Cleaning Up Can Be Contagious

This past Saturday we once again had our annual Pitch in Project. This year with the late spring weather and an abundance of mud, I decided to get to the park a little earlier to scope it out. When we arrived we ran into our neighbor with her two young girls having lunch at the park.  While we waited for the rest of our group to arrive we started to pick up garbage.  It only took minutes before these two lovely young ladies pulled on a pair of gloves, grabbed a bag a started racing each other to get to the garbage first, showing just how contagious cleaning up can be. Earlier in the week Darcy witnessed our three neighbor kids between the ages of 4-7, run over to one of the other neighbors house with a handful of bags and a garden trowel. They knocked on the door and asked the neighbor if they could clean up all the dog poop in his backyard.  To say the gentleman was somewhat stunned is an understatement but what grabbed more attention was how excited these kids were to just do something nice. Fast forward a couple of days.  Along our back yard runs the edge of town with a well-used trail system.  Through the wooden fence a group of preschool age children could be heard singing a garbage picking song as they helped clean up and fill bags.  Kids are soooo awesome!  Now I wasn’t fortunate to witness either of these days but as Darcy replayed them for me my heart smiled. 

Despite the fact that there are many who may not think twice of carelessly tossing their garbage out the window, there are other groups such as our team that aren’t scared to spend a Saturday in rubber gloves, tip toeing through the mud and dodging the pokey branches to the eyes. In doing so we are not only taking care of our environment and community but setting examples to those around us. As parents and instructors, as neighborhood children with a shiny shovel and handful of bags to fill or as a preschooler who is moving with the beat of their own song, we are making a huge impact in our community and at the same time making those who witness our actions aware that our community does not stay clean magically but rather through the efforts of many.

Although some events are completed in a day, not to be looked at again till next year, this is a project that can and should continue all year long.  Unfortunately there is never a shortage of garbage lying around but if everyone picks up a piece here and there in their travels, the results are going to be huge! Every little effort works together to accomplish bigger things.

I know it is impossible to pick a day for an event like this that will work for everyone and things come up in life but I would like to say a huge thanks to those that were able to make it out and to those who had wanted to but weren’t able to.  Many hands make the load light!

Alana Regier

http://alanaregier.blogspot.ca

 

Picture of the week from last weekend in Jasper.  Got in trouble from the CN guy for being on the tracks, oops my bad!

 

Changing Up Meal Time

Eating healthy and a well-balanced diet has always been important in our family.  As the main cook in our household (I use that term lightly) I have found myself in a rut when it comes to meal ideas.  In over 20 years I have had a tendency to stick to just a handful of recipe and meal ideas that to be honest, even I am bored of.  Now this is where I have turned to the dark side (as Mr. Mckee calls it) and grabbed onto technology.  One of my personal goals this year is to come up with and prepare at least one new recipe a week, and I have to say it is going over well.  Google, more specifically Pinterest has been my best friend.  If my family finds a recipe that has a picture that gets their salvia glands rocking, I find it emailed to me pronto. If I have a bunch of avocados I need to use or have taken chicken out for supper, all I have to do is punch in a word and out spits a hundred different options.  I really have no excuses now.

Along with this new recipe of the week, our family has been researching and changing things in our diets trying to find different foods that benefit us and our activities the most.  With different physical make ups, gender, age and energy output, we all seem to require a few tweaks in our food and drink intake compared to the next guy.  What works for one of us doesn’t necessarily work for everyone else, which makes perfect sense being that we are all built different.  Although we all may require different amounts of carbs, proteins and fats, there are some changes that we are making that agree with all of us.  Simple healthier choices like replacing miracle whip with greek yogurt or using apple sauce in place of butter in baking, are easy to do and taste great.

There is no shortage of diets and fads out there, in 45 years I have heard my share.  Instead of jumping on the band wagon of the newest and greatest way to lose 20lbs and have buns of steel, I think it is more important is to learn your own body and what you require to fuel and function to your greatest potential. 

Alana Regier

http://alanaregier.blogspot.ca

 

RECIPE OF THE WEEK

 

 

Picture of the week from this past weekend hiking in Jasper. 

With a view like this I really don't know why I come home.

 

The Dangers of Comparing

I read a quote this week making a very simple but true statement: “Comparison is the thief of joy.” I think majority of us can admit to comparing ourselves to someone else at one time or another, whether this is in our work, family, kung fu etc.  I believe it’s built in our human nature to look and take notice of others around us, observing both the successes and failures.  What we choose to take away from our observations is up to us.

In my own family, one activity that we all share an interest in is running.  Now I am not a natural born runner, every kilometer I travel on these two feet, I have to work extra hard to complete. Being surrounded by three boys who seem to have more of a knack for this whole trail running thing than this short legged tortoise making her way through pudding (yes I need this t-shirt), makes it kind of easy to fall into the trap of comparing myself to them. I have caught myself several times feeling frustrated and discouraged with what I see as a lack of progress in myself.  What I have failed to do is to remember why I started running in the first place and what it does for me personally.  I remember very clearly my first runs and how I didn’t even know how to breathe, I felt so tired I started tripping over shadows or that the longest distance I could run was 5km and with every step I was sure I was going to die. Fast forward about 7 years and I find myself still trailing behind my boys, however, with a more positive and cheerful perspective. I have remembered why I do it and where I came from and with that am able to now celebrate my own little successes with the joy and determination to continue to take it to the next level.

I believe that comparing can be dangerous. It is important to remind ourselves that no two people are alike.  Each one of us is built completely different inside and out.  We each have our own limitations, our own life circumstances and experiences along with our own lists of strengths and weaknesses. With all these things considered, our journey and results will differ greatly to the guy sitting next to us. Myself, I am truly inspired by those who things don’t come easy for, the ones that demonstrate the qualities of determination, hard work and commitment with a humble and encouraging approach. When looking at and admiring someone else’s achievements, choose to be happy for, inspired by and driven in a crazy way and rather than comparing ourselves to others find the joy in our own successes.  No matter how small they may seem in someone else’s eyes, they are ours, they are significant and they matter.

Alana Regier

 

Picture of the week, me coming down the dreaded powerline in Grande Cache, doing something that a few years ago I wouldn't of thought I could!

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Fear of the Unknown

Every day, three times a day in fact, I can be found walking our furry family member on a set route around Stony Plain. With each one of these walks I have to pass a fenced yard that has a dog the size of a pony laying and waiting for unsuspected victims. This fence is a tall solid wood one that does not allow a view into or out of the yard, unless of course you are willing to jump and balance on the top rail, which is exactly what this pony sized dog does.  Each day as I approach the yard I imagine what lingers behind it, my heart races and my stomach turns to mush. I cautiously and as quietly as possible try to sneak by all the time waiting for the beast to make his leap off the deck to teeter on the top of the fence with a throaty bark that makes me think he’s coming for my jugular. The knowledge that this property is coming up actually has the power to ruin the peace and tranquility a walk usually gives me, kind of like the jack in the box toy that some demented inventor thought would be a good idea for small children. The unknown of whether he’ll be out or won’t prevents me from not only wanting to go by the yard itself, but in some ways destroying my journey right from the start. The simple answer would be to cross the street and watch him launch at the fence from a safe distance away or to take a different much safer route, however, should I allow fear to keep me from the path I have chosen?

I admit to watching and waiting, from the other side of the street of course, as the unsuspecting group of tough teenage boys get surprised and scream like little girls.  Yes it’s a good chuckle but at the same time I admire their ability to laugh and learn from it, either by walking on the other side of the street or as boys have a tendency to do, dare one another to see how fast they can run by the next time. Unfortunately, as we get older we get more cautious. A lifetime of experiences tells us we are not invincible and we come with a pile of doubts and insecurities that can warp our perspective. Allowing these negative experiences to take over the great possibilities, we can potentially set ourselves up for failure before we even start. To be aware of and look out for this in our own lives, not allowing our perspective to be skewed to a side of the negative can be tough. However, if we instead choose to use the wisdom we have acquired to guide us, we can still strike out on the journey’s we desire and not only find success in what we set out to do but become who we want to grow up to be. The simple fact being that if we aren’t willing to choose to go beyond ordinary we will not accomplish the extraordinary.

The lesson for me in this daily saga is that fear of the unknown and the unpredictable path that life will take has an ability to destroy, cripple and take the enjoyment out of moments and has an incredible power to discourage and alter the choices I make.  I believe a certain level of fear is healthy, what we fear we respect, it’s this healthy level of fear that protects us.  However, if allowed to dominate every choice we make, keeping us safe in our little box, what kind of experiences will we have? What opportunities will we miss? How will we change a life,ours or someone elses?  Stepping out of our comfortable box or pass the tall wooden fence, into the unknown and unpredictable, will give us a chance to experience a journey few choose, give us a range of experiences from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows.  It will give us a deeper understanding of ourselves and what we are capable of. It will better prepare us for the roadblocks that come up and better equip us to tear them down, deal with them or at least sneak around them.  

Alana Regier

 My picture of the week!

This would be my guard dog! Picture taken almost a year ago at our garage sale.

 Makes me laugh every time I see it!

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Patience & Faith

With unexpected and unwanted winter storms and mountains of snow that have over stayed their welcome, I have found myself working overtime to try to stay motivated with my training.  I’ve found myself reluctantly strapping on running shoes hoping not to be taken out by ice and the thought of working out in the basement is really not as appealing as in my dreams of green grass and sunshine. As I find myself in my own little pity party, I came across this excerpt in my reading.

“Cultivate patience and a faith that no matter how slow you go, you are still making progress and eventually will reach your destination, as long as you are moving forward.  Picture the Little Engine that could, chug chug chugging repeat, “I think I can, I think I can.” 

I love how words will present themselves at just the right time like they were handpicked for me. I have always and continue to struggle with accepting less than.  When I can’t or won’t meet an expectation I have set for myself I can easily become deflated, which most times results in a trickledown effect causing landslides around me.  So as I continue to move forward with my goals I am having to learn patience over and over again, yes I am a slow learner.  I need to have faith that as long as I continue to act on my intentions I will move forward even if it may be at the back of the pack. I need to accept there are things I can’t change or control but I can always choose how I react to them.  So as I continue to deal with constant knee and more recently neck issues I will continue to repeat “I think I can, I think I can” and keep chugging away.

Alana Regier

http:/alanaregier.blogspot.ca