to hunt my tenant down, finally I got the rent check.  She is supposed to move out (for the past 2 years) but she has been always too weak, sick or too busy to do it. She hasn’t lived there in over a year.

I have offered to help her with the packing, and I have helped a couple of times, but it is extremely trying for me. I like to get things done, to start and get it over with, but she works for 30 minutes and is done for the day until weeks go by and then she is ready to do it again.

She has fibromyalgia so I am sympathetic and I have been extremely patient but now I am losing it. She has been paying the rent (albeit with some coaxing) but it is below market and every month I am losing money.

“I do not believe in taking the right decision, I take a decision and make it right.” – Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Do I force her to get out or do I continue exercising patience? When do I know that enought is enough? Is patience a virtue?  Am I being virtuous or just afraid of taking action?

“Why is patience so important?”
“Because it makes us pay attention.”  – Paulo Coelho

Being an employee/employer.  I used to love my co-workers. Now I dislike a couple of them, specially one of them.  Work is not fun anymore.  The egos in some people here are appaling.

I hate cheap and childish men and I have got both here. I had some screaming matches with one of them that was acting childish and I called him on it. He was giving me the silence treatment instead of talking this and getting the matter resolved.   He thought I owed him $5.00 for pizza.  It was a misunderstanding that didn’t need to get this far.   The whole situation is laughable!

This guy got married.  All of a sudden he got the right clients and started making more money than he ever did in his life.  Those 2 events went to his head. He is totally changed.  He thinks he is a big shot now.

I keep trying to remind myself that this is business and since I am a partner here this person is bringing money to the company and, therefore, to me. That thought makes it a bit easier to stomach him.

Don’t get me wrong.  I have an amazing job. I get paid well and have all kinds of flexibility and perks.  It is just not fun to have someone giving you the silent treatment.  I don’t think any job is perfect and this situation presents all kinds of opportunities for lessons.  More patience and understanding in in order.

“The most pathetic person in the world is some one who has sight but no vision.”  – Helen Keller

Being sophisticated/stylish.  I m trying to dress better.  Not that I don’t dress well, but if you leave it up to me it would be jeans and t-shirt every day and since my job has no dress code it is very easy for me to do just that.

I feel better when I dress better. I guess everyone does. So I am making more of an effort.  I have so many clothes and it is sad and embarrassing to say that I probably use only 10% of my wardrobe.  The rest sits there from season to season with the hope of being used, and I continuously add more to the mix. (I also continuously donate items)

Paying attention to my appearance is a way of saying to myself that I matter, that I am important enough to spend more than 5 minutes getting ready in the morning.

“One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.”  – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Extra pounds.  Speaking of appearance, I really do need to get my act together and lose weight.  It is not a lot that I need to lose but it is enough to annoy me.  It is also a reminder that I am not at my best and I am not really putting any effort into it.  I do 30 minutes of elliptical every day but that is about it.  Not enough.

No more excuses.  The 10 pounds I wanted to lose is now 20, I need to make sure that it doesn’t increase even more.

At the end of the day is all about my giving my all, my best, 100% to everything.  I know l haven’t been doing that.  I am just not passionate about anything lately.

I am looking into different classes from language to drink mixing to art history.  I need and want to exercise my mind, body and meet new people.

Wishing everyone a blessed weekend, filled with fun, rest and anything else your mind and body needs!

Be here now and forget the rest!

08 Friday Apr 2016

Posted by in Daily Life, Finding Me

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“Reality doesn’t impress me. I only believe in intoxication, in ecstasy, and when ordinary life shackles me, I escape, one way or another. No more walls.” -Anais Nin

This was another “feeling weird” week.  Perhaps it is PMS or the phase of the moon, or perhaps it is just the aftershocks of turning 50.  Whatever it is I need to escape this feeling, this rut.

Speaking of escape I am leaving for Brazil next week.  Going to see my family always fills me with mixed feelings and anxiety.  It can be the best time ever, but always there is some underlining stupid issue that becomes some drama. This time I am making a point of making it the best trip ever.  I am not going to let anything and/or anyone mess up my trip.  It is not the situation; it is how I let it affect me and how I react to it.  This time I am not letting anything affect me…well  I promise to try.

“Freedom is the only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control.” – Epictetus

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“Change comes from confrontation. You have to be confronted or confront yourself.” – Bryant McGill

This week I had a disagreement with the workers at a Cuban restaurant near my job.  I was buying food for a homeless man and wanted them to give me more rice.  They insisted there was plenty of rice in the container and that I would have to buy another container just for rice for $5.00.  I said I had no problem in paying extra but wanted the extra rice in the same container, as well as the broccoli, which they also insisted on putting in another container (there was plenty of room in the same container).  The manager comes over and tells me those are the rules.  I am thinking to myself: is this really happening?  I am willing to pay whatever he wants to charge, I just want everything in the same container.  Does anyone here have common sense? I am saving them money, by not wasting separate containers.  Plus what happened to “the customer is always right”? I had even explained to them that I didn’t want to hand the man 3 containers and thought it would be easier for him to have it all in one. They couldn’t care less what my reasons were.

At that point I had a decision to make. A) I could continue insisting and making more of a scene, B)I could leave the restaurant and go someplace else or  C) I could get the food as is and move on.  I chose C.  I got the plate as is, no extra rice, with the broccoli on the side.  Sometimes one has to forget about feelings and principals and look at the bottom line.  The bottom line was I wanted to buy someone a hot meal on a cold rainy day.  Being right or getting my way was secondary and meaningless.

When I get to the cashier, the girl, who had been watching this whole interaction says to me:  I can put the broccoli in the same container if you want, that is simple. What? Now? After all this? I said: no, thank you, I just want to get out of here.

I think they now think I am this demanding customer, when I am totally the opposite.  Or am I?  And really, what do I care what people think of me?  What is important is that the man had this huge smile on his face when I returned with his food. (I had asked him first if I could buy him lunch, so he had been waiting for it).

“Welcome the present moment as if you had invited it. It is all we ever have so we might as well work with it rather than struggling against it. We might as well make it our friend and teacher rather than our enemy.” – Pema Chodron

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I started using Instagram.  I decided it would be a nice thing to go along with my blog, since for some reason sometimes I cannot add photos to my posts.   I just didn’t realize how much I would enjoy it.

I am the type of person that is always on auto-pilot. I go from one thing to the next without paying attention.  I get things done, I focus on results and often I forget how I got there.  I miss the details and the beauty in them. Instagram is changing that.

Instagram makes me pay attention to details.  I am paying attention to everything.  I see things I have never seen before.  Now I stop and see the flowers.

I used to think that people that took pictures of everything missed the moment.  Now I am one of them and I can tell you I am not missing the moment, I am focusing on the moment.  I am seeing and seizing the moment.

Wishing you all a blessed weekend!  Stop and smell the flowers.  Look around and discover all the hidden treasures!

“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.” – Henry David Thoreau