Chad Arnold Blog
My friend Chad has started a blog…This is my friend who recently went through a liver transplant. The back story is heartbreaking, but even in the sadness, there is hope.
Would you please visit, read, join the conversation and allow your life to be changed?
I feel like I’m a walking contradiction sometimes.
One day I wanna see an action movie, but then the next day I want to watch something to make me weep.
I usually love my stilettos, but wow I love sliding into my flip flops.
I love dressing professional but then again, I can’t get enough of casual Fridays.
I am super super affectionate with my kids, but not usually super affectionate with other people.
I love screaming my lungs out at ball games, but then again, I really do like the theater.
Isn’t that just funny how we are? Full of contradictions and oppositions. Think how boring we’d be if we never had variations in our taste and desires.
What’s a big contradiction in your life?
I worked at a Pottery Barn for a few months a while back. It was such an interesting experience. I realized that people spend lots of money to make their homes look just like a magazine.
I remember one specific customer who would come in weekly to purchase something. Another customer told me that their house is all “Pottery Barn.” I wasn’t sure what that meant, so when I asked, they told me that their entire home is completely furnished from with Pottery Barn products.
I like Pottery Barn and all and I think they have great stuff and I can understand getting a table here a rug there, maybe some frames or something that you adore, but seriously, every piece of furniture from there? For what? To say that you bought it from there? I guess what really threw me for a loop was that so many folks want to set their homes and interiors apart but all they really end up doing is copying somebody else. Pretty, yes, functional, yes, but real life? I’m not so sure. Sadly, most of us will never see the homes of the folks who have the “perfect” home because more than likely, one of us would mess it up for them.
My real life is more barn than Pottery Barn. It’s messy and dirty and things break and kids spill and dogs pee. My real life is not a page out of a magazine. Real life is letting in the people who come knocking on my door asking for a cup of sugar, or selling a magazine subscription. Real life is knowing that my less than perfect home is always perfectly welcoming to anyone. Whether its a group of loud teen age girls or just a couple of boys wanting to play WII…they know that the stuff in the house is just “stuff” and the people in the house mean much more than any specific thing in the house.
Sometimes I wish I had a perfectly put together clean house, maybe even with some Pottery Barn schwag, but in reality…I’d rather have a house that’s well-lived in, rather then a house that’s well put together.
Do you have a life statement… a mission statement for your personal life?
What does it say?
Does it guide your actions?
Do you defer to it in decision making?
How strong and fast is your personal mission statement?
How long have you had it and how often do you edit it?
I guess I’ve been thinking about this for a long time now. I live by a semi-written/unwritten statement of purpose. I really think it’s time to sit down and write out MY mission statement. Mine as it pertains to who I am currently, what I want in life and how I want to go about achieving the things I want. It’s a fascinating topic to me and I could actually sit and go into lengthy conversations with people about it!I love the idea that we propel ourselves to the things we want and find most appealing. So fas-cin-a-ting!!!
Well, I’ll keep you posted as to what I come up with.
Anytime I say the statement, “I’m good enough,” I get the image of Stuart Smalley saying, “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me.” And really, that’s not where I’m trying to go with this post, but it looks like I’ve already gone there, so now that we have that behind us, let’s move ahead.
So…you see, I’m curious, do you ever wake up, wondering how you got here? Here, being the place you are right now mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally? And then do you ever think, am i qualified or disqualified to be here?
It’s interesting how the spiral of my thought process works. It starts with just one thought that takes me to another and another and before I know it I’ve talked myself out of being who and what I am because of the crazy thoughts in my head. You might not do this kind of thing, but I do and ultimately I wonder…do other people do this? So tell me, do you?
