Author: Mackenzie

ORIGINALLY POSTED IN 2012 ON focusonsimple.co I'm an emotional person - as in, I feel emotions strongly, exquisitely. It sometimes take a lot of effort to refrain from have my life be completely ruled by what I'm feeling. High school was particularly difficult for me - there were really great moments, but it definitely felt like one long stretch of...well, depression. + for me, depression is being overwhelmed with emotion. Usually it's dark + heavy. When I'm filled up with love + thankfulness, it's...incandescent - light + loveliness. These days, I don't get weighed down in the same way. Every few months or so I'll experience a bout of what can only be described as a dark mental abyss which slowly overtakes every happy memory + replaces them with those that reinforce thoughts + voices…

ORIGINALLY POSTED IN 2012 ON focusonsimple.co We had the opportunity to take part in this leadership workshop that was put on by a local group that promotes leadership in local young people in business + community. The final event of the series was a talk by Drew Dudley. I had actually seen a ted talk that he had done previously (over the internet, not in person), but didn't put two + two together until he was part way through his talk... He gave an excellent talk. Through stories of personal experience he talked about leadership, contributing to your community, + finding happiness in your daily life. Here are his main take-away points: What have I done today to be helpful?What have I done today to make it more likely that I will learn something?What have…

ORIGINALLY POSTED IN 2012 ON focusonsimple.co After some recent introspection and reflection I've come to the conclusion that really taking ownership of my life may not be one of my strong suits. I've always tried to make what might be considered the 'right' decision by others. What my parents, family, friends, + even employers, would approve of. Well...that's not right. +, truthfully, it hasn't worked out in my best interests. My life is great, + I've always tried to stay thankful, + have been very blessed. But there have been a few missteps which have seemed like huge set-backs or hiccups. I know this happens to everyone. I've most definitely fallen victim to self-victimizing..."why me?" "I'm a good person, doesn't that count for something...isn't that enough?"...+ I've also definitely suffered from the "not as good/successful/thin/fill-in-the-blank…

ORIGINALLY POSTED IN 2012 ON focusonsimple.co I'm a pretty accommodating person, in life, in general. When someone asks me to do something, my first impulse is to find a way to be able to do it. However, this sometimes leads to me doing a sub-par job, because I'm trying to get it done amongst all the other things I'm trying to manage. When someone asks "can you do this?" my response is "yes, I can literally do this". But what I should be thinking first is "Is this aligned with my values + life goals right now?" Or "Do I want to do this?". Then secondly, "Is it reasonable that I can do this, within the time frame I'm being asked to do this, keeping in mind that to which I'm already committed to" (ie.,…

ORIGINALLY POSTED IN 2012 ON focusonsimple.co I miss my life as a student. + it’s all because of Mr. Charles de Lint. Carleton University became my school of choice because of its excellent Journalism program. I failed out of the program after first year. There were a number of reasons for this, but mostly it was because I attended about five of the required French classes out of the entire year’s worth of twice-weekly classes. I had done so well in high-school that I thought I could just breeze through. One of the big lessons of University Year One was that’s really not how University works. So, I switched to Art History. Minored in Law. Took a lot of English courses. + found Charles de Lint. An author from Ottawa. The first book I thought…

ORIGINALLY POSTED IN 2012 ON focusonsimple.co I read a quote yesterday morning as I was standing in line to have my taxes done. On deadline day. For the past three years. Because I get like an ostrich with its head stuck in the sand when things start to get away from me. Instead of dealing with things head on, I awefulise + put it off, pretending that I'll be able to deal with it 'later', when I'm 'better prepared'. Better preparedness never really comes - it's just an excuse not to deal with whatever the issue is. tThen fears start cropping up of people thinking I'm a big idiot for not being responsible + taking care of my $ish, or that I'll find out that in some way I've made…

ORIGINALLY POSTED IN 2012 ON focusonsimple.co I totally agree with Kermit. It's really not. I call myself an embarrassed environmentalist...because while I get completely up-in-arms about how much damage is being done to the earth, I don't feel my actions are in-line with how passionate I feel. When I was young I started an environmental group called TRIG (Try Recycling, It's Good), for two reasons: I understood that it was a very bad thing that the rainforest was being cut down at a rate of about an acre a second. I think that was the statistic at the time.I wanted to be in a club like "The Babysitters Club" book series, with meetings + member cards + nicknames. We planted a bunch of trees + raised a bit of money (mostly supplied by our parents)…