Daily Year of Yes – 162

Year of Yes – 162

Alas I didn’t finish my other 13 Todo list items, instead I read another book today.

And it was really good.

Today was the last day of school for the kids. We’re officially in summer break.

Here’s to endings and beginnings.

Yes to summer.

#yearofyes #karenikayearofyes

Daily Year of Yes – 161

Year of Yes – 161

Tomorrow is Friday and I did two of the fifteen to do list items I had this week.

But I did read five books. I went climbing and I’m going to the movies. I exercised. I hugged my kids and hubby. I talked to my mom and my sister. I talked to my friend Kelly.

And there’s still tomorrow, maybe I can do the other 13 items then. Or maybe I’ll just read more.

We’ll see.

Yes to getting things done and yes to choosing to take a break.

#yearofyes #karenikayearofyes

Daily Year of Yes – 160

Year of Yes – 160

I don’t have anything pithy today. Just thinking about how tired I am. I feel tired most of the day but the best tired is how I feel when I come back from the climbing gym or when I finish an exercise on the bike.

During those rare times I feel like I gave it my all and I have nothing left. And then I come home and take a shower and lie down on the couch and feel really good about how I used my time. This way I’m not tired because I’m overthinking things but I’m tired because I’m really working my body to its limits and I’m not in my head but I’m inside my body. For me it’s a rare and a good feeling.

That’s how I’m feeling right now.

Yes to trying harder. Yes to being inside my body.

#yearofyes #karenikayearofyes

Daily Year of Yes – 159

Year of Yes – 159

And just like that little boy is now a seventh grader.

He started and ended his sixth grade year completely remotely. This year he learned a lot, wrote a lot, built several hardware and software programs, learned physics, did a complete SAT math book, and started learning Spanish.

He has not seen a single friend in person since last March. It’s been a long 15 months for little boy. If all goes well, he gets his second shot tomorrow and maybe, just maybe he might get to see some friends after two weeks.

I am very proud of his resilience and hard work in this last year. He continues to add sunshine to our lives every day.

We love you, little boy. Congratulations!

Yes to celebrating.

#yearofyes #karenikayearofyes

Daily Year of Yes – 158

Year of Yes – 158

We are almost halfway through this year. My kids will finish school end of this week. And then we’re off to summer. Within two weeks we will all be two weeks past our second vaccination.

As we approach the second half of this year, it’s a good time to think about what else I want to say yes to this year. A good time to take stock and think about where to double down, where to pivot, and where to let go.

I think this is the perfect week to do some introspection and journaling. Bring it on.

Yes to taking time to step back and evaluate. Yes to resetting.

#yearofyes #karenikayearofyes

Daily Year of Yes – 157

Year of Yes – 157

Here’s to all-day adventures. Here’s to seeing my people happy. Here’s to sharing our precious moments here on this beautiful earth.

Grateful.

Yes to doing it anyway.

#yearofyes #karenikayearofyes

Daily Year of Yes – 156

Year of Yes – 156

My ideal way to spend my day is by the water, with a cold coke zero, some delicious snack, and a great book.

My husband, on the others hand, prefers to go on adventures, push his limits and experience life.

As I get.older, I am realizing that I will hopefully be lucky enough to read books to a very old, ripe age. But my years of living life and going on adventures, especially ones that involve physical stamina will most naturally decline as my years incline.

So now is the time to follow my husband’s lead and make the time to life that life. Breathe the fresh air and swim in the sea.

I want to be braver with my life.

Yes to adventures!

#yearofyes #karenikayearofyes

Daily Year of Yes – 155

Year of Yes – 155

I really enjoy going to different climbing gyms so that I can climb different walls and different routes.

I like the newness of it because I come to it open and don’t get in my head about what’s possible.

I guess it’s a bit of a beginner’s mind attitude.

I wish I could do that at other aspects of my life too.

Yes to beginner’s mind.

#yearofyes #karenikayearofyes

Daily Year of Yes – 154

Year of Yes – 154

My goal for May was to get real ids and to figure out what to do about painting the house.

We went to the DMV today and hopefully the real ids are on the way. And I signed a contract for painters who will start mid-July.

My goal for June is to set myself no new goals. I need a break so I am taking one.

Let’s see if I can manage to pull it off.

Yes to getting things done and yes to not setting new goals.

#yearofyes #karenikayearofyes

Daily Year of Yes – 153

Year of Yes – 153

Little boy was bored this weekend and created a project for himself. He thought of the project, researched it, built prototypes and then executed on it.

It was pretty awesome to see.

It also reminded me that it’s fun to get lost in a new project for a while. Fun to jump with both feet in.

Yes to fun, yes to creative ideas, yes to jumping in!

#yearofyes #karenikayearofyes

Daily Year of Yes – 152

Year of Yes – 152

So much of life is the stories we tell ourselves. There are so few “facts” and we spend all our time weaving stories out of those facts, trying to make them make sense.

Except that none of the stories are true. Because by definition they are stories. We rarely even know why we did something we did let alone why someone else did or didn’t do something.

So once you put it all together, there’s more story than facts in the picture.

All this is to say if I’m writing stories anyway, I might as well write stories that make me happy. Stories that empower me and make me the best version of myself.

Because whatever you think, you’re right.

Yes to making up more positive stories. Yes to looking for the good.

#yearofyes #karenikayearofyes

Review: Together We Will Go

Together We Will Go
Together We Will Go by J. Michael Straczynski
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

““The reason they’re morons is they spend years, decades, hell, their whole lives regretting or apologizing for things nobody else even remembers. They carry those things around like bags of sand that keep them from going to all the places they could’ve gone and would’ve gone if they hadn’t been so busy thinking about the goddamn sand.”

This is a unique book. The blurb mentions “Silver Linings Playbook” and “The Breakfast Club” and in fairness, I do see elements of both of them though thinking about either of them too much might take away from enjoying this book itself. I read the whole book in a single sitting. I loved the way it was diary entries mixed with dialogue and narration.

“Soldier didn’t need to show me all the time that he loved me. He knew it and I knew it and that’s that. What he was doing was giving me a safe place to put my own love. It’s like he was saying, I’m never going to leave you. I’ll wait for you. I want you to know that I’ll always wait for you, that it’s safe to love me, that you have a place to put all the feelings you can’t give to anybody else because it’s too dangerous, because you’re worried they won’t understand, and they won’t wait for you. I’m here. I love you. And I will wait for you. I’m not going anywhere.”

I loved each of the characters and I loved their unique perspective of life and why they had decided to be where they were and what they were grappling with. I loved that most of them seemed real to me and I loved how they were thrown together and the one thing they had in common was enough to bind them.

“And if you’re wondering why no always trumps yes, it’s because when you’re married it takes two to say yes but only one to say no. Besides, there’s no risk in saying no. No means everything stays the same, you’re in control, and you don’t feel like you’ve lost out on anything.”

This is a great story with some profound insight about life, how painful it can be and what it means to respect each others’ choices and what it means to love each other (and ourselves) just the way we are, with pain and all.

with gratitude to netgalley and Gallery Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

View all my reviews