Five a Day

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I recently came up with an idea for a way that my family and I could improve our lives and also help others in the process. I call it “Five a Day.” I feel like so often, we try to do so much at once to make positive changes in our lives, and then we get burnt out quickly. So I wanted to figure out a way that could benefit all of us here at home, without making drastic changes that are nearly impossible to maintain. I knew I wanted me and my family to start giving more, to be more productive, to spread kindness, to be healthier, and to make time for things that we all enjoy. So here’s what our Five a Day consists of:

1.) Get rid of one thing every day.

2.) Do one productive thing every day.

3.) Spread kindness at least one way every day.

4.) Do one thing you enjoy every day.

5.) Do one healthy thing every day.

We started this about a week ago, and it’s been going really good. The kids seem to be enjoying it, and we talk about all the things we’ve done over dinner every night. I think all of us are having fun finding things around the house that we know we no longer need. It’s been sort of like a scavenger hunt every day. And we plan to donate everything to a local charity once we accumulate enough stuff. Our pile is definitely growing, as you can see in the picture, and this is just one weeks’ worth of items we’ve collected. Anyway, I just wanted to share this idea with all of you because I know how overwhelming making healthy changes in our lives can often be, and I’ve found this to be a simple way to instill some positive changes in my own life and help my family develop some positive changes too. If you decide to implement the Five a Day routine into your own life, I’d love to hear how it works out for you.  And if you have any other ideas for self-improvement, I’d love to hear about those as well.

Have a great week, everyone! ~M xo

Writing Prompt: Hidden Conflict Discovered in Everyday Routine

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He looked over at his alarm clock and groaned; 5:00 a.m. was way too early for a regular person to be up, let alone someone who just happened to be missing both of his legs. He slowly propped himself up against his pillows and maneuvered his body so that he was facing the left side of the bed. An old tattered wheelchair sat just inches away. With a heavy sigh, he used his muscular arms to lift his entire body off of the bed. He hovered for a second over the wheelchair, being careful to center his body over the seat. With a grunt, and a few other choice words, he lowered himself into the chair and began the process of fastening the straps so that he wouldn’t accidentally fall out. Once he was strapped in, he reached for his artificial legs. They were heavy, and even though he had gained most of his strength back in his arms, he was still a bit clumsy when trying to attach them to what was left of his real legs. One at a time, he attached the artificial legs. First came the protective cloth which protected his legs from rubbing against the hard plastic base. Next came the numerous adjustments and straps to set everything into place so that he was sure he wouldn’t fall over once he attempted to stand. The clock read 6:00 a.m. He was finally ready to attempt to stand. He planted both artificial legs firmly into the carpet and grabbed the arms of his wheelchair with a firm grasp. The pain was intense at first. He held his breath to try to fight back the searing pain. His eyes began to water as he tried to stand. Once he was fully standing, he felt dizzy and fought the urge to slouch back down into his wheelchair. His determination did not waver though and he tried with all his might to take just one tiny step. This morning was not going to be easy though, because as he took that first step, the rest of his body seemed to have other plans for him. He immediately lost his balance and fell to the floor with a loud thud. Tears stung his eyes and he cussed under his breath. He laid on the floor for a while, trying to regain his strength. He heaved his heavy body off the floor using all the strength he could surmise and proceeded to grab for his wheelchair once again. It was now 7:00 a.m.