Come in, can you hear me?

Communication is so important, but seems to be the most difficult aspect between people. I feel that I am good at communication: I'm clear and I'm straightforward, but I miscommunicate with my significant other almost daily. I'm not sure if it's a breakdown on my end or his end, though I doubt only one person in a conversation can be totally at fault. I tend to give off body language and facial expressions that may not jive with my words and he tends to read into my words meaning that wasn't there. When your meaning doesn't seem to make it across to the other person you can feel frustrated and disconnected. That's not a nice feeling my friends.

What to do? One thing is to speak face to face or if you cannot then by phone. Texting and emailing doesn't work if you are working out a tricky problem. In business emailing is wonderful: you can be concise and accurate, but in interpersonal communication tone and meaning can be lost. I have, in the past, tried to explain my feelings via email because I'm much better with written word, but you know what? It never ever was successful, it was always misunderstood. That's difficult.

Communication is coming to be my favorite topic and is something that I think I will be focusing on a lot in this blog. I think that using different communication styles and tricks will help me, the difficult person, to better express myself and make my intentions understood. It would also help my understanding of the world at large and understand the other difficult persons I come across. We are all interconnected and the better we can communicate the better our connections will become.

I present...

As promised, The Red Queen alight:

Yowzers! I love it, it takes soooo much work for an 11 minute show, but when you're out there and there are 600+ people braving the frigid temperatures to watch you it's worth it.

The Snow King Festival

Last night was our town's big winter party: The Golden Masque Parade. A gathering to welcome the Snow King and Lady Spring that involves whomever wants to participate. For weeks ahead of the Festival the Snow King's Playhouse is open to the public to come and create their own masks and lanterns to take part in the festivities. I think, and I'm totally biased, that the best part is the fire group Amuse Troupe, of which I am a member. This year we put on our version of Alice in Wonderland, but ours was called Alice in Winterland. Besides being frigid it was a big hit, very well attended and a success in every way. I will post some pictures soon, stay tuned!

Why I love Danielle Laporte

If you've never heard of Danielle Laporte or her website white hot truth then you are missing out! These are the reasons why I love her:

1. She's authentic
2. She's from Canada, and Canada Rocks
3. She's got Moxy, with a capital M and who doesn't love moxy?
4. She gives me hope, that I can Rock
5. She cusses, but not like a sailor more for appropriate emphasis
6. She has a great program for entrepreneurs, it's motivating
7. She's authentic, and I'm really enjoying authenticity these days

Don't dilly-dally go check her site out right now. That is all.

Bosses don't like difficult

Nope. It's all about being a "team player" or having the "interpersonal" skills to make it through days of incoherent looping monologues and vague deadlines and just plain rudeness. My last boss once told me, among other nonsensical things, that it seemed like I was only doing the work that I wanted to do - however I completed every task that my boss assigned to me which was every file I worked on, every one. I never could figure that one out. 

Of course that's all in the past. I am now my own boss, I can be as difficult to my boss as I like. I only have to impress one person at a time, my client and that suits me fine. Of course starting a business in the current economy is a bit sketchy, but hey, everyone needs a crackerjack bookkeeper! I enjoy bookkeeping, I'm a big fan of organization out of chaos, turning one thing into something else - like receipts into a financial report. It's speedy work, there is very little interaction with others most of the time - not like an office when someone invariably stands at your door to chat. I'm not chatty at work. I'm social, oh sure, but work is to get done. And helping my clients learn the value of sincere brevity is fun, like a game.

Exercise should be fun

At the gym today there were a few of the regulars, myself being one of them. Exercise has been a saviour to me in so many ways, which I could list here but I think you'd get bored with it pretty quick. As I was looking around I noticed that a few people were just getting down to business, some were socializing and some looked downright miserable. To those people I say: Lighten UP, this is supposed to be fun! Exercise has so many benefits that I'm not going to explore, 'cause jeez Google it! And in all our heart of hearts we know that it's good for us.

I've been trying new things at the gym to keep it interesting, because while I find the gym fun it can be repetitious. I'm a big fan of the folks at Whole 9, and I absolutely adore Miss Melissa's recipe's (seriously, I've made 10+ of her recipes and I love them all - check out the Dino Chow section) and these folks are all cross-fitters. Now while there is no cross-fit gym here out in the sticks (just kiddn' Golden, I love you) I have adapted a few moves into my regular regime. Today was the triangle (I call it that, whatever) where I do 5 of all, then 10, then 15, then 20, then 15, then 10, and (thankfully) then 5. Aaaaand I'm done

• back squats - with the heavier bar, but no plates
• shoulder presses 8lbs
• Russian twists with a medicine ball or a 8lb barbell
• Push ups

It's quick and it's sweaty and I love it.

A start of a new day

And a new life! Recently I had the great opportunity of hearing Brene Brown give a speech via Ted.com, which if you've never experienced you should get your butt over there and check it out. I viewed this during a very difficult time, when my perception of myself was being challenged, when I had very little job security and when I felt very scared about my future. I listened to her speak and I teared up a couple of times: she was speaking about me, I thought, she's speaking to me. It was after listening to Brene that I started to embrace who I really was, she enabled me to see more of who I truly am and not who I think I am. Seriously people this was a game changer. The video is just over 20 minutes, so find some time and some quiet and enjoy this funny, poignant and moving talk.

The First One

Hi. Welcome to my blog about Difficulty. I'd like this blog to explore all things Difficult. I am Difficult, but I'm OK with that and I've decided to embrace it.

I'm glad that you're here joining me on this Difficult journey.