Summer Games!…Are You Winning?

Summer!RUWinningPStarr

Hello Y’all! I hope you’re doing amazingly well and the heat feels just as wonderful as it looks :/ If you’re in my neck of the woods, you’d know that its office volleyball season  – where co-workers get to bond outside the four walls of the office and team build – that’s putting it nicely but we do get a chance to be out in the sun, socialize, make utter fools of ourselves and have a fun time doing it 😀

I happened to be drafted into our office league after many failed attempts to convince our Supreme Leader aka Team Captain that I was better off cheering on the side than actually playing; but for some reason, he had more faith in my athletic abilities than my actual track record in ANY kind of sports. So game day arrived. Our team had been on a winning streak the past week. Our morale was high. We were pumped and scheduled to play against ‘Shots n Sets n Bulls**t’…Now I’m thinking to myself, who on earth gives their team that sort of name anyway but at this point no one cared.

Game On!!

The games begin. We had four solid players on our team; the rest of us were just bodies. I also realized much later that the goal was to actually hit the ball instead of running from it…ha ha. In the end, we got beat by ‘Shots n Sets n Bulls**t’ 2 to 1. The game was over. We  would do better next time…I meant ‘they’ 😀

But whenever I hear the word ‘Winning!’, my mind always goes to Charlie Sheen and his epic meltdown a couple of years ago. He was on rampage acting like he was doing great on the outside when his world was falling apart on the inside. How often do we come across people who appear to have it all together so much so that we’re tempted to question if we’re trying hard enough or aiming high enough in our own lives. Its almost like trying to ‘Keep Up with the Kardashians’; although beautiful in pictures they have lives that are so tumultuous a normal human being would question their sanity on a daily basis.

But in my opinion, winning in life doesn’t necessarily mean you have ALL your ducks in a row or you’ve arrived and all your dreams have or are coming true. Winning in life means you’re taking steps (whether big or small) in the right direction (however that applies to you) to meet an expected end goal with a time frame in mind. The questions we must then ask ourselves is: Are you winning in life or are you giving people the impression that you are when you’re really not doing so good? And if you’ve lost sight by living from the outside inwards instead of from the inside out; how can you get back to ‘really’ winning in every area of your life?

Looking forward to winning the next game and maybe a little more practice will help. But until I come your way again, I hope y’all have a cool and fabulous weekend!!

 

Periwinkle Starr

 

 

Advertisement

That Happy Place!

Thathappyplace.PerriwinkleStarr

Happy New Month Y’all! I hope you’re enjoying the long weekend and gearing up for fireworks and the 4th of July fun fare? This week, I will be writing about what i’d like to call “That Happy Place” so stay with me.

I find that we all have a point, a goal, an achievement that once attained we will get to a place of bliss. This ‘set place’ means different things to different people. For some, its getting a certain position or having a net worth of certain figures. It could be having a family, buying a home or owning a business or a string of businesses. The list is endless. But as ideal as these achievements are, once attained we may soak in it for a while but eventually an unrest that comes from within sets in and we need another conquest, another thing to aspire to in order to get back to ‘That happy Place’. The mirage of this ideal is the fact that the post keeps shifting and if we aren’t careful, we might go through life not having being present or sitting still long enough to be in the moment and just be plain old happy 😀 😀

My Definition of That Happy Place

Moments in life where you are at peace in the core of your being in spite of whatever’s happening in your world. You acknowledge that life is not and will never be perfect but as long as you’re breathing, you’ll keep doing the best you can. You are kind to your soul. You’re here now and will enjoy every moment. Tomorrow is another day!

A couple of days ago, I set out at lunch time without the gang to check out a coffee shop I had spotted a few days prior. It was a nice walk. The interior had a window wall system directly facing the DART with chairs lined up to enjoy the view. It took me a few minutes to take in the scene around me: the skyscrapers, people walking, the DART,…everything. As I sat there, it suddenly occurred to me that I was in a ‘Happy Place’. Looking back on my journey and how far I had come, the people in my life, the places I had been – the good, the bad and not so pretty – summed into this moment and I was….CONTENT.  It took me sitting at a coffee shop on a rather quiet day enjoying the view of the outside world around me to realize it… 😀 😀

I believe that a happy place should be points where in spite of what life throws your way, you are accepting of who you are and at peace with yourself as a human being and confident that whatever the future brings, you’re planting your feet in the sand –  and you’re ready to take it on.

Until I come your way again, I remain

Periwinkle Starr