So many noteworthy things happened over the weekend and I've been trying to mentally segment them in my mind so I can regurgitate them on my blog in a semi-organized fashion. I read the NY Times this morning and had an "Aha!" moment (I love when that happens when I read the paper). The article that I read that turned on my mental lightbulb is called: "Winners Never Quit? Well, Yes They Do". Here' the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/16/business/16shortcuts.html?pagewanted=1&em. I promise you this is a fabulous article and worth clicking on!
A couple of quotes from the article particularly resonated with me- rightly so since I am the midst of cutting some things out of my life that are unnecessary and devoting my time to more worthy causes.
Professor Miller and his colleagues have followed college students, older people and the parents of children with cancer and found that, in many cases, moving from a difficult goal to another, more attainable, one can create a greater sense of well-being, both mentally and physically.
In the September issue of the journal Psychological Science, Professor Miller, along with Carsten Wrosch, associate professor of psychology at Concordia University, reported that they had followed 90 teenagers for one year. The study found those who could not renounce hard-to-attain goals showed increased levels of the inflammatory molecule C-reactive protein, which is linked to such health problems as heart disease, diabetes and early aging in adults.
Kathleen D. Vohs, a professor of marketing at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, has also studied the issue, largely in relation to people who regularly overspend and to chronic dieters. She said that people need internal resources to attain their goals, and “if you are a pursuing a goal that is constantly frustrating, you will be less successful in goal attainment in other areas of life.
The truth is, it sometimes shows more courage to leave than to stay.
I play for a band right now that eats up my time during the week, weekends, and holidays, but it's probably one of the most enjoyable and cathartic experiences I partake in. Unfortunately, I'm on one of the biggest fitness kicks ever (which probably supersedes my 18-year old glory days *smirks* j/k) and I don't really want to nix my kickboxing classes for good ol' band camp.
Furthermore, there are other aspects of my life that I want to improve upon, which undoubtedly means that I am forced to take the bulls by the horns, look fear in the eyes, and face the fears of quitting. In this sense, "quitting" would mean spending and/or shopping. I had a very recent shopping fiasco yesterday while I was at work (yes, work on a Sunday) where I went to the Walnut Creek Nordstrom's on my break (incubation time point). Mind you, I had only about 40 minutes to spare before I had to be back to the lab and I spent more than half of that time trying to find parking in downtown Dub C. Luckily, I found parking and managed to coast (more like sprint) to the junior's section of Nordstrom and try on FOUR pairs of jeans! FOUR!!! What's even more pathetic is the fact that I tried each pair of jeans TWICE! Okay, I'm a bit neurotic, I know. Thank goodness I didn't lose my entire sense of discretion and I only walked out of that store with two pairs of jeans. I'm such a moron too because I didn't really allot myself too much time to find where the hell I parked my car either- how about I was running around W.C. amongst the swarms of boughie (pronunciation: boo-jee) shoppers trying to put a finger on where my car was!
Long story short- found my car, expanded my jeans wardrobe by 2, and I still haven't thought about quitting the shopping addiction.
It doesn't help I'm three books into the Shopaholic series.
P
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