Wish twelve…my final wish! So for my twelfth wish…I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and my wish is that all your wishes for positive change come true.
This exercise has been eye-opening for me, I hadn’t really thought about my wishes other than how my wishes affect my life, thank you all for taking this journey with me, I hope it opened your hearts as well. Continue to pray for those affected by the tragedies of 2012 and pray for a brighter 2013.
Merry Christmas
My eleventh wish is that we allow ourselves more spontaneity in our lives and be more lighthearted, it is important to see the joy in your life. What was the last thing you did on the spur of the moment? Sometimes, I will go to a movie in the middle of the day…just because I can! As a Realtor, I work a lot of crazy hours so when I find myself with a couple of unscheduled hours in the middle of the day, I might stop by and catch a flick!
A couple of years ago, a friend and I went to the IU vs. OSU game in Bloomington, IN on New Years Eve. We had decided on the way down where we wanted to have dinner after the game and made reservations…but as we neared Assembly Hall, we saw signs for the French Lick Casino and I jokingly said since we were already half way there, we should go. When the game was over, we decided “what the heck”, cancelled our reservations, hit White Castle for dinner and a couple of ATM‘s for cash and headed South instead of North to Indy!
We had a blast, we got home at 6 a.m. after gambling all night (coming out winners – my friend $90 and me $120 – what do you expect, we play the Penny slots!) and stopping for breakfast at a roadside dinner (now that was an interesting experience!). It was one of my most memorable New Years, it’s fun to be spontaneous!
Have fun, be open to new experiences and be willing to go with the flow…you’ll be amazed at the joy you will find in your life.
Vicki Reed
My tenth wish is that we curb our excess eating and drinking and work toward a healthier lifestyle. As a nation, we live life large – from the portion sizes in restaurants to fast food “super sizes” and even the way we cook in our own homes. Heart disease and diabetes have become more common in our lifetimes than those of past generations.
I don’t believe that there is a be all end all answer to the issue, some say “eat organic”, but that can be expensive because organically grown foods cost more and budgets are tight! I Googled “curbing your excesses for food and drink” and got over 10 million results – the information is available, a lot is written about it, but not everything works for everyone. I believe if we simply eat and drink in moderation that will put us on the right path.
I am an overweight 48 year old woman, and as a Realtor, I am on the road constantly, networking tends to happen over meals so that just adds to it. I know that I could eat better, but it takes work and it much easier just to grab something on the run! I am committing to eating healthier and exercising more in 2013, will you join me?
Vicki Reed
My ninth wish is that we open ourselves to receiving help from others when we need it and not being shy about asking for help from our family and friends.
How many times have you said to your family and friends “what can I do to help?” Most of the time the response is “thank you so much, but I’ll/we’ll be fine”…but the reality is that you could really use the help! Why are we so willing to offer help to others but not accept help for ourselves?
As a Realtor, my schedule is more flexible than most, I can help my friends by meeting repair or delivery people at their homes for them – they all have wi-fi, so I can work there as easily as my own home or office. But when they have offered to help me, I tend to try to handle it all myself.
So my wish is that we all be more open to accepting help when offered, times are tough and we all need our friends.
My eighth wish is that I would win the lottery…told you, some of these will be selfish! I don’t have to win a big jackpot, a million would do! What would I do with the money you ask…well, first I would payoff my debts and depending on the size of the win, this is what I would like to do…
1. Set up trusts for my nieces – with stipulations, no need to spoil them completely!
2. Set up Charitable Remainder Trusts for my parents and sisters – they get an income stream for their lifetime, then when they pass, what’s left goes to item # 3.
3. Create the Reed Family Foundation – with my Dad, Uncle Bob and I, our limb of the family tree ends, this would allow me to teach my nieces about giving and create a legacy for my Dad.
4. Help my friends, make their lives a little easier and their burdens a little less.
5. Buy a vacation home in South Carolina – probably Pawleys Island – It would be there for myself, my family and friends to use.
6. Put money into my business – VLR Real Estate – and dream big!
I know you have all thought about it, what would you do?
My seventh wish is that we turn off the television more often and lessen the constant bombardment of advertising, noise and a 24/7 news cycle. It distracts us from what is important…put on quiet music and read a book, talk to your family, play with your children.
I have found that many people in my age group (I’m 48) are TV addicts and I admit to being one! If I’m home, the TV is on…as I work, write, read, whatever, it is always on. I think part of it is because we are the generation that grew up watching ABC, CBS and NBC because they were the only channels available and where I lived we only got NBC and CBS! Cable came to be as we be grew up and I think somewhere inside us are those kids who had very little choice of television programs and are still fascinated by the overwhelming amounts of programming (good = Criminal Minds; bad = Here Comes Honey Boo Boo) available.
Turning off the TV will also eliminate watching TV news which likely leaves you frustrated and angry about things you can’t control…if you are looking for the weather, look outside and you’ll have a good idea of what it’s going to be like! If something extreme and newsworthy happens (like nuclear war) I’m sure we will hear about it anyway. There was a time in our not so distant past that we didn’t know what was happening during a war unless we saw the news reel at the local theatre or had a radio…this was a time when our patriotism was much higher than it is today when we learn about the news as it happens.
I’m going to try to turn off the TV more…we’ll see how it goes! Can you do it?
Halfway there! My sixth wish (goes along with Wish # 5) is that we as individuals work to reduce our debt on a path to eliminating it. Our society is screwed from top to bottom because of debt. Quit using it, pay it off, and live on cash. It will make your life a lot easier and you will breathe easier because you will be free, personal debt is sufficating and our national debt mounts daily. We as individuals should set an example for those we vote to run our country.
There are a lot of programs available, the most popular being Dave Ramsey (click here for his website), type “living on a cash basis” into your Google search and there are over 5 million results of books, blogs, news articles, magazines and online tools to help you get started.
As a Realtor, I no longer receive that twice monthly paycheck that made budgeting and life in general so much easier and struggle with making those monthly payments on credit cards I used freely in my past. I have found that unless I have the cash, I no longer purchase anything – I look around my home and realize I have absolutely everything I could ever need…
Do you think you could live a cash based lifestyle? Share your thoughts with me!
My fifth wish is that society curb their consumerism…do we really need a bigger TV to be happy? Does constantly accumulating more “things” make you happy? I’m the first to admit…I love shopping! I love nice clothes, purses, coats…and oh the shoes! But do I need them to be happy? Probably not, but the right shoes with the right outfit makes me happy and these red ones, they just make me feel great…
I see people every day, working hard and spending more for things you wonder if they really need or more likely, do their children. Growing up, we had everything we needed, sure there was plenty of stuff we wanted, but I couldn’t tell you now what any of those things were. My favorite things are the experiences we had as a family. My Pappa was a school bus driver and a farmer (goes hand in hand more often than you would think). His route took him past our house for a drop, then he would come back by…we would yell to Mom where we were headed, he’d pick us up at the end of the drive-way and take us home with him. Mamma would add more plates to the table and after Dad got home and finished feeding (we too lived on a farm), he and Mom would come to retrieve us. There was always ice cream (sometimes homemade that we had to crank!) or watermelon and cantaloupe, sitting on the front porch, laughing, talking enjoying the breeze and each other before jumping into the back of the pick-up and heading home.
With Christmas just around the corner, it is a great time to take stock, look around at what you have, decide what you really need before making that Christmas wish list, think about what you have, what you don’t use any more and donate usable items to your favorite charities…Goodwill, Salvation Army, Red Cross…the list is extensive.
My friend (and Co-Blogger) Mary O has a great solution – she has 3 sons, all married, 2 with kids, (1 with dogs) – instead of shopping for things…she takes each family to dinner and an event. Plays, the Circus, Children’s Museum…she is making memories that her Grandchildren will remember for a lifetime…that’s what life is about, not the “things” you accumulate…
What could you live without? What are your wishes for positive change? Please share!
Vicki Reed
In light of the recent tragedies, my fourth wish is that we, as a society, remember the victims of these senseless acts of violence and make changes in how we treat ourselves, our loved ones, and one another.
On Christmas Eve, 1989, my 16 year old brother was killed in a car accident. He was the youngest of 4 and the only boy and our lives have never been the same. I look at my beautiful nieces and think how much fun he would have had being their uncle, I wonder who he might have married, if he would have had children and what they may have been like…to those who have lost loved ones tragically and unexpectedly…the pain subsides in time, but will never leave you.
Despite how you feel today, life does go on and as hard as it is, you must move forward…create a credo to live by and to honor your lost loved one:
I will tell those I love…that I love them on a regular basis.
I will be purposeful in my life and take responsibility for the results.
I will stretch myself past my limits daily, I will not wait for perfection, and I will act now.
I will learn from my failures and my successes.
My thoughts and prayers are with the families and community of Newtown, CT.
My third wish is that everyone remember to be human, not just during the holiday season, but all year long.
We are people…we need food, rest, friendship and love. We can’t work all the time and we can’t rest all the time, life must be balanced. As we go through our daily lives, we should treat each other with respect, understanding that we all bear our own struggles, usually silently.
Slow down, look around you, acknowledge the next person you see with a nod and a smile. Compliment a stranger, hold the door for person coming in the door you are going out…all it takes is a little effort on your part and it can make a difference in how someone feels, even how they see themselves.
The Golden Rule says: “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (Matt. 7:12)…it is my wish that we all remember this and put it into practice for next year.
What are your wishes? Call, text, email or comment here!
Vicki Reed
Living in Indy 