Merry Christmas!

It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas when its mighty Founder was a child Himself.  ~Charles Dickens

The universal joy of Christmas is certainly wonderful.  We ring the bells when princes are born, or toll a mournful dirge when great men pass away.  Nations have their red-letter days, their carnivals and festivals, but once in the year and only once, the whole world stands still to celebrate the advent of a life.  ~Author Unknown

MERRY CHRISTMAS to each of you who read this little blog of mine! I hope you each have a fantastic day celebrating, whether with friends or family. I will be spending it with my family, enjoying time together and spending the day with Christmas lights on and the fire blazing. 

I know that for some, Christmas is a very difficult, painful, or grief-filled day. For those of you who are alone, struggling through an illness, grieving the loss of someone close in your life, or any other number of reasons, I hope that you experience some love and joy tomorrow, and that someone in your life is able to reach out to you. I'm sorry for your pain, and please know there are people out there who care about you and can help you if you need it! 

Now it's your turn:

What's one of your favorite traditions on Christmas Day? 

The Most Extravagant Dinner I've Ever Eaten

This post is pretty uncharacteristic for this blog, but I wanted to share it as it shows pieces of various components of the wheel of wellness, and gives an example of one evening in my life. This past weekend I went to an anniversary dinner for some family members. It was a wonderful time to celebrate the love and commitment these two individuals share for one another. This was BY FAR the most elaborate and expensive party I have ever attended in my life, and I still can't believe I experienced that evening. 

Let me paint a picture for you. I was given 4 forks with my place setting, and was given 3 more throughout the meal. There were two "cocktail hours", and 9 courses throughout the meal. A 9 COURSE MEAL! I was stuffed by the 3rd course, so I'm not quite sure how I managed to sit through 6 more courses. This food was absolutely delicious, and part way through I thought I should start taking pictures to share with you. Here are a few of them:

Twice baked potato, steak, lobster tail, and asparagus.

Dessert plate including cookies, chocolate covered strawberries, and cannoli!

A fruit tray with cactus fruit and fresh figs!

The night ended with drinking and dancing, which was a lot of fun. Because of some of the choices I've made, and because of my career, I've chosen to not share much about my life. I thought this would be a good little slice of my life to show that I do have family that I have fun with, I do like to have fun, and I enjoy good food:) 

Now it's your turn!

What's the most crazy or elaborate dinner you've ever been to? 

Celebrate 2010!

Today I was a guest blogger for Fit Blog (http://fitblogger.ca)! I'll copy it here, but here is the link to the original article: http://fitblogger.ca/celebrate-2010-musings-of-a-counsellor/

2010. What a year!

On December 31, 2009 I sat on the floor of my room feeling completely overwhelmed looking at the year ahead.

I felt that there were a number of incredibly painful situations I’d have to deal with, and yet sitting there, I had no idea what those would be! I also knew I’d experience great joy as I was scheduled to get my Master’s Degree!

This year has been filled with a lot of changes, pain, grieving, joys, and laughter, and sitting here, I’m fairly amazed I made it through. Not only did I survive the year, but I thrived and flourished through it.

This was a year where I made a commitment to be an active participant in my personal health and wellness. I was no longer going to be a victim of the actions of those around me, nor was I going to try to control the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of others.

I have countless reasons to celebrate and be thankful!

A friend of mine was brutally murdered, my grandpa died, and my dog died within the span of 4 months.

I was able to take what I had learned from previous losses and dealt with each of these situations in an emotionally healthy way. It certainly wasn’t easy, and I’m not saying that the pain and tears didn’t exist, but I was able to grow through these experiences.

I was the first person in my master’s program to implement and complete a thesis! I developed a wellness group and implemented it with college-aged students. Not only did I find an area of counselling that I am passionate about, but I was able to apply these ideas of wellness to myself as well. I had the opportunity to grow and become an even healthier individual through doing my thesis!

This year, I graduated with my master’s in Clinical Mental Health and Addictions Counselling this year. I learned a lot in my master’s program; not just about counselling itself, but about myself and the world around me as well. The lessons I learned through this will always be a critical part of who I am.

After graduation, I landed one of my dream jobs! Each day getting to go to a university and counsel college students! I absolutely love it, and there is a rare day where I feel that I “have to go to work” and don’t enjoy it. I so enjoy getting to sit with people amidst their pain and walk with them through their journey for a short time. I love getting to watch people make changes and make strides towards health in their life!

I started working out again! Because of some joint issues I have, it’s much easier and less painful for me to sit on the couch than to get moving. But I figured, I could go on brisk walks with friends and get an excellent work out! I was up to walking 7.5 miles in a given day before winter.

Funny thing is-as I started moving more, my eating started to naturally become a bit healthier as well!

Although I first started learning about boundaries back in 2005, this was a year to really solidify how they look and play out in my life. It’s amazing to me how much less stressful and more joyful life is without trying to control the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of those around me.

These are just a few of the big events of this year for me; there is more pain and much more joy and laughter than I would list here. But as I look back over the year, it’s been a very good one full of lots of life lessons.

We are each in a process of growing and becoming-becoming more the people we were created to be, and becoming healthier individuals.

And yes, I am a much healthier person this December then I was at the end of December last year.