Daily Prompt – Secret Santa

You get to choose one gift — no price restrictions — for any person you want. The caveat? You have to give it anonymously. What gift would you give, and to whom?

This is quite a hard decision to make – every person knows a lot of people, and there are a lot of people whom are genuinely in need, not to mention the countless others who are living in poverty around the world.

Daily Prompt – No Time To Waste

Fill in the blank: “Life is too short to _____.” Now, write a post telling us how you’ve come to that conclusion.

Life is too short to wallow in sadness and misery.

6 June – Comments: CLOSED

Would you read a personal blog without a comment section? How do you feel when a comment section is closed?

I’m not even sure I’ve come across a blog that doesn’t have a comment section. I think that to see one would actually be quite weird, because here is this person, writing their blog, generally because they have a specific point of view they want to convey to their readers, but they don’t want people to comment on it.

Mar 21: Selfish or Selfless?

Do you do more for yourself or for others?

 
I would say that I have an equal balance of both. Yes I do a lot of things for myself – I certainly buy myself a lot of stuff, but I’m also always willing to help out others if and when they need me.

It’s something that I’ve been aware of for many, many years. And it’s certainly changed significantly over those years.

When I was younger, I was constantly putting myself second, and everybody else was first. I was an incredibly selfless individual. I was always off doing something for somebody else, and completely disregarding whatever I had to do for myself – usually resulting in something not getting done, or getting it done quite late.

I often referred to it as ‘Country-boy Syndrome’. I would put everybody elses needs before mine, because that’s how I grew up as a kid in the country. Back then, being selfish was unheard of, and you always go out of your way to help other people – that’s one of the qualities that makes a decent human being.

When I moved to Melbourne, I brought this philosophy with me. Being the naive country kid, most of the time I didn’t realise that others were taking advantage of my good, generous nature. And then as time passed, I began to cotton on to what was happening around me. Yes it was disappointing, because people were always asking for my help, but on the very rare occasions where I would ask them for their help, they were all conveniently busy – even when I asked them weeks in advance.

The final straw was when I was in my early twenties. I’d spent the last couple of years being messed around by various housemates; I’d spent so much time being messed around by my ‘ex’ (G), and something inside of me snapped. I’d had enough, and things were going to change.

It was time to start putting ME first for a change, and when I did, everybody took note. I learnt how to say no to people. I learnt how to actually do things that I wanted to do for a change. I was also working full-time and earning my own money, so I was able to buy things for myself, which I’d never really been able to do before – financial independence!!

Since then, I’ve grown and matured, and seen people for who and what they really are. Unfortunately, as a result, I have a less-than-positive view on society in general. People label me as being negative, or a pessimist, and make it sound like a really bad thing, but I prefer to call it being a realist. I always started out with a view of life being sunshine, puppies and rainbows, but then over time I realised that it was all bullshit, and I was completely oblivious to what was really going on. Now that I am, my views have changed. I see people for what they really are. I’m not saying that everybody is like that, but generally speaking, people in society are extremely selfish, and will do whatever it takes to get something that they want. People are ruthless. People are not afraid to throw you under the bus if it will allow them to achieve something.

Yes, there are still people who see the world as sunshine, puppies and rainbows, and, well, good for them. They choose to see the ‘good’ in everything, however, I just see it as being ignorant. That’s not how society is. That’s not how people operate.

Daily Prompt: Never Gonna Give You Up

You. We know *you* are vice-free, dear Daily Post reader. But, or perhaps we should say, “butt,” others around you and in your life are riddled with vices: they smoke; they eat too much celery; they hog the covers; they can’t keep their hands out of the office candy bowl. Which vice or bad habit can you simply not abide in others?

I think the absolute number one vice would be smoking. I cannot stand the stench of cigarette smoke – it’s just foul.

It’s bad enough being stuck near a smoker because there’s nothing as asthmatic (like myself) loves more than second-hand smoke, but it’s even worse when you’re stuck on transport next to a smoker. They have that horrendous stench to them. It’s in their hair, it’s in their skin, in their clothes, and it’s just disgusting. It’s one thing that’s an absolute deal-breaker for me. Especially being somebody who works in the fitness industry, I cannot condone cigarette smoking, primarily based on the consequences it has on a person’s health. I would much prefer people weren’t dying from lung cancer, or blood clots, or brain damage etc, but unfortunately the people who are doing all the smoking don’t seem to share the same concerns.

I understand that it’s a drug. I understand that people have an addiction. But I also understand that there are numerous products that people have access to, in order to get their addictions under control; get their cravings under control, and eventually quit. Yet, what I don’t understand is that so many smokers just don’t want to.

!?!?!?

Seriously… what the fuck? Why wouldn’t you want to actually do something to stop smoking?? I’ve never been able to understand that. You have an addiction. It’s an addiction that is slowly killing you form the inside out. You know that this is happening, and you know that you ‘probably should’ quit, BUT YOU DON’T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT!!

Or, there’s the people who do make an attempt to quit, and if it doesn’t work for them the first time, they give up all hope, and just go back to smoking. **NEWSFLASH**: TRY AGAIN!! It might not work for you the first time, or the fifth time, or even the seventeenth time, but at least every time you try, you get a little bit better at it.

I remember when I was in my early twenties, I was out with some friends, and ended up going home with this really hot guy. We spoke for ages, and then one thing led to another, and all of a sudden we’re making out… then we both pulled back to catch a breath, and he excused himself to get up and go out to his balcony to have a cigarette. Like, he just got up off the couch, and said he was going for a smoke, and totally just left me there.

First of all, at no point was I aware that he was a smoker. I never saw a packet of smokes, or a lighter, and I guess the sweaty stinky clothes from being in a nightclub were masking the smell of cigarette smoke on his clothes. I didn’t even care how hot he was, I was just floored that anybody would be that rude and arrogant. So, I just left. I didn’t even say goodbye, I just grabbed my top and left. Just as I got downstairs, he called me wanting to know where I was, and I’m like ‘Sorry, I’m not going to waste my time with somebody who’s that rude to just leave me so he could have a smoke. Clearly, that was your priority. Not me. I’m not having that.’

Then he had the nerve to get pissed off at me for leaving. Fuuuuuuck that. At first he was really apologetic about it, but when he finally realised that I wasn’t coming back, he had the nerve to have a go at me for ‘wasting his time’.

Had I known he was a smoker beforehand I wouldn’t have even left the club with him. Just meeting somebody who’s a smoker, and I’m already that quick to jump the gun on how I feel about them. Apologies to those of you who are smokers, I don’t think we can be friends. If you’re not prepared to at least entertain the thought of trying to quit, and actually be proactive enough to do something about it… I can’t be your friend and sit idly by whilst you do that to your body.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/02/19/daily-prompt-rick-roll/

Dec 10 – Humility

C.S. Lewis said, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.” How good are you of placing others before yourself?

Growing up country, I learnt to put other people before me, because putting myself first is just being selfish. However, when you have a brother, and you develop sibling rivalry, you ALWAYS want to put yourself first. Why should they get all the attention? Why did he get a present and I didn’t? Where’s my ice cream? Where’s my new stuffed toy? Where’s my soccer ball?

But you don’t play soccer!

THAT’S BESIDES THE POINT!! HE GETS ONE, THEN I WANT ONE TOO!!

So yes, whilst I can, and still am quite humble, I still have a strong ability to be incredibly selfish.

Sometimes I feel sorry for my partner. Sometimes I wonder how he manages to put up with my selfishness. Let’s be honest, I’m actually amazed that he hasn’t just thrown his hands up and been like, ‘Bitch, I’m out’ and ended things between us, simply because I can be so selfish.

I can’t exactly sit here and say I wouldn’t deserve it. I usually put myself first, even before him, and I really need to stop doing that.

I sometimes wonder at what point in my life did I become so jaded about everything?! I guess things changed when I was around 21. By this stage I’d been living in Melbourne for about 2 years, and had always been putting other people before me. I was always so open and warm and welcoming, but then in the space of a couple of months, some shit went down. Fights were had; nasty things were said; grudges became cemented and I had a massive reality check: I’d become sick of people walking all over me. I may or may not have also had a small stint of being bed ridden with depression and chowing down anti-depressants like they were fucking lollies, waiting for the entire world to come crashing down around me.

By putting other people’s needs before my own, I realised I was opening myself up to being taken advantage of, and being walked all over. Almost overnight, my whole view of the world and the people around me completely changed.

That was when I started putting myself first.

And that’s pretty much how it’s been ever since. It’s like I flipped a switch, and haven’t flipped it back. Kinda like in The Vampire Diaries where they talk about their humanity switch. Pfft, vampires. So whilst I’m selfish bitch, who really doesn’t seem to give a fuck about anybody else, the other part of me is the complete opposite – warm, friendly, welcoming. She’s in there, somewhere, she just doesn’t really get much of a chance to make an appearance.