On challenging yourself.

My brain has been sucked right out of my head over the past few years. Several reasons stemming from the same bed of flowers. Two pregnancies, two babies, three years of intermittent sleep. I was drowning in diapers, binkies, and laundry. I'm still drowning in laundry but what a difference it makes having one potty trained and one on the way. I remember changing 5 or 6 poop diapers practically every single day. I never want to revisit those days again. I can't even imagine how octomom must feel on any given day. Or maybe she has her other 45 kids change all the diapers, who knows.

What happens when one is consumed with the mundane tasks life throws at us is our brains don't get fed as often. I read one book maybe. I read mom blogs and other ramblings on the internet but nothing that fed me or challenged me to understand something that was beyond my reach intellectually. I'm beginning to remedy that.

My husband's aunt is an avid reader. I really admire that about her and love to listen to all of her wisdom which she acquires mostly through reading. Whether it be her coveted vocabulary or just her knowledge in general, I'd like to be more like her in that regard. Also, I enjoy a good storybook and love the escape it gives you when you're peering into the writer's creative world. Perhaps if I could up my reading skills I might be able to better comprehend other more technical writing or find a fever for current events. Who knows.

You have to begin somewhere so I've been allowing myself some time with books lately. Some are just simple self help type books that challenge the way I think about life. Another book I've taken a liking to is a little more challenging and I am finding that I really enjoy taking the time to read a paragraph that might be a little out of my reach and figure out what it's trying to say. Albeit slowly. :)

I like that I'm doing this and it makes me happy. I would like to live up to my potential and this is just one way of doing so. It feels great to try new things and instead of giving up, enduring through something and teaching myself to understand. I wish I had realized when I was young that learning was so important, that challenging yourself meant something. I guess it is just another part of my family's culture, being labor type folk. They didn't really concern themselves with higher learning. There are only a handful of high school graduates from my aunts and uncles and even fewer college graduates through out my entire family.

I like changing my mentality. I enjoy proving to my family, and to myself, that we can be different. That diligence and dreams pay off. That we're capable of achieving more than just getting by.

So, I'm feeding my brain and it makes me happy.