Feel Good Fun Friday

Today I’d like to talk about doing little things that make you feel good, happy and perhaps give you a booster in self-confidence and accomplishment.  It doesn’t have to be a mammoth project or tackling a big bahonkin’ goal in 24 hours or as a weekend warrior.  I think sometimes we take on the world in our never-ending task list called life and wind up feeling defeated, discouraged and depressed when we don’t accomplish every single nitty-gritty “every T crossed every I dotted” line item.  I’m the worst offender when it comes to making the impossible mile-long task list that I probably couldn’t accomplish in a full week, and of course I expect, no… demand of myself that I SHOULD do it all, without effort.  I set myself up for failure and then feel lousy about myself when it’s not all done.  I become my own worst enemy and sometimes allow myself to feel so completely overcome that I go into analysis paralysis and the only thing I achieve is a big fat check off on the procrastination task – THAT I manage to do effortlessly… then hop on the guilt train to Bluesville where my esteem gets smaller by the minute, and my self-criticism grows at the speed of light.  Anybody out there relate?

Several weekends ago I accomplished a small something of which I’m really proud – I made gravy from scratch… yep, I made an old-fashioned roux from drippings, butter and flour, then added skim milk, horseradish and seasonings.  Now mind you, I realize this is not the healthiest of things to eat on a regular basis, but you know I believe that when you basically eat “clean” most of the time, there’s nothing wrong with having anything in moderation periodically.  I love to cook and bake, and thanks to an admitted addiction to the Food Network, I am learning some of the finer points of culinary skills, from the basics up.  Thanks to some help from Trisha Yearwood and Ree Drummond, my Valentine’s Day dinner was filet mignon (with said gravy), baby purple potatoes (seriously, they were my favorite color purple – could it get any better???), asparagus bundles wrapped in bacon, and pumpkin mousse parfaits (my very own recipe).  And… Sunday lunch was leftover roasted chicken quesadillas with fresh sautéed veggies, a hint of bacon bits (okay, I love bacon, what can I say?), horseradish cheese and kissed with a topping of salsa and a baby tomato slice.  I’m telling you, I feel like Julia Child!  I had soooo much fun just flitting around the kitchen adding this, stirring that and loving the wonderful smells and warmth.  It was absolutely therapeutic and I was giddy with a sense of culinary accomplishment.

Perhaps this sounds silly to you, and that’s totally okay – you may have other endeavors that jazz you and float your boat – cool beans!  The point I’m trying to make is that you need to do something that might seem small to you, but makes you feel terrific, even if it’s just taking 15 minutes to clean a disorganized spot, or finally tackling the beginning of a big project.  Maybe it’s just getting out of bed and showering and facing your day.  The fact is, you did it, and that’s a very good thing.  So exercise your “I’m going to do this seemingly teensy-tiny thing that will make me smile from the inside out” task today.  It will leave you with a HUGE sense of happy.

Blessings,
Coach Linda Bush