way too serious?! :)

In the past 6 months I have had 2 people very close to me,women whom I respect immensely, tell me that I was an "intense and serious person". Now I feel this is a fairly accurate summary of me.. the kicker for me was that they felt I am that way the majority of time....<>

Today was a beautiful day outside and as I walked in the sun today I started thinking about what my friends had said. This year I have been teaching clinical nursing and have expressed to my students the importance of being self-reflective in their life and practice as nurses. What I realized today as I thought about my friends comments, is that to be truly self-reflective you need to consider what others think about you, especially those close to you that know the true you. So that is what I did..

And what I have come up with is this..I AM a serious and intense person. Can I work on chilling out a bit more...maybe.. ok... yes

But to be serious doesn't mean that I don't enjoy life, the experiences I have, that I can't see the good in this crazy world in which we live and that I can't cut loose and have a purely fun time (at times)!

But what it does mean to me is this.. If you are involved in my life we will have deep meaningful conversations about a broad range of things and sometimes what we talk about may make the both of us uneasy.My facebook posts will probably err on the serious side. You will have a champion for your cause whatever it may be and I will be as supportive of you as I can! I will count on you as I know you will always be able to count on me...

I am not going to apologize for being the way I am...I will work on relaxing a bit more and truly enjoying the moments that I am given!

As most of you know, I work in a field that IS serious, I volunteer in positions that push myself and others to places that are uncomfortable. The conditions in which most people in this world live in IS something that more people should take seriously. So often I get wrapped up in that part of it and lose sight of the amazingness of the life I have in front of me...

And sometimes my friends, who love me very much pull me back to that amazingness (is that even a word?! nope..at least it wasn't in spell check..) and for that I am grateful...

Tonight= sit in the sun and enjoy then chill out with friends and enjoy my awesome life!