Return was the word given as a prompt last Friday. Every time I sat down to write for 5 minutes on the word, something sidetracked me. I kept returning to the task all week with the same results. Now I return one last time to either write this or give up and miss writing one of the Five Minute Friday prompts, which I have not done since I started. Streaking is big with me. I set a routine and I don’t like to break it, you know what I mean?

I find myself returning to the days when money was tight and we saved it wherever we could. So I have been cooking at home instead of eating out for the last few months. I returned to making the green smoothies every night (well, 5 or 6 nights each week anyway) so we would have breakfast ready to go each morning. I find I am really enjoying knowing I have the fruits and veggies handled so early in the day. It makes me feel like the eating for the day will go well when I do that.

I also returned to following FlyLady a little more closely. I feel like if I plan out my goals and follow the baby steps to reach them I will be successful in achieving them. I am even setting daily reading goals because there are so many books I want to read before the library demands them back. I figure out how long I have till they make me return it and how many pages I must read each day so I can finish the book before I return it. This is actually working. It is almost like giving myself homework, but really it is about giving my brain focus instead of letting it flit around willy nilly.

What can you return to that will help get your life back under control?

This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up!
The prompt this week is: Return
The assignment: Write for five minutes on the word of the week. This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation. Just write.

The word this week is pause. I think of pausing a video on NetFlix because someone walks in while I am watching a show and I try to give them my full attention while at the same time not missing any of whatever I am watching.

I listen to a lot of audiobooks when I am driving or in the house alone. That is because “alone” works best for me. It keeps me from having to pause the audio constantly. Nobody else wants to hear the books I am “reading” unless it is on a trip and it has been pre-determined that we will listen to a particular book during the drive. Even then, we have to pause the book when someone falls asleep or if traffic gets snarly and the driver needs to focus more fully on the road and not the story we are listening to.

So, if you hear something playing and I pause it when I hear you approach, no need to jump to the conclusion that it is something I am ashamed of and not wanting to be caught listening to. Instead, think of it as my way of giving you my complete and undivided attention while you are in my presence. I will still think of it as the necessary thing to do so I won’t miss any of what I am listening to.

What have you had to pause lately? Let us know what you are reading, watching or listening to in the comments below. Don’t forget to share your email in the form on the top right of this blog so that you can be notified any time I post so you won’t miss anything.

This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up!
The prompt this week is: Pause
The assignment: Write for five minutes on the word of the week. This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation. Just write.

Ok, this is getting a little weird. Today, for FiveMinuteFriday, Kate’s prompt is secret. Normally this wouldn’t be a weird thing but tonight, it is. Let me explain. I have been secretly writing a blog post about my struggles with weight loss. Today, I let my daughter read it and she encouraged me to go ahead and post it. At my writing group tonight, the sprint leader asked what we were planning to get done during the upcoming 30-minute writing sprint, so I admitted what I was working on and that I still wasn’t sure I would post it, but that I would be reading over it and editing it just in case. They were all very encouraging too. I also admitted that I thought I probably would eventually release it into the world because I had already created a secret Facebook group and thought I would allow readers who wanted to encourage my efforts to join and tackle their own issues. It wouldn’t be a “closed group”, but a “secret group” where only the members would know where it was and be able to see the members.

So, the reason I have been wavering on whether or not to release it is that the post is basically a timeline of my struggles with my weight with specific dates, weights, and photos going back over thirty years. YIKES! Even Hubby doesn’t know all those details, and we’ve been married forever.

So, I would say, no way, not gonna put myself out there and face the humiliation of the whole world knowing the specifics. But then something inside me says, but what if me coming clean with all those details is what helps someone else lose the weight that is killing them. What if I could help someone take their life back? What if THIS is what I am meant to be writing? I have been adding to it a little at a time as I come across another detail or photo. I’d tell myself it would motivate me and I could always make it a private post for my eyes only. One minute I tell myself, it’s ok, to just go ahead and post it because almost nobody reads my blog anyway unless they are Five Minute Friday posts, even then only a couple of people read it that I know about. The next minute my brain says, but what if THIS is the one post that goes viral and EVERYONE sees it? See what I mean? It is hard to keep a secret, but sometimes it is even harder to share your secret (failures) with the world.

So, please tell me what YOU would do, and what you think I should do in the comments below or perhaps in a direct message just to me via the contact form or email ([email protected]). If I post it at all, it will be WITH all the secret details. Go big or go home, right?

This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up!
The prompt this week is: Secret
The assignment: Write for five minutes on the word of the week. This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation. Just write.