Chap Chat

These last few weeks of term we have been discussing ‘goal setting’ - the importance of understanding what it is you would like to achieve, when you would like to achieve it, and how you are going to go about it.

Unfortunately for me, I have always hated setting goals - it’s just not my ‘thing’… Unfortunately for me, this has also left me floundering at times when it was important to achieve something by a set time or for a set purpose.

Today I had a goal - to finally ‘fix’ my blog avatar, and to write my new post… And I managed to do both! I also had other goals I had to achieve today, which included writing reports and making phone calls. So the first thing I did was to write myself a list of what I wanted to achieve. Now, I always know that I should write a list of things, because otherwise I tend to forget what I have to do; but, of course, I usually don’t… But because we’re working on goals I decided I had to set myself an example and actually do it! And lo and behold I have managed to achieve most of my goals for today!! I can recommend writing lists, because it feels so good when you can tick them off as you go…

You may not yet know what it is you want to be ‘when you grow up’; in fact, you may not know what you really want to do next week! And that’s okay - for now… But it is important to start thinking about your dreams for your future. What do you love doing? What are you passionate about? You can do it - you can achieve your dreams (well, within reason…). They will only stay dreams if you choose to let them.

Choose today to set yourself a goal - it may be that you want to save up for something special; or it may be you would like to improve your schooling somehow (marks, behaviour); or it may be a dream of becoming an AFL star! What is your goal? What is your dream? You can become the person you would like to be…

Dream on!

With the Olympics coming up in the next few weeks, our minds tend to turn more towards sport than perhaps they normally would… But what do we see as being important when we look at a sporting event? Is it the winning that really counts? Or is it the way the game is played…?

Have you ever won something, but you had actually cheated to get there? Or perhaps had treated others badly in the process? Or maybe you just played for yourself rather than involving the whole team? Is winning really so important that we should ignore the rules, or other teammates, or the ’spirit’ of the game just so we can walk away with glory?

I used to be very competitive - I love to win! In the same way that most people feel really good when they win. But over the last few years I have realised that I feel much better about myself if I can play fair, and even help others to win sometimes. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be the winner and striving to get there. But if you really want to feel good about yourself, play fair and look out for others. Encourage those especially who are struggling - even if they’re on the other team!

If you can spend some energy being an encouragement to those around you, you will end up being not only a winner in everyone else’s eyes, but you will feel good about yourself. And then you can strive to win with a clear conscience…

Go on, be a good sport!

I was reading an article today that talked about the fact that we often say we are ‘just’ something: “I’m just a kid”, “I’m just a soccer player”, “I’m just a computer nerd”, and the one I have heard a lot “I’m just a housewife”…

The truth is, no one is ‘just’ anything… Each person is unique and individual, special because no one is quite like you.

If you ever hear yourself saying “I’m just a …”, stop yourself and leave out the ‘just’. Take pride in what you are and what you can become.

You are not ‘just’ anything… You are you, I am me - and proud of it!

Shalom

This morning I was very proud to hear news that two friends had sorted out their differences and were back to being best friends again…

It is so easy in any relationship to just ‘give up’ when you have a disagreement with someone. Whether it is a friendship-relationship, or girlfriend/boyfriend-relationship, it is common now to see people just walking away without sorting through the issues.

It is easy to walk away - it is much harder (but shows more strength) to actually talk through the issues. Of course, that doesn’t mean you will be able to talk about them straight away. Maybe there needs to be a temporary ‘walking away’ just to cool off and think through the problems. But at some point it is important to come back to the situation and work through the issues.

That doesn’t mean you still have to be ‘best friends’ or ‘girlfriend/boyfriend’ - sometimes things are said or done that mean you won’t be able to have that same relationship back again. But it is still important to work it through so that you don’t carry with you the pain of never having sorted it out.

We live in a ‘throw-away’ society today, whereby everything is replaceable… But some things are meant to be fixed - especially relationships…

These two friends that I mentioned thought they wouldn’t be able to reconcile their differences, but they did because they knew that their friendship was worth it. Is your relationship worth saving? Talk about it… If you can’t approach the other person yet, then talk to someone else about it (eg, a teacher, counsellor, chaplain, etc). Don’t let one comment or event spoil an important relationship…

Shalom

Greetings,

I had an onerous task to do yesterday afternoon, which had me worried all day… I had to make a phone call to complain about a bill!

Now, I am the sort of person who does not like confrontation, so having to make this phone call was something that had me churning up all day - worrying about what to say and how to say it in such a way as to not offend, but to still get my point across…

I came home from school feeling depressed, because I REALLY didn’t want to make this phone call… but I knew it had to be done (and I also knew that my husband wasn’t going to let me get away with not making the call!). So after getting grumpy and moping about for a while (because I really would have preferred if HE made the call, but it was my problem after all…) I finally built up the courage and made the call… And managed to get it all sorted out without any problems at all!!!!

Sometimes we build up our little problems into such huge problems that they seem insurmountable… Knowing how to deal with the emotional build-up to actually working out the problem can be just as hard as dealing with the problem itself.

Remember that it is always best to face up to your problems, rather than trying to hide from them (like I wanted to do), because the problem won’t just go away, and may just get worse the longer you leave it!

Talking through your problems can help you to deal with all the emotions that go with it. If you have a problem, whether big or little, it is good to talk to a friend you can trust…

Shalom!

Greetings!

Thank you to Miss W for helping me get started with my new blog yesterday! It was fascinating learning all the new terms and techniques.

This is the first in what I hope will become a very regular and hopefully interesting Chat time… As the Chaplain at Sorell, I hope to be able to use this blog to share positive information and suggestions.

Come with me on my journey, and we’ll see where it leads!

Chap