The self control monster under the bed.

    So, I know usually there's about four months minimum between my blogging, however I am going to try and make a change to that. Inspired by my bff I want to try and find the time to write every day. Writing has always been my outlet, my sanity, my shoulder to cry on or pillow to scream into. It has been my ever enduring, never turns its back on me, waits around for me when I disappear for four months at a time, type of friend. That said, I'm sure it won't always be interesting posts to anyone other than myself. It won't always be deep, thought provoking, be a better person posts. Some days, like today, it will just be getting out some things inside my head... because things inside your head need somewhere to live too, and my head is getting crowded!


    Now, onto the things in my head! First of all, as most anyone that actually reads this knows, I have been on a roller coaster ride that I like to call "getting healthier" for about a year now. I've sort of hit a plateau in the last few months. That has a lot to do with some things that were going on that I won't get into. Now that it's over though, I want to get back on the wagon. Not just back on the wagon, but  charge the wagon full speed ahead. I have found some work out videos I'm going to dedicate myself to, I'm going to start using the bike I have access to, mix in some swimming for fun and some yoga for sanity. Most importantly though I'm going to work on my self control. I like food. I like food that tastes so good you know it must be bad for you. That's not my real problem though, my real problem is the inability to tell myself no. This will be the first demon I tackle, telling myself no. I started today and I think I had a great first day. I went to the movies this morning with a friend and instead of indulging in movie snacks, I brought healthier snacks with me. I had a spinach salad with homemade salsa on it for lunch, and will pack myself a healthy dinner to remove the temptation of eating fast food junk while at work. Self control has always been the monster under my bed, whether it be food or something else. I have lived with the "you can't have too much of a good (or sinfully good) thing" mentality for too long, but I have faith in my ability to break these bad habits.


     The second thing on my head lately is commmpppllletteeeellly unrelated, yes completely did need to be dragged out like that okay. So I work in retail. In my job I see a lot of different people, happy families, unhappy families, miserable couples, adorable little old people still holding hands, etc etc. People watching has always been something I loved, seeing how people interact with each other, or what they do when they think no one is watching.. it's fascinating to me. I think you can learn a lot from watching people, this weeks learned lesson? Children are placed in our lives as much to teach us life lessons, as we are placed in their life to teach them life lessons. I've watched as mothers try and quiet their laughing children, children who are so clearly just enjoying the hell out of life. For some reason loud, rambunctious, fun having children are seen as "not proper" for public places. While I guess this is true if you're in a stiffy art museum or  packed movie theater, it's not really as true as people seem to think it is.. everywhere else. I think that the biggest lesson that we have to learn from the our children is to stop being so serious all the time and embrace our inner child. We (the universal we of society) force our children to grow up fast, we tell them to stop acting like children, we crush their imagination, chase away their invisible friends, and turn those smiles upside down. Creating a small army of serious, greedy, out for themselves, don't stop and help someone in need, people for the next generation. But.. why? Next time your child is trying to paint you a picture with words, jump into the story with them, fight the dragons along side their invisible friends, pick lolipop flowers in a rainbow field, fly high above the sky with wings you sprouted out of no where. Laugh. Listen to that ever contagious sound of a childs laughter, and instead of shushing it join in. Remember what it's like to look through the naive, innocent, life inexperienced eyes of your own childhood. Remember what it felt like not to understand why anyone would care if two men held hands, worshiped a different god, or spoke a different language. Remember what it felt like to strive only for 5 more minutes of running around outside, instead of making that next dollar. Remember what it felt like to love, just because you hadn't been taught anything else yet. Watch our little people, the reminders of the innocence we all once had... and learn from it. 


  I think that's all my head has right now, oh also Game of Thrones is a great book series. I highly recommend it, even if it did make me so mad last night I almost quit reading it. Maybe I get too invested in characters in a story? Either way, read it. Don't cheat and watch the show! 


 Now that's it for my head, and this blog! 


Todays lunch:

And all of the people, they were judged as one.

 
 So lately I've been noticing a lot of hate all up on my facebook. A good amount of this hate lands on a subject that actually hits pretty close to home for me. What subject? People receiving some sort of government aid, be it food stamps, cash assistance, health insurance, daycare help, whatever. There seems to be a lot of judgments being passed and a lot of assumptions being made. As the small and close minded of the world are known to do, they take the bad examples (and we all know the bad making the news or hitting the media in some way, far outweighs any amount of good) and they judge an entire group of people based on these things. There are a couple things on this topic that I feel the need to touch on.

  First of all, the subject of drug testing for welfare vs drug testing for a job. I'm so tired of seeing "if you can't apply for a job because you can't pass a drug test, why should you get welfare?" Let's completely ignore the fact that I don't agree with drug testing on any level (and yes, I could pass the tests), and just focus on one very key difference.

    Applying for a job doesn't cost you money. They don't make you pay for the drug test, there are no fees associated with it. However, if you are struggling and you need to apply for government help, well you better come up with some money first and pay for that drug test. Yes, they will reimburse you if you pass, but in the mean time.. go ahead and take food from your stomach or your children's stomachs, because you have to pay for that drug test. Right now in the state of Florida, drug testing is only required for receiving cash assistance. I think people are confused about the way cash assistance actually works.

    First of all, you have to be making basically zero dollars in a month to receive cash assistance. Second of all, the cash assistance they do give you is barely enough to put milk in the fridge for an entire month, let alone help with much else. So the people applying for this help, they're completely desperate, trying not to go without basic necessities for themselves or their kids. I should throw in here, that as a condition to receiving said cash assistance, you have to go to a job training class so many times a week, for so many hours. On top of this, you have to be actively looking for a job, with proof of what you've applied for and followed up on. So these people, struggling to get by, so desperate for a little bit of cash assistance, have to first come up with the money to take a drug test... before they can get it. That completely makes sense.

    Oh, I've heard all the arguments already. "People are abusing this system, there's ways around the requirements, there's this and that." I have to say, of course people are abusing the system. Find me a system that people aren't abusing. There will always be someone abusing something, but you don't judge the whole based on the few. I feel like these are lessons we should have learned a long time ago, lessons that are retaught on a daily basis in little ways if you just pay attention.

   The second thing I want to touch on, is the judgement on what people receiving food assistance are buying. I think that what people seem to forget, while they're standing in line looking over what's in the cart of someone using food stamps, thinking to themselves "Hmmph, they shouldn't be buying THAT with my money" is that MOST of those people, are putting their own taxes back into that very same system. MOST of those people are hardworking individuals, paying their taxes just like everyone else, into a system that is currently giving them a hand up. Now more importantly, whether or not your taxes go into that system too... who the hell do you think you are to decide what someone else should or shouldn't eat? I have heard it all, they shouldn't be buying that shrimp or lobster, why are they buying a cake, look at all that expensive organic stuff, or all that junk food. You're right, people on food stamps should live on mac and cheese and ramen noodles all month long. It amazes me how little it doesn't seem to occur to people, that maybe that cake is the only way a child gets to eat a birthday cake, or maybe that lobster is the only way a couple struggling to get by gets a nice anniversary dinner, and that junk food.. maybe it's providing for a little girls first slumber party. Yes, people 'abuse' the system, yes some people spend their money on junk just because, mostly because they don't really know a better way to spend their money, but that doesn't give you or anyone else the right to judge what is in their cart. Especially since you don't actually know WHY it's in their cart.

    Personally, I receive food help. I'm not ashamed of that or afraid to admit it. I have worked hard to find my footing and work my way back up onto my feet. I'm not there yet, but I'm getting there and in the mean time, my kids won't go without because I applied for that help. Now I've gotten the looks over my cart before, the comments when people think I'm not listening. Why? Because I shop healthy. My kids can't drink cows milk, so I "splurge" on almond milk. I don't want them drinking fruit flavoured sugar, so I "splurge" on more expensive juices. We eat a lot of organic, we buy a lot of produce, you see a lot of things in my cart that look like I'm 'wasting' money on expensive things.. but guess what, I know enough about eating healthy to know that my cart full of "expensive waste" is going to keep me and my children not only fuller but healthier, than your cart full of processed, cheap, boxed dinner, crap.

  One final thing I'd like to reiterate, and I feel like I've basically said it through this entire blog but here goes... For every person abusing the system, there are 10 hard working people just trying to get by. People who went from having a good job, to having no job. People who went from not having to work, to taking whatever job they could to get through the week. People who, just like everyone else, are or have put their money into the system. Every single person I know who is receiving some form of government aid, is using it as a hand up to get back on their feet. They are people who get up every day, go to work, and struggle to get by. This isn't about people being lazy, it isn't about people being too drugged or too drunk to work, it isn't about people squandering their money away on useless things. It's about people, struggling to keep their heads above water and not drown in a mountain of debt. 


    Every single one of us deserves a few basic things, shelter and food are just a couple of them. Stop living in an age of greed, of wanton waste, and serious lack of compassion. Look around you and realize that at any moment, your life could turn upside down and you could find yourself in a position where you're struggling too. Hopefully if that ever happens, you'll meet a wall of compassion and understanding, willing to help you and stand with you while you learn to stand on your own again. Maybe, just maybe, all of us could use a refresher on our first day of kindergarten. Treat others how you would want to be treated and make use of the buddy system.. because no one should go through life alone. Spend a little more time being part of someones support system, and a little less time being a part of the hate in the world.

   Before I go off on a subject of a completely different colour, aka the way we treat each other, I'm going to end this here. I close with some verses from one of my favourite songs. It's by a little band called Third Wheel Tuesday, and even though this blog is about the subject of all those people out there, receiving help so they don't drown... Well, I feel this song applies to this, and a lot of other things. It all boils down to this... Compassion, love, understanding. These things could feed the world, if only we'd open our eyes and our hearts and let them.


"I’m not talking about men. I’m not talking about women. 
I’m not talking about your God or their god or if you think he’s coming again. 
I’m not talking about nations, but I’m talking about peace. 
I’m talking about a rich man and a poor man and all the space in between. 

I’m not talking about color. It doesn’t mean a Goddamn thing! 
It’s about hope and faith in compassion and dignity. 
It’s about one man to another, like all men are brothers and this whole world- it is our home. 
And if we’re stuck here together, maybe we can make it better- if we don’t try, we’ll never know. 

And in this- the last verse, I plea for salvation- born out of forgiveness, delivered in patience. 
The past is behind us, the future is here and if this is what “love” means, 
I hope that it’s near. Love."