Discernment & Decisions & Questions

This post has been on my mind almost constantly for the better part of two months, but in looking and thinking back, it has been residing in me for quite some time.

I make decisions all day at work. Is this home appropriate; is this placement safe; what's the right response in this situation; prioritizing issues and tasks... all. day. I'm responsible for other people and their decisions - and for the people those people are responsible for, too. At work, I consider myself a very decisive person. I'm good at making decisions under pressure. I'm good at discerning what needs to happen in situations.

When I come home, I don't want to make decisions. I don't want to decide what to have for dinner or where to go or which load of laundry to do. (My friends will tell you that I do not make food-related decisions... ever.)

One decision I have made recently is that I don't WANT to be a non-decision-maker in my personal life. I don't want to sit by while life happens around or to me. So on my journey of writing and discovering and figuring out my wants and needs and whys - this is something I'm actively working on.

One challenge I didn't anticipate is that discernment is really hard sometimes. How do I know if something is what *I* want or if it is actually the right thing for me? How do you make a hard decision knowing it is painful (for yourself or others), but right? What role do dreams play in guiding us in making decisions? I recently asked a friend - do you think God speaks to us through dreams? If dreams do play a role in guiding us in decision-making, what if there are factors - other people or situations - involved? We obviously can't control others based on a dream and many situations are influenced by external factors.

I don't have all (honestly, I don't any) answers to these questions, so please comment if you have thoughts. The more I think about writing and consistently using this blog, the more I feel it's going to involve a lot of questions that I'd love feedback on.

#discernment #selfdiscovery

Why Are You The Way That You Are?

So this is what I've been thinking about a lot lately. The GIF is funny and just because I love The Office, but in all seriousness, I have been doing a lot of self-reflection and trying to explore the "why" behind the things I do and believe and want and need. Writing helps get all of that worked out and I know from experience that reading other people's thoughts and ideas helps us feel less alone/weird about our "stuff" so my plan is to write it in this space to get feedback and foster community. The sociologist in me is a big believer in discovery and trying to make some sense of things.

The things I want to write about are questions/topics I've thought about on my own as well as writing prompts from other people or resources. I want to start on a positive note and my first question is also a "living document" type of topic so I can come back to it whenever I want.

- my favorite things in life are...

• Raegan and Jaxson - watching them grow and change and turn in to pretty amazing little humans
• books
• flamingos in any way, shape, or form
• a really great pen
• laughing with my friends
• the people who support me - even when that means giving me a hard look at truth I maybe don't want to see
• old school worship music
• 80s-early 2000s country music
• Chris Stapleton music
• okay, music in general - it makes me feel all the feels and makes me happy 
• delicious coffee
• funny TV shows 
• the Christmas season

#selfdiscovery #favoritethings