Sarah Who Wanders...

A little less than two months to wait to find out if I am in the program I am applying to. Every day I doubt. Every day I question myself. Is this what I really want? Will I be good at it? Is this the plan for me? Is the cost worth it? Is the time studying worth it? Do I want to specialize so much? Can I really help people? As I sit here with one of my favorite dinners ever (pad Thai, coconut shrimp, spring rolls, and Thai iced tea), I ponder how much to share and vent. Super moment of honesty here (but don't hold it against me...?): I've been looking around at other jobs lately. I’ve been very bored by mine. I love the people I work with, but not necessarily the job I do. And yet… I am here for some reason. I applied to six other jobs and I prayed hard. I figured I could at least interview and see what I thought, and I don't HATE my job so it'd have to be a good deal to leave.  I prayed that if this was not the route I was supposed to take that God would close thos...

Whoever says that building a house is fun, obviously has never built a house. As I touched up paint for what felt like the millionth time today I said to Barrett, "We are NEVER doing this again." I thought about it for a minute because I will be the first to admit that I have no idea what our future holds, so I amended, "If we ever do this again, we will NOT paint, shelve, trim. We will do nothing ourselves. We will simply write a check and tell some lovely people our preferences." Barrett laughed, and agreed. Seriously though, this past year has been ROUGH at times, heartbreaking at others, and always full of tremendous blessing. We get that, we really do. I would like to think that building a house is a bit like being a 3 year hold handing a stick figure idea to a professional. You get a never-ending stream of reality served to you daily. Those grand ideas? Think a bit smaller. You will hear (repeatedly): "We can't do that on your budget." ...

There is a lot more attention on introverts these days. While there are many reasons our fun loving, charismatic, outgoing counterparts make good parents too, this post is for the introverts. I have to be perfectly honest here. There are times that I have doubted myself for having children.  When I was a young adult I never figured that I would have children. I thought that I would be a career woman, married of course, and devote my life and time to my relationship, my job, and traveling the world (duh). In many ways I thought I would be perfectly happy without children, and that probably sounds terrible. Both my boys were planned pregnancies and both of them were at good points in my life after I had grown up a little bit and was prepared to be a little less selfish. I had Matthew at age 24 and Isaiah at age 27. I love my sons more than life itself and they have brought so much joy and fulfillment. Sometimes though I have wondered if being an introvert mom is detrimental to t...

Hello, my name is Sarah, and I am an introvert.  You likely wouldn’t think that upon meeting me. Some people have this huge misconception that introverts cannot conduct business in a social world. They think that introverts hide at home in their closets (sometimes this is where I want to be!). Truthfully though, many introverts can hold down productive jobs more than fine-even excelling, and do not completely fail in social situations.  Introversion is not a disease. Introversion is part of what makes up personality. It simply means that the way I recharge is different than the way an extrovert recharges. Being around people does not give me energy, it drains my energy bank. Only time alone refills this energy. Thankfully, some introverted personality types are great at being chameleons, and mine is one of them. You would likely never know just how overstimulated I am sometimes when we are conversing. Thankfully, due to my profession, I actually have a great poker fa...

To those who think being a clinic nurse is so easy... Sometimes my job is pretty plush admittedly. There's usually time to chat and laugh with my coworkers, time to check out the latest deal on Amazon and time to get to know the doctors who I work with, a few who I now consider friends and have hung out with outside work. I have a HUGE sit/stand desk that I've decorated with pictures of my family and our travels.  Other days though, aren't so easy, and that's why our office has nurses... I am a pediatric triage|care coordinator   nurse. Most days, I spend a good portion of my day on the telephone. I am the voice you get when you have a question about a rash, a cut that just doesn't look right, or a cough that won't go away. But I am also the voice who directs you to call poison control and calmly calls back to check on you. I am the voice who listens and advises you when your child is suicidal, when their heart is racing, or when they're having chest...

Thank you for reading about my own quest to find and create more happiness in my life. In order to align my goals and my life with my values, I had to give good thought to what my values even are. I came up with this list of my top 10 values below, though they are in no particular order. These are things that mean very much to me-traits I desire to possess and have in my life. In order to find these, I had to ask myself what made me feel good, what made me feel bad, what felt "right" about my life, and if my current life reflects the things I value most. Tough assignment. I won't share all those answers.  These come from The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. Family Generosity Work Satisfaction/Fulfillment  Time for Personal Growth/Leisure Pursuits Compassion Ambition Love Gratitude Wonder Tranquility In keeping with these 10 values, I designed a list of resolutions for the rest of 2018. *Images shared are my own and may or may not pertain, just happy to...

I began writing this post and a series of others back in January about happiness, but I was on a self-imposed (and much needed) social media break, so I hadn't shared these thoughts yet.  In January I read a book that really got me thinking (actually I read LOTS of books- up to 33 this year!) called The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. I really enjoyed this book which was a look at the resolutions and changes the author made in a plan to be happier. It involved lots of self- assessment, trial and error, and sometimes just plain fun. I recommend the book (you can borrow my copy), and I also recommend The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson. Yes, it is in your face and uses profanity, but it is actually such a great book, and it isn't about not caring, it's about using your energy to care about only the things that really matter. Highly recommend. I will likely re-read, and that is saying a lot. You may not borrow that one-you'll want your own copy. Anyh...