A slice of childhood

     My little boy found a tv channel that plays a lot of old style cartoons. Power rangers, digimon, ninja turtles, sonic....I watched most of them as a kid and it made me think about other little slices of childhood that brought back some good memories.

 
   When i was a little kid we would run out and play with our friends. There was a patch of wasteland behind an industrial estate which was really overgrown and had a patch of trees in. Nothing special but we spent hours upon hours down there. Making "bases"  and playing hide and seek and no doubt getting up to a bit of mischief.  We would be out for hours and our parents wouldn't worry that we'd been snatched or gotten lost as long as we came home when it was time for dinner or when mum or dad yelled out the door for us that it was time to come in. It was cool.

   Then there was the crazes that would come and go. Anyone remember pogs? I loved pogs and tazos and must have had thousands of them. For anyone who doesn't know what they were, they were little round cardboard discs that you and a friend would pile up face up then hit with a plastic disc (which we called a slammer) and whichever pogs landed face down you kept for your collection. It sounds pretty lame now but at the time it was massive. Then there was yo-yos, not a new craze but it came around again when i was about 12. Everywhere you looked in the school playground there was people "walking the dog" or going "around the world" with their yo-yo.

    Looking back on this side of childhood brings a sense of nostalgia for the simpler times. When the worst that you had to worry about was who was friends with who or what "swapsies" you had in pokemon cards.  I'm talking about before the worst of the bullying kicked in and when things just seemed easier. As a child we have a sense of wonder and adventure that is all too often lost as we get older. An innocence that is one of the true blessings in life. I think we should all take a leaf out of our children's book sometimes and just enjoy things for what they are and not worry so much about what they aren't. The world might just be a better place if we can keep a little of that childhood magic in our hearts.

Being Unique

   Yesterday I wrote about fear and how we should face our fears and live our lives and it got me thinking.
How many of us actually live our lives the way we want to? I mean how we really want to, being who we really are and not living our lives to other peoples expectations.

  I know I often hold back who I am, trying to conform to society's idea of normality. In fact the more I try I think the more I fail. But really that is a good thing. Who wants to be a sheep following the rest of the flock? We are all unique and should celebrate the differences in each other not pick them out and use them to humiliate or degrade.

  I was bullied terribly all through school and it really affected my confidence and self image. I started trying to be more like a "normal" girl with the hair and the makeup and all it did was draw more attention to me and the fact that I just didn't fit in. So I went back to me, no makeup or fuss with hair and just tried to stay invisible.

  Since then that is what I have pretty much always tried to do, not stand out. Whether it be hiding intelligence or wearing unremarkable clothes there are many ways I try to just be a face in the crowd for fear of being humiliated. There is that word again. Fear. Well like I said yesterday its time to face my fear and start living my life. I am unique and I should and will celebrate that fact. The people who matter to me will love me no matter what so its about time I stop with the putting myself down and start loving myself too. I am who I am and if you don't like it then you never really cared about me at all...

Living Life!

  FEAR.

  4 little letters that only take a second to say but can take a lifetime to overcome. We all suffer from fear at some time in our life, some more than others. Fear of failure, abandonment, phobias, all forms of fear that can have an incredibly profound effect on us.

   It holds us back and stops us living to our full potential. We need to face those fears and harness them to our advantage, grab life by the scruff of the neck and LIVE it! I am guilty of living in fear and letting it stop me from even attempting to be where i want to be. But I've finally decided to take those chances and risks, whats the worst that can happen right?

  Lets say for example i want to change career or go for a promotion at work but I'm too scared to try. If I don't try i don't lose but i also don't gain a single thing! At least if i face that fear i have a chance of going somewhere instead of staying in my rut. If i don't get the job/promotion will it kill me? No!  The worst that happens is I feel despondent for a few days but if I pick myself up and keep on trying who knows where i will get.

  As Franklin D Roosevelt said the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. If we allow our fears to conquer us we will never live our life to its full potential. Remember its YOUR life so its up to you, are you going to start taking those risks and make the most of life? Or are you going to stay stuck in the same old place for the next however many years you have and end up looking back saying i wish...? I know which I'm Choosing!!  LIVING LIFE!
 

yay :)

So here it is, my first post, yay! 

   This blogs going to be an outlet for my thoughts, feelings and just general ramblings.

If i happen to pick up a few readers on the way that is great and i hope you enjoy what you see :)

  I'm not guaranteeing it will be interesting or fun but it will be random!