Is there something you’ve always wanted to try but haven’t? Or maybe there is something you used to enjoy doing but now life has gotten in the way and you don’t find the time for it anymore? I’m finding that pursuing those things can bring you so much more happiness than you ever expected.

Let me back up a minute.

This past week, I had the opportunity to meet a great group of women to talk about my book. One of their book club members has been a friend of mine for years. In fact, she was one of the very first people I ever told about my dream of someday writing a novel. When my book was released, she bought a stack of paperbacks, had me sign them, and gave them to friends and relatives. When a group of those friends took a winter trip to Hawaii, they sent me a picture. They were soaking up the warm sunshine—poolside—and posing with my book.

This was the group I spent my evening with on Tuesday. I only knew my one friend heading into the get-together but we all spent a fun couple of hours together. It was a beautiful summer evening, also spent poolside. We talked about different parts of the story, and they pointed out specific parts that resonated with them. I loved that these were some of my favorite parts, too; bits and pieces of the story that have stuck with me.      

It was evident to me how strong the bond is that these women share. They’ve raised their kids together. Now their kids are grown and having kids of their own. Their families remain close. How blessed they are.

During our chat, someone pointed out one of my favorite sections. I thought it would be fun to include this small snippet here from the letter Celia sends to Renee in the novel because it speaks to the point I’m trying to make in today’s post.

Don’t give all of your time and energy to your work and your children. Save enough of yourself so you have the strength and desire to forge strong relationships with people who will light your days and carry you through to your own sunset. Don’t depend on your children to do that for you. They need to build lives of their own.

These amazing women are doing this. They support their kids and their kid’s families but they also have strong bonds with each other, beyond the initial foundation of their friendship. My mom did this as well. She surrounded herself with a wonderful group of friends. People she could related to and had fun with, partly because they were at similar stages in life.

Making new friends and meeting people I have so much in common with wouldn’t have been possible if I didn’t take that deep breath and dive headfirst into this writing journey I’m now on. It is becoming such an awesome side benefit!

I want this for all of you, too. You will meet new people you share things with if you make the time to try new things. I think this is especially true if you are in a similar stage in life as I find myself in. The kids are still a very important part of our lives and keep us busy, but they also need their own space. I can either mope around about the fact they don’t need me as much as they used to, which I admit I still do on rare occasions, or I can pursue something I’m passionate about and meet new friends in the process. I can reconnect with old friends. I can take Celia’s advice and forge those relationships. So can you.

I would love to hear your stories of how you’ve added joy to your days through your friends. I heard hilarious stories on Tuesday evening but promised to change the names to protect the innocent if any of their experiences find their way into future story lines in my books!
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Thank you all for your friendship.   Kim

I was reading an article yesterday and it served as a stark reminder to me of how careful we need to be about things we read and watch. We all know this, but if you’re like me, it’s easy to forget as we go about our everyday lives.

The article itself focused on the financial markets and recent media reports. I’ll admit, I seldom read these types of things because I often find them dry and a tad bit boring. But in this particular case, the author made some great points. His overall message was that, despite the many positive results within the business sector in the US during the first part of 2018, most of what we saw in the media was gloom and doom. He went on to explain the potential impact to someone’s financial health if they acted upon the twisted, doomsday reporting (not good!).

Wow. Listening to media reports and acting on what they tell us could mean the difference between financial abundance and scarcity in our future. Fear based investing looks completely different from investing for growth. This really resonated with me because my mind quickly jumped to how prevalent this whole negativity vibe is in our society and how detrimental it can be to so many parts of our lives.

How can we combat this? By surrounding ourselves with protectors. While sometimes it might feel like those type of people that help lift you up and not tear you down are hard to find, seek them out and make them a part of your life. We are all blessed with the freedom of choice. Use that freedom to choose what you watch, what you read, and who you spend your time with every day.

We see this negativity in the entertainment world, too. Earlier this week, I was watching a little TV with my 17-year-old. She made a comment that struck me. She’d discovered a series on Netflix and enjoyed the first season. Now, as she started watching the second season, she didn’t like how the story line had gotten so much more twisted. Suddenly everything was focused on murders, violence and demented minds.

Shock and violence sells. It seems each show gets more vicious, more bizarre, more “dark”. Watch too much of it and you can start to get numb to it all. When people get numb to it in their world of entertainment, they start to get numb to it in real life. It’s a downward spiral.

Personally, I say “enough already”. Do I think we can do anything about this? Well, I’m not sure whether or not we can stem the tide but, what I am sure about, is we each have the power to control more of what we allow into our own homes and minds.

How can we do this?

• Turn off the junk on the television. 
• Spend your free time reading books or watching shows that inspire and offer positive solutions to life’s inevitable struggles.
• If you are lucky enough to have inspiring people in your life, spend more time with them. If you need more positive people in your life, go out and find them. Limit your time with the energy vampires (yes, you know who I mean!). And don’t let yourself be that vampire!

I know we all intuitively know all of this, but if you’re like me, sometimes we need a reminder because it’s way too easy to get sucked into the vacuum of negativity.

I stumbled across the following words on Pinterest and I think it describes the journey I’m on perfectly. Join me in this space if you like!
    
You can find me somewhere in between inspiring others, working on myself, dodging negativity, and slaying my goals.
 
And if you happened to miss last week’s blog post, please check it out. I wouldn’t want you to miss out on a free book and a trip down memory lane!

Choose to make it a great week!  I'm cheering you on - Kim