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7 Excuses For Not Starting Up Your Weight Loss Diet
Changing habits is one of the most difficult challanges we human beings are facing. This also applies to changing food habits, and especially starting a weight loss diet, when you are used to eating what you want when you want it. When we feel...
DO YOU HAVE THE #1 MISDIAGNOSED INTESTINAL DISORDER? Millions do and don't know it!
The bad news is: if you have intestinal problems and have been diagnosed with IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) Crohn’s disease, spastic colon or the catch all "chronic digestive disorder," you may be treating the wrong problem. The good news is: you...
From Fat to Fit: Read One Woman's Amazing Weight Loss Story
An Interview with Success Story, Caitlin Johnson If you don't know who Caitlin is, you will soon. She appears in the June, 2005 Issue of Ironman Magazine. But Caitlin isn't your everyday super fitness competitor/model. Let's face it, many women...
How Is Alcohol Affecting Your Weight?
So you’ve been exercising regularly, and cutting back on your calories to meet your weight loss goals. Everything is going great with your new changes but you notice the number on the scale isn’t moving much and your body isn’t changing shape as...
Indoor Grills Featured in Steven Raichlen's Newest Book
With a great number of city people living in condos, with no possibility to grill outside, Raichlen's latest book, "Indoor! Grilling" covers a topic of large interest, especially that grilling is a tradition in America, some sort of a national...
Pick Up Your Pen and Lose Weight!
Although every dieter knows that keeping food records is a key to permanent weight loss, few understand the importance of also keeping an “emotional journal.” In fact, one dieter lost 100 pounds, thanks in part to the insights gained through daily...
Popcorn History - The Cave Man and Cave Lady Treat
Long before movie goers discovered that popcorn and movies go
together like Bogie and Bacall, popcorn was being enjoyed by our
cave dwelling ancestors.
Imagine eating a snack that's well over 5,000 years old!
Eatin' Popcorn In A Cave...
Problem Solving: Puffy Eyes
You are welcome to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated. Please send a copy or a link to your publication to...
Ten Useful Delaying Tactics
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The Health Benefits of Tea
Tea: It Does the Body Good Studies that support the health benefits of tea drinking keep filling the headlines. There’s simply no denying that a daily spot of tea does the body good. Even though researchers can’t quite agree on every aspect, I’m...
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Left work to be a stay at home mom . . .So why do you feel like you are missing out?
Left work to be a stay at home mom . . . so why do you feel like you are missing out?
If this sounds like you read on. If this sounds like someone you know, share it.
I, like many stay at home moms, often wonder if I did the right thing. Yes, I know, staying at home to raise my family could never have been the wrong choice, but I often wonder what would happen if I’d be forced back into the working world, due to some unforseen tragedy.
I left a very well paying position as a manager with a highly respected retirement investment firm three years ago. This was a decision my husband and I had made eight years prior with the birth of our son. We had already been raising a daughter and she was eleven at the time. Never needing to take significant amounts of time to travel back and forth from work, and having decent day care was what got us through those years. But, having moved into a country setting and having available resources few and far between, not to mention the two hour commute each day for both of us, the decision was made to put our resources into making a stay at home opportunity feasible.
Well, needless to say, it took eight years to make that happen. With my husband starting a new company and my ability to make a decent salary providing the jumping off point, all that was left was to take the plunge. At that point, I couldn’t have been happier, but with each passing season, I began to see myself as less and less valuable . . . Can you imagine?
Here’s where I realized that, by depending solely on my husband, and staying out of the work force I was losing control of my life. I was missing something or missing out somehow. But, in making this frightening assessment, I also came to understand who I really was and what I really wanted. I love being home and taking care of my family, I never wish to go back to working 50+ hours a week and I certainly do not want to work in an office environment again. So how did I go about making some positive changes?
First, I took a look around me and at the people and relationships I most admired. It turned out that I had lost contact with many of those people, and began to make a conscious effort to make time for them and include them in my life again as well.
Then, I looked at my friendships that had stood up over time, and realized that I really didn’t have many friends who I would call close, but still had those who were a pleasure to spend time with. I also realized that I’m not a "girlfriend to go shopping with" kind of gal, so I wasn’t missing out there but I still felt that I was a bit more introverted than I’d like to be, so I became more involved with school functions, field trips etc. Worked on developing more that a nodding relationship with the parents
of my sons friends and eventually actually had something to talk about with them each time we ran into each other, and I actually knew them by name. That went a long way to getting me out of my introverted self and outwardly I felt people were much more responsive to me as well.
Lastly, I decided that it was time to try and start a business of my own. As I said, I did not want to work in an office, I really liked my freedom and my new found creativity that I hadn’t known existed (or hadn’t allowed to exist) before my latest revelation. I began by talking with friends who were entrepreneurial in spirit. Some took the odd job/ handyman approach, some were contractors and one is even a published author! (You can visit her web site at the address below, but be sure to come back and see me.) All were getting by and staying active in the working world on their own terms. I looked into sales such as party goods and home decorations and found that I just wasn’t passionate about those items and that just wasn’t for me.
However, sometimes the best things come out of the blue and that’s what happened to me.
I was speaking with my mother about making rootbeer. She made it when we were kids, by actually digging the root from a tree (or bush) . . . not sure. Well anyway, she couldn't remember what kind of root it was and I entered a search for root beer and stumbled onto Watkins Online. I was intrigued with the products. When I realized it was a work-at-home opportunity, I was doubly surprised, since I had just recently decided to try and get something started.
As I dug deeper into the Watkins story and the company background, (bb reports, message boards, Winona local news, etc.), I realized that this looked like a solid company, with good community ties, good ethical background and management, and a great product line to boot!
Well, I got off track and never found the answer to my rootbeer question, needless to say. But I’ve found a way to incorporate my desire to rekindle relationships, make new and lasting friendships and feel productive without taking time away from my family. These things are the most important aspects of my life and I’m glad that I’ve been given the opportunity to gain some insight into my own needs and actually do something about satisfying them. Hopefully, sharing my experience will help others to find out what exactly it is that they are missing in their lives and make some positive changes.
About the Author
Pat Choinski is a 40 something baby boomer, married with two children, and lives in the Northeast. She's an independent distributor for Watkins products and looks forward to making her business a success.
Watkins Associate id#342155 - http://www.watkinsonline.com/patchoinski
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