Daily Tip: Fear is a motivator for many

We all need to move.  To get things done.  To be motivated.
Sadly, sometimes "crunch-time is the only time we get things done" time.
If you know what I mean!
You probably would be able to put off a lot of stuff, like me.
But, in the end, it's wiser to try to use fear to get you off your duff.
Sometimes the fear comes in the form of self-disgust.  That is inward motivation.
More often than not, the motivation we receive comes from external sources.
Circumstances, other people, warning signs, etc. can serve to remind us we need to move and to act!
Too bad, ay?
But knowledge about fear kicking our butts can be a good thing to acknowledge.
See that fear serves a purpose, use it to empower you to act, not to cower and retreat.
Fear can help.  Don't see it as an enemy, but rather as an ally, and you will go far.
In fact, the fear of failure can be turned inside out.  If you fear failing, you should try and do what you can
so you do not fail.
The same goes for any other goal you may have.
If you know you cannot buy back an ounce of time, then use your pen and paper to plan your time more wisely.  You can prioritize what is meaningful to you and try and do that.
Then you will not fear that you have not spent your time the way you desire.
If you will fear not knowing what you want, or who you are, you will live life on a journey of discovery, seeking all you so wish to achieve, to do and to enjoy and then you will be using your fear to your
advantage.
So do what you can to use fear to assist you to get your work done and things will get easier.
Be proactive and productive.
Peace,
Amy Zents.
© Amalia Zents 2010

Daily Tip: Avoid Medical Marijuana for ADHD

I can't take the idea of marijuana use for ADHD seriously.  The ne'er-do-well pals I have known that use drugs to cope with their ADHD have claimed it helps them, but from all appearances, all I have seen it do for any and all of them is turn them into slovenly, lazy and worthless human beings.  That is my opinion on using marijuana to help combat ADHD.  I think every one of us with ADHD is looking for a quick fix.
Well, friends, let me say, there IS NO QUICK FIX.  For the highly-regarded medical profession to advocate use of marijuana to get people to focus, get good grades, hold a steady job, manage their clutter, and deal with employees and employers sanely, is ridiculous!
All the drug has shown is what doctors have known all along.  Smoking or using only damages the precious brain all the more.
And that is my opinion.  I don't use, and I hope you won't either.
As you know I am doing an experiment called "Sing out, Clean up, and Work out." Today is Day 5 of the project.  I am delighted to say yesterday my efforts at healthy eating and portion-control was a fabulous success.  Thank goodness for modern food production, and that huge bag of oranges I got on sale that are full of fibre, sweet and delish!
Hope you are having a fine Friday.
I just walked the pooches to stretch my hamstrings and calves and to make the dogs happy.
Perhaps you do not know, for comic relief, I share a daily one-panel comic online called, Cole's Kibble
I am also a singer-songwriter with a BIG SENSE OF HUMOR, again, comic relief.  Enjoy this song I performed and wrote a couple of years ago called, "Good Morning Appetite."  I will lick the weight problem with your help and portion-control, calorie-counting and busy blogging! :-)
Have a great day!
Amy Zents
© Amalia Zents

Daily Tip: A cozy nest, not a hornet's nest and Pet Peeve.

I must say with only 3 major things on my plate, keeping the house clean and neat is still a challenge.
Yesterday was day 2 in my 18 day experiment of doing the 3 major things:  Sing out, clean up and work out.  I did practice for the St. Patty's Day Gig with my husband.  We worked on such tunes as Early One Morning, All for me Grog and The Mermaid.  We also worked on Song for Ireland which you can see and hear a version of it here taped a long time ago.
We worked out at the gym for an hour.  I was glad that we did because it jump-started my plan to go daily to the gym and got it in motion.
I did dishes morning, noon, but not night; so now, when I go into the kitchen, I need to wrestle with a sinkful of yesterday's dishes.
I was supposed to run the sound board at the radio station for a game last night, but it got cancelled on account of the weather.   We watched a couple of episodes downstairs of an old TV show off DVD's I bought for my husband last Christmas about the ultimate fictional ADHD'er, "Get Smart," and enjoyed it, laughing and laughing.  Then we took the party upstairs and I wound up hanging out in bed with my man, watching a 1977 movie, starring Simon Pegg entitled, "Hot Fuzz."
A pet peeve day: I didn't realize pets can be so demanding and annoying at times.  Yesterday, it seemed every time I went downstairs, the cat was after me, meowing for milk, or the dogs were hounding me to go for a walk outside.
I have music students coming over this afternoon and evening.  The living room is cluttered with instruments, music books and a lot of "stuff."  So, I will be doing some cleaning this morning.  Now it is time for breakfast, a music practice, a jaunt to the local gym and then I will do my utmost to clean house.
I hope you are doing well.  As for other ADHD'ers,  try to limit yourself in worrying.  Yes, you want a cozy nest, and you want the best, not a hornet's nest, but the facts are clear, to worry about all of it only causes pain.  It is best to quit feeling sorry for yourself, and just do what you can do.  Afterwards, you can enjoy the pleasure of it all.
'Til tomorrow, stay focused and keep singing out, cleaning up and working out!
I remain, yours truly,
Amy Zents
Check out a sample of my song , "A.D.D. blues," here, YAY!  My bandsite is back up!
© Amalia Zents

Daily Tip: No sleep equals a rotten, rotten day

I think someone called Sleep a nectar, and a healer.
Hello dear friend, and fellow blog reader,
Yesterday was extremely trying.  But, I did not waste a lot of time on the computer and in front of the TV.
Instead, I got a taste of the real workaday world.  A taste of what it is like to function with a sleep deficit.
From the moment I woke up until the time I went to bed I was really, really loopy.
What contributed to this lack of focus and foolishness.
LACK OF SLEEP.
Yes, I have been burning the candles at both ends.
Staying up late and getting up early.
I was functioning on 4 or 5 hours sleep and that is a recipe for DISASTER.
I had 5 awful or near awful things happen to me on account of my inattentiveness, and extreme tiredness.
First of all, I put the coffee pot on when I got up at 530am.  I needed to get up that early because my husband, an ER doc, needed a lift home in the truck when he got off work at 6am, since the sporty car is parked in the shed for the winter.
So, I went to make coffee, and waited, and waited.  I needed a caffeine kick to wake me up.  I waited until it was almost 545am for the coffee to brew, and then I realized something...I put the water in the pot and the ground coffee, but I DID NOT TURN THE COFFEE MACHINE ON!  I forgot to hit the ON button, so no brew.
Finally, after I hit the on button, the coffeee started brewing.  I could hear it brewing as I hurried out the door in my nightgown, boots and overcoat.  I had ran out of time to dress and would have to wait til I got home to have my fresh-brewed coffee.
I had to have my husband drive us home in the truck because I couldn't even function to unlock the truck doors, I was in such distress, and my mind felt like such a mess, not to mention the back seat of the truck.
My man drove us home and then I had to go to work.  I am a broadcaster and I do interviews all over the area.
Yesterday morning, I had 4 early morning interviews.

When I got home, I knew I should lie down for a nap, but I had a huge to-do list.
I had procrastinated on so many things, and it was time to play catch up before I had to teach in the afternoon.
So, I did laundry, I walked the dogs, cleaned the cat box, put things away from a window display I had left in the truck, took out all the garbage, etc. etc.  Forgot to eat anything and my blood sugar plummeted.
I thought, "Oh, we need butter, and other things from the store, and I can eat when I get home."
It was getting to be the mid-afternoon and I realized they would re-broadcast an interview I had done that morning, so I thought, "Since I am in the truck, I will listen to it."  I listened to it.  The dogs were with me in the truck.  I left them in the truck when I went to get groceries, and when I came out I realized, I did not have the car running but had left the radio and lights on and I had drained the battery, and the truck wouldn't start.
So, I tried calling home, no answer.  Then, I tried calling Triple A.  In my state of mind, with my new Android phone, I got so uptight I messed up working with my phone: putting it in mute, putting it on hold, monkeying around and seeing a tiny amber bar implying I have only a few minutes battery-power left on my cell phone.
I finally got through to Triple A.
LET ME TELL YOU THIS:  They say that you should obey hunches, well, YOU SHOULD.  As you might have guessed since I have been keeping this blog, I have been trying to find and organize my license, credit cards, other wallet cards including my Triple A card.  It had been lying loose the other day in one of my purses, and on a wild hair impulse, I thought, "This should be in my wallet, instead of in the side pocket of that purse." 
I am so thankful I had my Triple A card.  Finally, when the guy came, I had been reading my truck manual on where the lever is to pop open the hood.  The man barely had to charge it and Lo! and behold!  my Frontier Nissan started, and I got to drive home.
My troubles were far from over.
I had so much to carry in the house.  Oh, buy the way, the nice mittens I told you that disappeared yesterday, reappeared today.  I had left them in the back seat of my cluttered truck.  In fact, I had no mitts for my gig yesterday morning when it was -3 below, if I had looked through the clutter in my back seat, my hands wouldn't have hurt so bad with the cold.
That is the way clutter is.  It makes things vanish.
Speaking of vanish, my husband bought me an expensive Nexus One phone to replace my G1 phone I lost and I really thought I had lost my phone.  I just about fainted.
I searched high and low.  I was hungry, tired, distressed and had so much stress, and thought, "Now, I've done it.  I threw the Nexus One out with the cat litter."  Luckily that was not the case.  I found it later on in. (After many fervent prayers since there are no atheists when you lose something valuable.)  I found it in my overcoat pocket.  I quickly took it to it's port by my bed to be plugged in and charged.  I was very grateful.
Another incident happened yesterday as well.  They say "Sleepy Drivers Rest in Pieces."  I was nearly in a collision yesterday evening after I dropped my husband off at the clinic.  I was turning onto a main thoroughfare and there was a truck right on my bumper honking his horn.  Honestly, I did not see him, but I must have cut right in front of him in my haste to get home.  It scared me terribly, especially when he honked loudly at me.
What really showed me the value of getting enough sleep was my "emergency" with one of my music students.  I had been too busy to check my work schedule.  When the phone rang while I was giving M. her guitar lesson, I had suddenly been reminded I was supposed to work at the radio station to cover a basketball game.  Actually, the phone call was from my sister in Canada.  It made me feel I needed to be to work that night at 7pm, which meant my student had to be picked up shortly because I needed to go, and it was already 6:45!  It turned out I was thinking it was Thursday night, the wrong night.  Her mom came to pick her daughter up and then I realized I was OK.  I had gotten confused as to my nights.  How embarrassing.
So, suffering, work, life, stress, all the many rigors of a busy day need to be soothed with the healing balm of sleep.
I shall have to sleep more and not get so bent out of shape because I do not get enough sleep.
How shall I avoid the TV and the computer to get more sleep.  I will have to try to work something out.
Til tomorrow, get your sleep,
Sincerely,
Amy Zents 
PS.  ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ is good.
© Amalia Zents