More lululemon Inspiration

I'm still sick so I'm going to make this brief:

This is another item from the lululemon website. Maybe it's silly how much a company influences me and makes me feel better, but I appreciate it nonetheless. Maybe I should look at it as more of a whatever works type thing. It's interesting how being sick influences my view of the present moment. I am planning on writing at length on this subject just as soon as I feel better.

Keep Your Goals Away from the Trolls*

I did go to yoga at lululemon this morning. It was fabulous! I left feeling absolutely amazing, and everyone there was very nice. So, a win-win, definitely.

Lululemon has a tab on their website called "education." Under "education" there is a link entitled "goal setting." I did not really learn about goal setting until mid-way through my senior year of college when I read a book by Jack Canfield. Perhaps you're laughing now because you find him to be a little hokey, but he really did help to convince me that I'm worthy enough to set goals, worthy enough to have preferences. Sure, I had heard reference to goal-setting when I played different sports, but nothing very detailed. In short, I did not understand how to do it or what it was or how big of an impact it can make. I was just sort of floating through life, and was pretty unsure of where I was going.

So, I sat out to set some goals. I think number one was just figuring out exactly what it was that I wanted, and learning that it's okay to want. The second, but equally important, goal was to become more friendly with my friends. I know, second semester senior year is not the most logical time to do that, but it was what I had. The third goal I set for myself was to stay on the East Coast after college and live with Liz. I also wanted to get a "real" job. Funny enough, I did not specify to myself what this real job would entail so I ended up taking pretty much anything I could get to fulfill that goal. Lobbying. Yep, I was a lobbyist.

So, fast forward about two years later, and turns out lobbying was not my cup of tea. I did not like working for the highest bidder. I did not like not having any say in what issues I would be supporting. It was time to set new goal. I decided that I needed to pay less rent in order to be able to work in the field I wanted to work in (social work) and still have a roof over my head. We moved, and we're still in that apartment. It's awesome (even if it is small)! I ended up taking an AmeriCorps* VISTA position to help me change career paths. Now my VISTA year is almost over, and I'm about to start my dream job. Goal setting, it's where it's at.

*Inside joke

Judge or Be Judged? I think not.

For the past two nights I have encountered individuals that have had pretty opinionated or black and white responses to different things. It upsets me. I think part of why it upsets me is because I'm still afraid of people judging me, and, in turn, I'm still judging other people. All day today I was worried what people thought of my shoes. This is something that used to worry me a lot, even after I began taking Zoloft.

I know, I know...shoes! So silly! I just cannot walk in heels, and most flats hurt my feet, too. I've been wearing comfy shoes or whatever is bearable for me, but I know that, really, I just need to own whatever shoes I choose to wear. I want to be able to move around without thinking about how my feet feel. Instead, I want to think about the book I'm reading, how good the crisp, fall air feels. I want to be able to focus on the friends I'm with and their funny stories, not my feet.

I want to be able to realize that it doesn't matter if I'm wearing comfy, supportive, whatever shoes and my friend is wearing a really cute pair of heels. She is choosing to wear heels just like I'm choosing to wear whatever it is I'm wearing, and that's okay. I guess it's like with any choice anyone gets to make--it's their choice. I can comment or choose to react in a negative way, but it's probably not going to make any impact on what they're doing.

On a completely different note, I bought a cute pair of pants at lululemon, and I think I'm going to go to Sunday Yoga there tomorrow morning. I'll leave you with a copy of their amazing manifesto.