Daily Gratitude: If you’re an overachiever, print this quote out and keep it with you at all times. I know that in the past I ignored the virtues of rest. I would simply keep plowing on. Recently I ended up with a 2-3 week period where I had a migraine every day. At first I tried to ignore them and keep going. But the pain just got worse. Along with the pain of a migraine comes intense fatigue so I was sleeping most of the day. That happened because it was the only thing that would force me to listen to my body and take the time off all my responsibilities and commitments. It worked. I had nothing I could do except sleep so I had to stop. Don’t wait for your body to make you stop. Pay attention now. You know when your body is telling you to slow down. You’re just not listening. It’s much better to listen now rather than when everything falls apart.

Daily Gratitude: This is the essence of a full life. No matter how boring or dull you think something is, find a way to make it exciting. This is a belief I have to draw on when doing the “fixed time” events where you walk (or run) around the same loop over and over. Talk about boring. But in order to keep going and make my time there worthwhile, I have to come up with various ways to make it exciting. Usually that’s with audiobooks but even that can get old. Talking with people is always fun (well, usually depending on the person) but that doesn’t happen to me often because of my pace. So I have to find other ways to keep my adrenaline going. I create games, I use mantras and create songs. Sometimes I plan future books, too. It’s always a challenge but sometimes the challenge of just keeping myself in the game is exciting. I admit it’s getting harder. Take some time to take inventory in your life and see what seems “old” to you. Then try to figure out how to make it exciting again. Every moment of our lives should contribute something great to our memory banks. Let’s not waste many moments.