Natasha Fondren

I’m tired of not blogging, but all I’ve really been thinking about lately are things that make me happy, to counteract dealing with a bit of a mess someone left me to deal with when someone hopped on a boat for the winter. And I’ve been thinking of writing. And organizing.

So I have nothing interesting for you, except that did you know how often I see shooting stars? At least two or three a week—more if there’s a meteor shower. I’m grateful I get to spend two hours outside every night walking. That’s lucky.

Also, a cat is trying to adopt me. I think it has an owner. It’s well-fed and a couple days ago it seemed as if it had been groomed. They leave it outside all the time, though, and it comes to my camper every night to talk to my cats through the screen. (Sometimes to fight with my cats.)

It seems lonely. Sometimes it follows me on my walk, so the other day, I sat with it. And I was thinking how lucky I am, that if a cat wants company, I can just sit with it for forty-five minutes.

Before I came to Arizona, I wrote and taught 12 – 15 hours every day. Working two jobs was a lot. I got more done, but man, I was constantly stressed.

So I’m also grateful to be living life at a slower pace. I’ve worked hard to make that happen, and it took a long time for me to adjust, but I love it now. It freaked me out at first, LOL!

So that’s my life. How is yours? What are you grateful for?

Lemons and lemonade, pfffffffft. I’ve decided that sometimes life throws you lemons so that it’s easier to change said life.

Man, I swear, this month has been one thing after another, and I keep walking two hours every night and working out like crazy until I find my happy again, and then BAM! The next day, I get a pile of lemons thrown at me.

It’s unbelievable.

Worse, I thought I’d organized everything and put everything in order and planned for every surprise contingency, and BAM!—a ton of lemon crap to clean up again.

But it’s nothing, really. I always try to get perspective at times like this, which is easy because pretty much nothing is as bad as spending a decade sick and mostly in bed. See?

Life is good. I can workout three to five hours a day and I feel GREAT. I’ve never felt better or healthier in my entire life. I love where I am and who I am and what I’m doing. That is pretty much a blessing that people work their entire lives to achieve.

And I get to look at the stars every night. That’s a HUGE one for me. I’m outside at least three or four hours a day. I have cats that snuggle with me every night. I have the best best friend in the whole world. My niece is the coolest niece on the entire planet. I get to socialize with people every day.

I would just like to announce to the universe that it needn’t throw me anymore lemons. I learn quickly. I’m one of those people who change and change well. No motivation needed, but thank you kindly for the offer.

Happiness is a mindset, but man… sometimes you have to work like hell to get there.

Okay, tell me your year so far is going better than mine, please… ?

I lost my happy last week. Despite my optimism, the stress of a mess I had to clean up just got to me. All’s good, all’s organized, and everything’s on track for an awesome 2011.

I have a new writing desk. From Scientific American, I just read that sitting can kill you. You writers out there know how crazy sedentary the writing life can be. Apparently the study says that it doesn’t matter whether or not you workout an hour a day, sitting all day is sedentary—and raises your risk of death 50%.

in a sample of more than 17,000 Canadians (available here). Not surprisingly, they report that time spent sitting was associated with increased risk of all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality (there was no association between sitting and deaths due to cancer). But what is fascinating is that the relationship between sitting time and mortality was independent of physical activity levels. In fact, individuals who sat the most were roughly 50% more likely to die during the follow-up period than individuals who sat the least, even after controlling for age, smoking, and physical activity levels. Further analyses suggested that the relationship between sitting time and mortality was also independent of body weight. This suggests that all things being equal (body weight, physical activity levels, smoking, alcohol intake, age, and sex) the person who sits more is at a higher risk of death than the person who sits less.

I’ve wanted a treadmill desk for awhile (funny: one wouldn’t fit in my camper), but I’ve never tried a standing desk. I loved sitting on an exercise ball, but I don’t have a desk in the camper, either.

But I’ve found something better: the dancing desk. It’s like a standing desk, but instead of just standing, you dance. It does wonders for focus. (Y’all know how I struggle with that.) Plus you can totally get down to Glee or Cher or the Cure or Queen or whatever gets you rockin’.

AND, when you’re done, you can settle back with wine, bread, cheese, and chocolate cake. Stress, gone; happy, back. (A long talk with my best friend helped, too.)

It’s always such a relief to find my calm, happy center. It’s like a rock I can always rely on, an old friend who’s always there.

So this weekend I reclaimed my happy. And my fun.

How do you find your happy again when stress overwhelms you? How do you get your fun on?

I’m excited for this new year. So many good things!

2011 is going to rock. I insist. I mean, like, I INSIST.

That’s all.

How are you feeling about 2011?